Microsoft has been testing the controller and says that it'll last up to 10 years, if not longer.
The Xbox One controller
(Credit: James Martin/CNET)
Microsoft's Xbox One controller will be one hardened piece of hardware.
Speaking to tech news site Pocket-lint in an interview
published Wednesday, Microsoft accessories and hardware manager Bob Brown said
his company has been testing the Xbox One's controller by pressing its buttons
"over and over, between 4-5 times a second." Twenty controllers are
being mashed with 2 million button presses each, according to Pocket-lint.
As each button is
pressed, a computer analyzes its function to ensure it's sending a signal back
to a console. If it doesn't operate correctly anymore, its errors are analyzed
and the device is improved upon for the next prototype. The controller's
thumbsticks are also tossed around and the controller is dropped to see how it
responds to shock. All of that information is used to build a better
controller.
According to
Pocket-lint, those efforts have paid off: the latest controller prototypes can
handle 3 million button presses before they stop functioning. Microsoft
estimates that this gives the controller more than 10 years of life. Given
recent console upgrade cycles, that means the controller will last long enough
for people to buy just one controller and then move on to their next console.
Microsoft announced the Xbox
One earlier this month. The company is expected to provide more details on
the console at the E3
gaming conference in June.
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