this post was submitted on 24 Oct 2023
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I'd say the one thing they've been decent at is input devices, oddly enough. I was pretty happy with my SideWinder 3D Pro joystick and my Intellimouse Explorer back in the day. I also still (very occasionally) use an Xbox 360 controller attached to my Linux PC.
No credit for Xboxes themselves, let alone other hardware like Zunes and Windows Phones and shit, of course.
They were historically good at input devices because they were the only ones with enough weight to get manufacturers to stop fucking around and use xinput, which guaranteed their hegemony with normal controllers for a long time. 5-10 years ago, it was basically impossible to get a normal controller (ie Xbox or ps layout) that was not approved by Microsoft, working in all games.
LOL, my Microsoft joystick is so old it connected to the gameport on my sound card -- I'm pretty sure XInput didn't even exist yet.
I think I had the same thing that we played Duke Nukem 3D with
I love Xbox 360 controllers, I always use the wired ones so you don't have to fuck about with batteries which I always find annoying to deal with, you also don't need the receiver thing either. And latency is lower.
I find 360 controllers seem to be the most comfortable to hold in my hands, as well as being pretty well built. You can get them used on eBay for like ยฃ15/$20
Shout out to the Sculpt ergonomic keyboard too, my go-to for many years.
Windows phone was their best product