
With Forza Motorsport 6, I reversed that. For Halo 5: Guardians, I stuck a standard stick on the left and one of the twice-as-tall options on the right. Customization stationĭepending on the game, I opted for different configurations. All are incredibly comfortable, though, and have the same premium feel as the rest of the controller. With the Elite, I had the option of choosing among three different sets (standard, tall and a pair of convex heads) and changing them on the fly, but most of the time I was perfectly happy with the standard set. They've always felt rough and just weren't comfortable to me. I've never been a fan of the sticks on the Xbox One pad. The thumbsticks feel incredibly springy and precise, thanks to their metal construction. That heft likely comes from the Elite's revamped innards. Honestly, though, the only time I noticed was when I picked it up since more often than not, when I'm gaming, my hands rest in my lap. That's 12.3 ounces compared to its predecessor's 9.9 ounces. Microsoft says that with all four levers attached, a pair of included Duracell AAs and standard thumbsticks, the Elite weighs 348 grams, give or take 15. The first thing I noticed when I picked up the controller to pair it with my console was how heavy it was compared to the standard gamepad. On the flip side, the cross-style option fit incredibly snugly.

In practice, everything stayed in place for me aside from the faceted directional pad - its section is too loose to keep that from bouncing around. The idea behind the latter is that it'll keep your extra parts secure during travel so they don't fall out after unzipping the case. There's also a molded rubber holder that keeps the four control levers, two sets of thumbsticks and spare directional pad in place. The Elite comes with a clamshell case that has a molded space for the controller, a cargo pouch for spare earbuds, batteries and the pack-in, braided micro-USB cable (a requirement for most tournaments) that will tether the pad to a console. It's when you start futzing around with the different thumbstick options or snapping metal levers into the underside that the gamepad starts looking unique. Aside from the 3.5mm headphone jack up front and the new slider control underneath and equidistant from the Menu and Options buttons, you'd be forgiven for confusing the Elite pad with the standard one. Out of the box, the Elite looks like a superficial upgrade. Keep all that in mind when you consider the following statement: I've been using the Elite controller for almost a week and I haven't wanted to put it down this is the Xbox One gamepad we should've had from the outset. Honestly, one of the biggest reasons I don't play my Xbox One much as my PlayStation 4 is because I prefer the latter's DualShock 4 controller. It has too many sharp edges, feels incredibly hollow and seems, well, cheap. Microsoft said it spent over $100 million designing it, considering smell-o-vision and even a built-in projector for the gamepad, only to wind up with a mostly inferior clone.

Why should you care? Because the vanilla Xbox One controller feels like a cheap knock-off of the vaunted Xbox 360 pad that came before it. The customization it offers comes at a steep price, costing over twice as much as the standard $60 controller.
Xbox elite controller configuration for mac mod#
Rather, the Elite is instead for highly competitive gamers - the type that'd mod their controllers with third-party accessories for greater precision. The company isn't targeting this as a device for the mainstream, though. Is a gamepad worth $150? That's the question Microsoft is asking with the Xbox One Elite controller, a revamp of its almost two-year-old paddle that shipped with the Xbox One.
