Ever wondered how the early basic prototypes of the Xbox One’s controller looked? Well, according to reports, it seems like it had a few extra stuff that you might not have expected, like smell senses, and second screen.
It has been revealed by general manager of Xbox accessories, Sulfi Alam, that the controller for the console went through numerous different prototypes before the company decided to stick with one of them.
Alam told VentureBeat, “We had a whole bunch of brainstorm sessions and built hundreds of models. We looked at concepts like adding displays to the controller. We looked at concepts like adding smell."
Working on the prototypes for the controller, Alam revealed that all the different types were actually built from ground-up before the company decided on scrapping them for something better.
“We built small slugs of different types of smells that could actually come out of a controller,” said Alam. “Like, as you walked through a jungle, you’d smell the flora.”
Additionally, it was also revealed that the initial build of the controller offered a few features that Microsoft’s nearest rivals are currently employing on their systems like “a touchpad (PS4), camera (Wii U), and speakers (both),” but Alam stated that “each one of these ideas fell down.”
“You’ve got a great TV with a better speaker than we could ever put in this controller,” Microsoft senior industrial designer Quintin Morris stated during the same interview.
“And it made more sense to [not make players look down at a display], keeping the user’s attention on the TV. We really want them to be immersed in the experience that’s happening in front of them.” And with an extra screen, “You’re burning battery life like there’s no tomorrow — not a great idea,” said Alam.
While the device’s camera, “seemed a little redundant, too, since each console comes with the updated Kinect, which already does what MS would’ve wanted a controller version to do.” Alam added: “It was one of our more extreme ideas.”
“Not only is it context-aware of what’s going on, it’s looking at you and picking up stuff like your heartbeat. You can infer some biometrics from cameras.”
Microsoft's Xbox One is currently set for a release this Friday, Nov. 22, and will retail for $499.
