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Battery Packs for 360 controllers. Cracked open. Interesting

OMG 360 BATTERY PACK USES ACTUAL BATTERIES!11
EVERYONE HAS SPARE USB CABLES LYING AROUND!ONE!
ON EBAY THERE WAS A USB CABLE FOR 90 CENTS MS IS RIPPING US OFF ! 00100001 !


Its official, gaf is full of idiots.
 
Emiru said:
Its official, gaf is full of idiots.
Click to expand...


nerdstw5.jpg


"He took our soul with this photograph! Get him Gaffers!"
 
FightyF said:
STILL a 6' cable...sheesh...c'mon guys, there was like 4 of you claiming this was a ripoff...when someone challanges that, you run off like scared little cockroaches...

*shakes head*
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What's wrong with 6'? The one that comes with the PS3 is like 2'.

EDIT: Ohz, PS3's is 5' nm, sure doesn't seem like 5'.
 
Barnolde said:
What's wrong with 6'? The one that comes with the PS3 is like 2'.
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Oh dear.

The cable the comes with the 360 battery pack is 10'.

You can play while you are charging.

It's actually far more convenient than to have to take OUT your batteries and plug it to a charger.

Unlike the 120 Gb HDD, which is clearly overpriced, there is no legitimate argument for this play and charge kit being overpriced. It's quite in line with retail prices for the separate components, and the end product is extremely useful and convenient.

/discussion.
 
Play and Charge is 9 feet. edit: or 10?

BestBuy charges $20 for 10 feet.


The batteries are going to cost you $7-8 at retail, you get them for $12. Is that so exorbitant?
The wire comes with a battery for $20. Is $8 for a 9 foot USB cable so exorbitant? Even that 90 cent eBay example had $5 in shipping, so you only save $2. And it's only 6 feet.
 
FightyF said:
Oh dear.

The cable the comes with the 360 battery pack is 10'.

You can play while you are charging.

It's actually far more convenient than to have to take OUT your batteries and plug it to a charger.

Unlike the 120 Gb HDD, which is clearly overpriced, there is no legitimate argument for this play and charge kit being overpriced. It's quite in line with retail prices for the separate components, and the end product is extremely useful and convenient.

/discussion.
Click to expand...

The dumbest thing about play and charge is the proprietary connector at the end, not the price.
 
Barnolde said:
The dumbest thing about play and charge is the proprietary connector at the end, not the price.
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There is nothing wrong with that.

Do you expect gamers to buy batteries and cables separately? That would be unnecessarily confusing for the consumer. Secondly, I like the fact that the charging light is built into the cable rather than the controller, it makes more sense from manufacturing and consumer POV (less costs attributed to the controller). I mean, we all saw the confusion when people didn't know if they could plug in their Sixaxis into a wall using their phone chargers and such, with that being a trial and error process to determine whether this adapter will work, or that adapter will work. With this solution, it's pretty clear.
 
Barnolde said:
The dumbest thing about play and charge is the proprietary connector at the end, not the price.
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If you admit that pricing is okay, then who gives a shit if it's proprietary? Proprietary is only bad if it's overpriced. Which applies to most 360 accessories, but not this one.

Don't any of you have iPods? You must boycott that fucking thing. It's like $30 for a 3 inch long remote control :lol
 
FightyF said:
There is nothing wrong with that.
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Oh please. That's the only obnoxious bit and it does no one any good to pretend it was any other reason than lock-in. MS is supposed to be smarter about this. They're supposed to know that lock-in is poison. IBM, Compaq, Apple (although they discovered if you make it hot enough no one cares) all dashed their ships against that rock. And this example is so petty it really does stand out. USB standard is good enough for one side of their business but not for the other?

My favorite thing about the SixAxis is that I can charge it off my laptop, using my camera USB, which is the only cable I need for all my electronics except my Wii and my 360 controllers (Oh, and the Wii doesn't even have a rechargable battery solution).
 
the only surprising thing is that there is a brand label on the individual AA units, usually its just blank plastic.
 
AdmiralViscen said:
If you admit that pricing is okay, then who gives a shit if it's proprietary? Proprietary is only bad if it's overpriced. Which applies to most 360 accessories, but not this one.

Don't any of you have iPods? You must boycott that fucking thing. It's like $30 for a 3 inch long remote control :lol
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Well proprietary sort of limits your options. I think the argument he's making is if it wasn't proprietary, most people would just use one of the USB cables they've got lying around their house.
 
Core407 said:
Well proprietary sort of limits your options. I think the argument he's making is if it wasn't proprietary, most people would just use one of the USB cables they've got lying around their house.
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Yeah. It's just dumb that it's a basic USB cable that I can ONLY use on the 360. It's needlessly limiting.
 
Core407 said:
Well proprietary sort of limits your options. I think the argument he's making is if it wasn't proprietary, most people would just use one of the USB cables they've got lying around their house.
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Doesn't having the battery sealed into your controller limit you more than a proprietary cable does?
 
besada said:
Oh please. That's the only obnoxious bit and it does no one any good to pretend it was any other reason than lock-in. MS is supposed to be smarter about this. They're supposed to know that lock-in is poison. IBM, Compaq, Apple (although they discovered if you make it hot enough no one cares) all dashed their ships against that rock. And this example is so petty it really does stand out. USB standard is good enough for one side of their business but not for the other?

My favorite thing about the SixAxis is that I can charge it off my laptop, using my camera USB, which is the only cable I need for all my electronics except my Wii and my 360.
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There's pros to either decision. I agree with your argument, but at the same time, you can't ignore the benefits a proprietary interface provides, which I stated in my previous posts.

We could analyze the situation and attempt to see which was the better option...but I would argue that the fact that all users get a consistently long cord, the length of which is comparable to the original Xbox's controller cords, makes it much more convenient to the consumer.
 
Core407 said:
Well proprietary sort of limits your options. I think the argument he's making is if it wasn't proprietary, most people would just use one of the USB cables they've got lying around their house.
Click to expand...

My USB cables are plugged into shit.

If the solution isn't terribly overpriced then I don't mind buying it. We're really splitting hairs here. If he was so distressed about not maximizing his spare USB cable use he wouldn't have a bunch of spares to begin with.
 
FightyF said:
but I would argue that the fact that all users get a consistently long cord, the length of which is comparable to the original Xbox's controller cords, makes it much more convenient to the consumer.
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If they were worried about the consistently long cord, they could have just included a USB one. Likely would have cost about 15 cents for them. Cable markup makes console markup look like a bunch of dumb kids selling lemonade on the corner -- well, until the price of copper shot through the roof:lol
 
Funny.

When I got my new ELite a couple weeks ago I just used the batteries that came with it for the controller and they still have 3/4 charge on the indicator. My play and charge from MS dont last half that time.
 
MechDX said:
Funny.

When I got my new ELite a couple weeks ago I just used the batteries that came with it for the controller and they still have 3/4 charge on the indicator. My play and charge from MS dont last half that time.
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Of course they should. Regular alkaline batteries will always last longer than rechargeables. People use rechargeable batteries because you can recharge them, not because they last long in between charges.
 
besada said:
If they were worried about the consistently long cord, they could have just included a USB one. Likely would have cost about 15 cents for them. Cable markup makes console markup look like a bunch of dumb kids selling lemonade on the corner -- well, until the price of copper shot through the roof:lol
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That would be a decent solution (rather than selling it separately) but then you would have a problem with putting the charging indicator light on the controller, which as I stated earlier could have possibly been non-efficient (whether with price or with the shape of the controller). You are right about cable prices, if MS went the USB route it could have been pure gravy for them. But again, an USB interface on the controller itself could confuse consumers. They could be trying their Motorola phone charger on the controller, or MP3 charger, or whatever, having mixed results.

As I said, there are pros and cons to both methods, I'm sure MS already discussed this. For Barnolde to say that it's completely stupid...that's not necessarily the case, there are some good reasons for going the route they did. As you pointed out, USB could have been more profitable for MS, but I think you have to factor in the design of the controller as well.

But considering the price is completely reasonable...I don't see why a proprietary interface should be debated that much. If this proprietary interface resulted in inflated accessory costs, then I would agree that a USB interface would be more ideal for us. But I'm not losing any sleep due to the fact that the interface is proprietary on the controller end.
 
ElNino said:
Of course they should. Regular alkaline batteries will always last longer than rechargeables. People use rechargeable batteries because you can recharge them, not because they last long in between charges.
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Yeah but at full charge the rechargeables barely last 8 hours.
 
So I bought this for $10 today :lol

4109NYYEP5L._SS500_.jpg


I can't fucking get it out of the controller! If MS used mini-USB I wouldn't have this problem. Fuck proprietary shit.

Seriously though, it's stuck in there good with no way of getting it out and it feels like it's gonna break if I pry it too hard. Halp! :(
 
Barnolde said:
So I bought this for $10 today :lol

4109NYYEP5L._SS500_.jpg


I can't fucking get it out of the controller! If MS used mini-USB I wouldn't have this problem. Fuck proprietary shit.

Seriously though, it's stuck in there good with no way of getting it out and it feels like it's gonna break if I pry it too hard. Halp! :(
Click to expand...
hey did you finally get your own 360 or are you still using your brothers??
 
Barnolde said:
So I bought this for $10 today :lol

4109NYYEP5L._SS500_.jpg


I can't fucking get it out of the controller! If MS used mini-USB I wouldn't have this problem. Fuck proprietary shit.

Seriously though, it's stuck in there good with no way of getting it out and it feels like it's gonna break if I pry it too hard. Halp! :(
Click to expand...

Why the fuck did you use a Pelican brand product?:lol their shit sucks.:lol
 
Barnolde said:
So I bought this for $10 today :lol

4109NYYEP5L._SS500_.jpg


I can't fucking get it out of the controller! If MS used mini-USB I wouldn't have this problem. Fuck proprietary shit.

Seriously though, it's stuck in there good with no way of getting it out and it feels like it's gonna break if I pry it too hard. Halp! :(
Click to expand...

:lol

Why did you just buy the cable? :lol
 
MechDX said:
Why the fuck did you use a Pelican brand product?:lol their shit sucks.:lol
Click to expand...
It's a USB cable, I didn't think Pelican could screw that up, but apparently they can :lol

FightyF said:
:lol

Why did you just buy the cable? :lol
Click to expand...

What else can I do? It's proprietary (no other options) and I want at least one USB connection for my computer.

EDIT: REMOVED! :lol FINALLY! Now it snaps out fine, guess it just needed its cherry popped. Fucking ridiculous.
 
Barnolde said:
What else can I do? It's proprietary (no other options) and I want at least one USB connection for my computer.
Click to expand...

Then why didn't you use the one the came with the play and charge kit?

Or are you admitting you don't even have a play and charge kit?

And if that's the case...wireless 360 controller HUB is $20 and supports 4 360 controllers on your PC.

What's ridiculous is that you expected an unsupported product to work. And paid $10 to have one controller work on your PC, when you could have gotten all of your controllers to work for only $10 more.
 
MechDX said:
Yeah but at full charge the rechargeables barely last 8 hours.
Click to expand...
Well in that case there seems to be something wrong. Both of my battery packs easily last more than 20 hours (with rumble).
 
i'm hearing that nintendo plans to sue over that piece of tape: apparently it infringes on their patented wii manufacturing techniques
 
So does that mean when my current battery pack stops taking charges I can just buy two rechargeable batteries and still use the Play and Charge cable to charge them?
 
Speaking of this... how much is just the battery pack? (U.S.) I've had mine since launch and doesn't hold much of a charge anymore and seems to completely drain every few days.
 
bill0527 said:
Speaking of this... how much is just the battery pack? (U.S.) I've had mine since launch and doesn't hold much of a charge anymore and seems to completely drain every few days.
Click to expand...


Well now that we know it's only regular rechargeable batteries in the battery packs you can probably just buy rechargeable batteries, stick them in the controller and still charge it with the play and charge cable.
 
bill0527 said:
Speaking of this... how much is just the battery pack? (U.S.) I've had mine since launch and doesn't hold much of a charge anymore and seems to completely drain every few days.
Click to expand...
$12, but gamestop will take your old crappy ones for $4 store credit, so you can get new ones for $8 each with trade-in!
 
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