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Xbox Co-Creator Admits Original Controller Was Massive

October 3, 2016 by Dennis Patrick

“I understand you can land a helicopter on it.”

xbox_duke

There are a number of elements that go into the creation of a video game console. Back when the original Xbox released from Microsoft, the development team seemed to have really dropped the ball when it came to the controller, which has since been dubbed as The Duke. This controller was massive in size and now years later, Seamus Blackley who was the co-creator of the Xbox, had released further statements on the controller size.

According to GameSpot, Seamus Blackey, who has since left Microsoft, had responded to a Twitter user that asked about the controller. In his response, Seamus admits that the controller was practically big enough to land a helicopter on it, but he didn’t have enough pull to make any changes. Additionally, it seems that Microsoft had completely ignored the focus tests conducted for the controller.

It was embarrassingly enormous; politically I had no juice to fix it; they ignored focus tests; I understand you can land a helicopter on it https://t.co/UI7ZUS4W5f

— Seamus Blackley (@SeamusBlackley) October 3, 2016

This comment sparked a series of tweets sent out by Seamus to vent about his frustration with The Duke. Part of the reason it was big had been due to the vendor was chosen for controller electronics. Because this particular vendor was unable to deliver smaller electronics, Microsoft had opted to design the controller around the electronics.

Though some gamers were able to adapt to the controller, Microsoft would eventually release a smaller size controller for the system.

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