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      Ben Heck Makes An Accessible 360 Controller

      September 5, 2009 /

      Ben Heck's accessible controllerBen Heck spends most of his free time making mind-boggling mods of popular game console hardware. He’s the guy responsible for the 360 in a box, that Microsoft console with an attached screen inside a briefcase. He doesn’t just work for fun, though. This past week Ben hacked together a controller to do some good – a controller that would allow people who would otherwise find it difficult to play to be able to play with one hand.

      As you can see in the picture above, Ben’s mod involves swapping the D-Pad out with the ABXY button set, allowing one-handed control of just about any game. He’s also switched the triggers, so the right-handed trigger, the one used for most primary functions like shooting, is on the left with the controls. As you can imagine, he could probably make one for right-hand folks too. For the truly hardcore of the one-handed contingent, Heck’s also added smaller ABXY controls to the back of the unit, allowing you to keep that thumb on the control stick as while you melee someone in the back.

      Head over to his blog for the complete set of pics and contact info regarding customization.

      News, Websites, Xbox 360

      Xbox 360 Fails 8 Times As Often As The Wii

      September 5, 2009 /

      The RROD.A new study from SquareTrade, an independent warranty provider, compiled failure information for 16,000 consoles and determined the Xbox 360 was the worst of the bunch. In the first two years of ownership, 23.7% of Xbox owners reported failure, compared to 10% of PS3 owners and just 2.7% of Wii owners. The more powerful systems reported failures with video output and disc read errors while the Wii’s problems were mostly related to power and controller failure.

      As you might expect, though, the biggest problem for the Xbox 360 was the famous Red Ring of Death, E74. In fact, if you take E74 out of the equation, 360 failure rate drops down to 11.7%, still more than 3 times the Wii failure rate but much closer to that of the PS3.

      According to a Game Informer report from earlier this year, 360 failure rates only go up past 2 years. Their survey of over 5,000 console owners concluded the 360 failed more than 50% of the time, though only 3% of consumers would never buy another console. As these stories continue to make headlines, it seems Microsoft is doing little to correct the problem. Most statements from Redmond cite their industry-best warranty, rather than addressing the continued and widespread failure.

      News, Xbox 360

      Is PS3 Firmware 3.00 Killing Controllers

      September 4, 2009 /

      DualShock3 in Ceramic White.There’s an ever-growing thread on the Playstation 3 official forums that suggests Firmware 3.00 may be to blame for wireless controller connectivity issues. Initially it looked like it may only be the “ceramic white” DualShock3 model controllers, but now posters think it’s related to third-party knock-offs of the same style.

      When the affected controllers are turned on, the console LEDs light up as they should but the controller doesn’t work. Resetting the controller and even plugging them in doesn’t seem to fix the problem. The question that inevitably comes up is whether the lockout was intentional or just a misplaced line of code. My guess would be the latter. It’s not exactly good PR to block knockoff controllers. Even if you don’t like them as a company, chances are a large enough number of your customers like them that you shouldn’t piss those people off.

      Keep an eye out for the next few days to see if Sony issues a formal response.

      Source: Joystiq

      News, PS3

      Xbox 360 And PS3 Both Beat The Wii For Once

      September 4, 2009 /

      VGChartz sales for the past week.It looks like the price cuts from both Microsoft and Sony had their intended effects last week. Both consoles, the Xbox 360 and PS3, outsold the Wii for the first time in a long time, thanks to a massive sales boost for both parties.

      The story comes from vgchartz.com, which lists the sales figures for each console in the handy chart above. You’ll notice the huge week to week variance for the 360 and the PS3. The 360 bumped 32% while the PS3 rocketed up 103%. All three consoles crowded the 75,000 unit mark.

      News wasn’t all bad for Nintendo, though. The DS still topped the charts by a long shot, selling almost 125,000 units. The Wii will likely continue to be outsold, as the price cuts (and the PS3 Slim) were just announced this past week.

      News, Nintendo Wii, PS3, Xbox 360

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