With all of Microsoft's Xbox One policy switches, very little has been mentioned about the console’s newly revamped controllers, specifically, why Microsoft decided to get rid of its tilt/motion sensors for the controller. Now, the company finally has some answers on that topic.
Kotaku recently did an in-depth study on the new Xbox One controller, and while the site managed to make a pretty decent coverage of the controller, it had to leave out of a bit of bonus material related to the device. When the site asked about the omission of a tilt sensor from the controller, Microsoft's head of Xbox accessories Zulfi Alam responded: “We could have added sixaxis and gyros for tilt and motion but they're actually not that accurate. We have a lot of history with them and a lot of experience with them with the way we have done the 360 steering wheel. We decided to take a different path. What we did we added IR LEDs to the front [of the controller].”
“You can't see them on the front of the actual controller. And in addition to the LEDs we also had reflective material added inside the device, so essentially the system knows in space where the controller is and you are able to bind your profile to the actual controller you are holding in your hand.”
As far as the controller’s strength and endurance level is concerned, Alam assured that Microsoft has built the new controller, keeping in mind how we gamers tend to lose our temper when deep into a title, and have tendencies to throw our controllers around to release some of the frustration.
"I have to make sure I can still throw my controller and have it not break out on me even though there are motors right in the trigger. We actually have contraptions built for fixed defined force and dropping the controller such that it mimics how it is being used in gameplay by aggressive core gameplay," Alam said. "We don't expect it to shatter, and even if it does, essentially things shatter in such a way that it doesn't break."
“For the Xbox controller people, shattering and breaking are different things. The Xbox One controller is covered in a thick plastic skin that covers screw holes. The skin can be removed and is designed to come off and absorb impact if the controller is thrown hard. But they also are designed not to break so that you can't get them back on,” Alam added.
Xbox One is scheduled to release sometime this November.
