I actually like it, but the D-Pad on the Xbox 360 controllers is one of the most often complained about features of the Xbox 360 console (well, after the red ring of death, paying for Xbox Live, and about five other things). Microsoft introduced a new Xbox 360 controller with a new D-Pad this past week that seems to be well received. But the other tech blogs are missing a big point – this new controller is all about the patents. Ever wonder why Sony and Microsoft don’t have the ‘traditional’ D-pads on their consoles? Microsoft has (had) the infamous disc and Sony has just the four buttons arranged like a D-Pad. Nintendo actually has the traditional cross-shaped D-Pad patented. (See US Patent 4,687,200). That’s why Nintendo products use it and others don’t. For example, the Sega Genesis didn’t use a cross D-Pad, but the Dreamcast did. I assume Sega paid some sort of licensing agreement for the Dreamcast (which is odd) . So, everybody hates the “disc” D-Pad that the Xbox 360 controller uses. And video game hardware is such a low-margin segment of the industry to begin with, so licensing the patent from Nintendo is out of the question. So they come up with this brilliant rotating disc thing that lets you use a “traditional” D-Pad without infringing on the Nintendo patent. Major Nelson confirmed in his online YouTube video that Microsoft has this “hybrid” D-Pad patented, so don’t expect others to use it.
