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{{short description|Controller for Microsoft's Xbox console}}
{{Infobox information appliance
| title = Xbox controller
| logo =
| image = Xbox-Duke-Controller.jpg
| caption = [[Engineering:Xbox (console)|Xbox]] "The Duke" Controller (primary controller from 2001 to 2002)
| manufacturer = Microsoft
| type = [[Engineering:Gamepad|Gamepad]]
| generation = Sixth
| releasedate = {{vgrelease|NA|November 15, 2001|JP|February 22, 2002 (Controller S)<ref name="engadget-dukestory"/>|PAL|March 14, 2002}}
| lifespan =
| input =
* 2× analog sticks (8-bit precision)
* 2× analog triggers<br /><small>([[Image:Xbox Left Trigger.svg|11px|Left shoulder trigger]], [[Image:Xbox Right Trigger.svg|11px|Right shoulder trigger]])</small>
* 6× pressure-sensitive buttons<br /><small>([[Image:Xbox button A.svg|11px|A]], 11px|B, 11px|X, [[Image:Xbox button Y.svg|11px|Y]], Black, White)</small>
* 4× digital buttons<br /><small>([[Image:Xbox Back button.svg|11px|Back]], 11px|Start, 11px|Left analog stick press, [[Image:Xbox Right stick button.svg|11px|Right analog stick press]])</small>
* Digital D-Pad
| connectivity = Xbox controller port
| successor = [[Engineering:Xbox 360 controller|Xbox 360 controller]]
}}

The '''Xbox controller''' is the primary [[Engineering:Game controller|game controller]] for [[Company:Microsoft|Microsoft]]'s [[Engineering:Xbox (console)|Xbox]] [[Engineering:Home video game console|home video game console]] and was introduced at the [[Software:Game Developers Conference|Game Developers Conference]] in 2000. The first-generation Xbox controller (nicknamed "The Duke") was the first controller bundled with Xbox systems for all territories except Japan. A smaller and redesigned variant, called "Controller S", was sold and bundled with the console in Japan. It was later released in other territories and by the end of 2003 had replaced the first-generation controller worldwide. The larger original controller remained available as an optional accessory.

==Design==
[[File:Xbox-Controller-Features.jpg|thumb|The Xbox controller featured breakaway dongles to avoid damage to the console if the cord was tripped over.]]
The Xbox controller features dual vibration motors and a layout similar to the contemporary [[Engineering:GameCube controller|GameCube controller]]: two analog triggers, two analog sticks (both are also digitally clickable buttons), a digital [[Engineering:D-pad|directional pad]], a Back button, a Start button, two accessory slots and six 8-bit analog action buttons (A/Green, B/Red, X/Blue, Y/Yellow, and Black and White buttons).<ref name="inside-xbox-controller" /> Project leads J Allard and Cam Ferrari aimed for a controller with every feature the team liked from preceding ones: slots from the [[Engineering:Dreamcast|Dreamcast]] controller, two sticks from the [[Engineering:PlayStation (console)|PlayStation]]'s original [[Engineering:DualShock|DualShock]] and six frontal buttons from the revised [[Engineering:Sega Genesis|Sega Genesis]] controller.<ref>{{cite web|author=Wesley Yin-Poole|date=17 November 2013|orig-date=14 December 2012|url=https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-12-13-why-xbox-failed-in-japan|title=Why Xbox failed in Japan|work=Eurogamer|publisher=Gamer Network|access-date=9 May 2021}}</ref>

When the physical design of the controller began, circuit boards for the controller had already been manufactured. Microsoft had asked their supplier, Mitsumi Electric, for a similar folded and stacked circuit board design used in Sony's [[Engineering:DualShock#DualShock 2|DualShock 2]] controller, but the company refused to manufacture such a design for Microsoft. This led to the controller being bulky and nearly three times the size of Sony's controller. This initial controller design was never launched in Japan, where the console instead launched with a smaller, redesigned version named "Controller S" that did use the more compact circuit board design.<ref name="engadget-dukestory"/><ref name="cnbc-circuitboard"/>

Duke and original Japanese Controller S controllers made in Malaysia featured a dark green cable. When the Controller S was released in the West, early models featured the green cable, however later Controller S models switched to a black cable and were made in China.

The Duke's digital directional pad is visually similar to the digital directional pad on Microsoft's previous game controller, the [[Engineering:Microsoft SideWinder|Microsoft SideWinder]]. However, the Controller S dropped that design and replaced it with a plus shape on a disc.

==Models==
===The Duke===
Seamus Blackley was a [[Software:Video game developer|video game developer]] for  [[Engineering:Xbox|Xbox]] and helped design an early prototype controller. The first-generation Xbox controller, originally nicknamed the "Fatty"<ref name="ign-360tour" /> and later "The Duke",<ref name="cnet-comback" /><ref name="microsoft-achive" /> was originally the controller bundled with Xbox systems for all territories except Japan. According to Blackley, the Duke name came from Brett Schnepf, the project manager of hardware for Microsoft during the Xbox's development, whose son was named Duke.<ref name="demaria" />

The controller was oversized and was not very well received. While the product was being announced some audience members threw objects at Blackley on stage.<ref name="polygon-dukereturns" /> The controller has been criticized for being bulky compared to other video game controllers; it was awarded "Blunder of the Year" by ''Game Informer'' in 2001,<ref name="gameinformer-jan2002" /> a Guinness World Record for the biggest controller in Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition 2008, and was ranked the second worst video game controller ever by IGN editor Craig Harris.<ref name="ign-worst-controllers" />

Over fifteen years later Seamus Blackley contacted Phil Spencer, the head of the Xbox division, and pitched an idea to revive the old controller, following a series of joking posts through social media that showed strong consumer desire for the controller. Spencer gave Blackley the rights to the Duke controller.<ref name="ign-revived" /> The original design was modified with some subtle changes to the bumper design, shoulder buttons and overall layout to make it compatible with the [[Engineering:Xbox One|Xbox One]], as well as an OLED screen that displays the original Xbox boot sequence when turned on.<ref name="gamesradar-thrown" /> The Duke was released for Xbox One and PC on April 30, 2018, through a partnership with [[Company:Hyperkin|Hyperkin]].

===Controller S===
[[File:Xbox-s-controller.jpg|thumb|right|Xbox Controller S]]
The "Controller S" (codenamed "Akebono"<ref name="xboxmag-10-2002" />) is smaller and lighter, designed for users with smaller hands.<ref name="gamespy-xbox-con-s" /><ref name="gamer2.0-retrospective" /> After the original controller had received much criticism, and initial sales of the Xbox were very low, the "Controller S" was later released in other territories by popular demand and in 2002 replaced the first-generation controller in the US Xbox's retail package,<ref name="gamespot-xbox-bundle" /> and Europe in 2003,<ref name="gamespot-s-eurostandard" /> with the larger original controller remaining available as an accessory.

== Memory unit ==
An 8&nbsp;MB removable [[Solid-state drive|solid state]] [[Memory card|memory card]] can be plugged into the controller in a manner similar to that of the Dreamcast's Visual Memory Unit. Game saves can either be copied from the hard drive when in the Xbox dashboard's memory manager or saved during a game whenever the memory card is inserted. Most Xbox game saves can be copied to the memory unit and moved to another console but some Xbox saves are digitally signed; each console has a unique signing key, and some games (e.g. ''[[Software:Ninja Gaiden (2004 video game)|Ninja Gaiden]]'' and ''[[Software:Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball|Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball]]'') will not load saved games signed by a different Xbox, limiting the utility of the memory card. Some game saves can be tagged as uncopyable (like ''[[Software:Burnout 3: Takedown|Burnout 3]]'') or simply padded to over 8&nbsp;MB (''Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic''). The signing mechanism has been reverse-engineered by the Xbox hacking community, who have developed tools to modify savegames to work in a different console, though the signing key of the recipient Xbox (the "HDkey") and the ramped-up title key of the game (the "authkey") must be known.

It is also possible to save an Xbox Live account on a memory unit, to simplify its use on more than one Xbox.

== See also ==
* [[Engineering:Microsoft SideWinder|Microsoft SideWinder]]

==References==
{{reflist|refs=

<ref name="ign-360tour">{{cite web|title=Xbox 360 Wireless Controller Tour |url=http://gear.ign.com/articles/613/613588p1.html |publisher=IGN |access-date=July 2, 2011 |date=May 13, 2005 |quote=the original "Fatty" Xbox controller didn't have a specific public name}}</ref>

<ref name="cnet-comback">{{cite web |title=Xbox's original beast of a controller making a comeback? |url=http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20071383-1/xboxs-original-beast-of-a-controller-making-a-comeback/ |publisher=CNET |access-date=October 16, 2011 |date=June 15, 2005 |quote=Anyone who purchased the original Xbox during its launch window quickly came to know its behemoth of a controller, now nicknamed "The Duke".}}</ref>

<ref name="microsoft-achive">{{cite web |title=Microsoft - Timeline Photos |url=https://www.facebook.com/Microsoft/photos/a.195193573720.126782.20528438720/10152154730448721/?type=1 |publisher=Microsoft |access-date=May 14, 2014 |date=May 13, 2014 |quote=Hi, I’m Amy Stevenson, the official Microsoft archivist. Need a CD-ROM of 500 Nations? An ActiMates doll? An old Duke controller from the original Xbox? I've got 'em all, right here in these boxes. Explore the Microsoft Archives here.}}</ref>

<ref name="demaria">{{cite book | last=DeMaria | first=R. | title=Game of X v.1: Xbox | publisher=CRC Press | year=2018 | isbn=978-0-429-78983-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ia1vDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT212 | access-date=November 26, 2018 | page=212}}</ref>

<ref name="ign-revived">{{cite web | url = http://www.ign.com/articles/2018/05/18/how-a-twitter-joke-brought-the-xbox-duke-controller-back-to-life-a-ign-unfiltered |author=Joseph Knoop| title = How A Twitter Joke Brought The Xbox 'Duke' Controller Back To Life – IGN Unfiltered | first = May 18, 2018 | access-date = May 18, 2018 | work = IGN}}</ref>

<ref name="inside-xbox-controller">{{cite web| url = http://euc.jp/periphs/xbox-controller.en.html |title = Inside Xbox Controller}}</ref>

<ref name="xboxmag-10-2002">Ninja Beach Party. ''Official Xbox Magazine'' (October 2002, issue 11, pg. 44).</ref>

<ref name="gamespy-xbox-con-s">{{cite web|author=Christopher Buecheler |url=http://archive.gamespy.com/hardware/march02/xboxcontrollers/ |title=GameSpy.com - Hardware: Xbox Controller S |date=June 24, 2008 |access-date=November 11, 2010 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080624085615/http://archive.gamespy.com/hardware/march02/xboxcontrollers/ |archive-date = June 24, 2008}}</ref>

<ref name="gamer2.0-retrospective">{{cite web|url=http://www.gamer20.com/features/150/4 |title=Xbox Retrospective: All-Time Top Xbox News |publisher=Gamer 2.0 |access-date=November 11, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100503155438/http://www.gamer20.com/features/150/4 |archive-date=May 3, 2010}}</ref>

<ref name="gamespot-xbox-bundle">{{cite web|author=Sam Parker |url=http://www.gamespot.com/articles/new-xbox-bundle-with-sega-games/1100-2885439/ |title=New Xbox bundle with Sega games |publisher=GameSpot |date=October 14, 2002 |access-date=February 6, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413095058/http://www.gamespot.com/articles/new-xbox-bundle-with-sega-games/1100-2885439/ |archive-date=April 13, 2014}}</ref>

<ref name="gamespot-s-eurostandard">{{cite web|author=Sam Parker |url=http://www.gamespot.com/articles/controller-s-becomes-euro-xbox-standard/1100-6025534/ |title=Controller S becomes Euro Xbox standard |publisher=GameSpot |date=April 23, 2003 |access-date=February 6, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413093553/http://www.gamespot.com/articles/controller-s-becomes-euro-xbox-standard/1100-6025534/ |archive-date=April 13, 2014}}</ref>

<ref name="polygon-dukereturns">{{cite web|website=Polygon| author=Owen S. Good |url=https://www.polygon.com/2018/3/10/17105218/the-duke-xbox-one-controller-remake|title=The Dukes return to Xbox redeems the original designer|publisher=Vox Media|access-date=April 29, 2018}}</ref>

<ref name="gameinformer-jan2002">Games of 2001. ''Game Informer'' (January 2002, pg. 48).</ref>
<ref name="ign-worst-controllers">{{cite web |title=Top 10 Tuesday: Worst Game Controllers |url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2006/02/22/top-10-tuesday-worst-game-controllers |publisher=IGN |access-date=December 30, 2018 |date=February 21, 2006}}</ref>

<ref name="gamesradar-thrown">{{cite web|website=Games Radar| author=Sam Prell |url=https://www.gamesradar.com/i-had-things-thrown-at-me-xbox-designer-on-how-the-duke-controller-went-from-joke-to-beloved-misfit/|title="I had things thrown at me" - Xbox designer on how the 'Duke' controller went from joke to beloved misfit|publisher=Future Publishing Limited Quay House|access-date=April 29, 2018}}</ref>

<ref name="engadget-dukestory">{{cite web |last1=Seppala |first1=Timothy |title=The story of the Duke, the Xbox pad that existed because it had to |url=https://www.engadget.com/2018/03/23/xbox-controller-retrospective-hyperkin-duke-gamepad/ |website=Engadget |access-date=7 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180504150611/https://www.engadget.com/2018/03/23/xbox-controller-retrospective-hyperkin-duke-gamepad/ |archive-date=4 May 2018 |date=23 March 2018}}</ref>

<ref name="cnbc-circuitboard">{{cite web |title=Why Xbox Failed In Japan |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSi6pwtvIWI&t=6m40s |website=YouTube |publisher=CNBC |access-date=7 November 2019 |date=8 October 2019}}</ref>

}}

== Further reading ==

{{refbegin}}
* {{Cite web |last1=Hall |first1=Charlie |title=The Duke, Xboxs biggest controller of all time, will be in stores soon |work=Polygon |date=September 21, 2017 |url=https://www.polygon.com/2017/9/21/16345334/the-duke-xbox-controller-release-date-price |access-date=March 11, 2018  }}
* {{Cite web |last1=Good |first1=Owen S. |title=Get your tiny hands on The Dukes reboot soon (corrected) |work=Polygon |date=January 13, 2018 |url=https://www.polygon.com/2018/1/13/16887878/the-duke-xbox-controller-relaunch-date |access-date=March 11, 2018  }}
* {{Cite web |last1=Good |first1=Owen S. |title=The Dukes return to Xbox redeems the original designer |work=Polygon |date=March 10, 2018 |url=https://www.polygon.com/2018/3/10/17105218/the-duke-xbox-one-controller-remake |access-date=March 11, 2018  }}

{{refend}}

{{Xbox}}

[[Category:Game controllers]]

{{Sourceattribution|Xbox controller|1}}