• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

Battery Packs for 360 controllers. Cracked open. Interesting

Core407 said:
Well if I use my own batteries, I'll have to change them after they die so I'm still paying for batteries. Paying $30 just so I can recharge my batteries is just insane. You're missing the point with the online completely. I'm paying for P2P and demos. I don't mind paying for online play if I get a worthwhile experience but XBL is the complete opposite. Every time I play COD2 online at a friends, theres incredible lag no matter what game. I shoot a wall, bullets don't hit till 3 seconds later. I shoot a wall in Resistance online? Bullets hit it instantly. You're paying for an inferior service. It's just laughable really.
Click to expand...

Everytime I play Resistance at a friend's house, I wish we were playing Gears...


oooooooooh...


ICE COLD
 
Core407 said:
Well if I use my own batteries, I'll have to change them after they die so I'm still paying for batteries. Paying $30 just so I can recharge my batteries is just insane. You're missing the point with the online completely. I'm paying for P2P and demos. I don't mind paying for online play if I get a worthwhile experience but XBL is the complete opposite. Every time I play COD2 online at a friends, theres incredible lag no matter what game. I shoot a wall, bullets don't hit till 3 seconds later. I shoot a wall in Resistance online? Bullets hit it instantly. You're paying for an inferior service. It's just laughable really.
Click to expand...
While this is a drastic over-exaggeration of reality (3 second lag?), it has truth behind it. Not all 360 games on XBL are P2P though, I think two with dedicated servers are coming out this fall (I know Frontlines will)
Uncle said:
Remind me, can you change those wonderful batteries yourself when they die?
Click to expand...
yes. is it a process people who've never opened a controller before SHOULD do? no
 
besada said:
All of them have ridiculous markup. Do you really think the SixAxis/360 controller costs $50 to make? Or the Wii controller costs $40? Do you think it costs companies $60 to physically manufacture CDs and booklets?

And the industry has ever been this way.
Click to expand...

The SixAxis supports fourth dimension gaming so yeah, I can. :lol
I get a lot of it is marked up, but a lot of costs that come into play for these things are big. There is more to it than production costs. They might have to pay a license on every controller or things along those lines.

It doesn't matter really. The whole argument I made was nickeling and dimeing and last I remember, people were throwing hissyfits about the PS3 not including an HDMI cable and I'm getting labeled the fan boy.
 
Jeff-DSA said:
I hate that stupid play and charge pack. Mine lasts for about 3 hours and I need to plug it in again. It's total junk.
Click to expand...

I'm not in your position, so I can't say this for certain for you, but the problem may be one of (a) the Xbox 360 being total crap at determining how much life is left in the Play & Charge battery, and (b) the controller not recharging when it should be.

I bought one, thought it was broken, replaced it with another, and had the same experience. When you shut your 360 off, it's supposed to continue to run in USB powered mode until the controller is fully charged - mine does not. I think the problem is, whatever the 360 uses to tell how much life the battery has left doesn't work properly. So, when you recharge it, you have to actually play with the controller with the 360 on for a decent amount of time to get a full charge that way.

Then, even if the 360 tells you the controller is near death, it isn't always. (Which can be annoying, because the stupid lights on the controller keep spinning around to alert you no matter how much you yell at it that it still has plenty of charge left.)
 
Victrix said:
Clear this up for me

There are batteries, inside the battery pack

Did I get that right?
Click to expand...

Yes, but the fact that you can ACTUALLY SEE THEM after you break open the casing is the spoiler. Reality set in.
 
Victrix said:
Clear this up for me

There are batteries, inside the battery pack

Did I get that right?
Click to expand...


If you open up a cordless phone, at least the companies shrink wrap the batteries and put their company logo on it to give an illusion that they manufacture the "battery pack".

It IS kind of funny that they didn't even try to hide it.
 
Maybe I'm missing something because I had never thought about the battery pack before today, but is it so outrageous to think that there might have been a Li-Ion battery in the pack rather than the two NiMh batteries? Probably is, I'm just missing something.
 
Core407 said:
Well if I use my own batteries, I'll have to change them after they die so I'm still paying for batteries. Paying $30 just so I can recharge my batteries is just insane. You're missing the point with the online completely. I'm paying for P2P and demos. I don't mind paying for online play if I get a worthwhile experience but XBL is the complete opposite. Every time I play COD2 online at a friends, theres incredible lag no matter what game. I shoot a wall, bullets don't hit till 3 seconds later. I shoot a wall in Resistance online? Bullets hit it instantly. You're paying for an inferior service. It's just laughable really.
Click to expand...

No shit you're still paying for batteries, but guess what? You didn't give any of your nickles and dimes to MS! I really hate when companies give options and choices to me as a consumer. It really does suck.

As for your Live experience, I think your friend has shitty Internet, because that's not the experience I get playing on Live. Not at all. I'm glad you enjoy Resistance online, and it is a pretty great title. Too bad the rest of the PS3 online experience isn't as consistently good as the Live experience is across all the games in the library.
 
Deus Ex Machina said:
True.

I think the OP figures Sanyo means a low quality brand. Most of their electronics are rated higher then Sony and others at Consumer reports website.
Click to expand...

Bingo, Sayno's rechargeables are rated amongst the top, if not at the top.
 
ToxicAdam said:
If you open up a cordless phone, at least the companies shrink wrap the batteries and put their company logo on it to give an illusion that they manufacture the "battery pack".

It IS kind of funny that they didn't even try to hide it.
Click to expand...

Because every tom, dick and harry will be cracking open the plastic casing around the battery pack. At least it doesn't look like saran wrapped AA batteries like in a phone. The closed plastic casing is much better than the heat shrunk plastic wrap.
 
Honestly I was totally expecting something like moon rocks or a nuclear generator.
Core407 still has the best avatar in this forum. So he wins every argument by default.
 
Core407 said:
I'm paying for P2P and demos. I don't mind paying for online play if I get a worthwhile experience but XBL is the complete opposite. Every time I play COD2 online at a friends, theres incredible lag no matter what game. I shoot a wall, bullets don't hit till 3 seconds later. I shoot a wall in Resistance online? Bullets hit it instantly. You're paying for an inferior service. It's just laughable really.
Click to expand...
I don't think what you described is a tpical situation with Live at all (three seconds? Really?). Also, this isn't exacty the thread for tearing into Live's P2P structure.
 
Hey, lemme go and make a thread about how I cracked open the Wii and found that they were using parts that cost almost half of what they are selling it for, and are making 100% profit on every console sold.
 
ToxicAdam said:
If you open up a cordless phone, at least the companies shrink wrap the batteries and put their company logo on it to give an illusion that they manufacture the "battery pack".

It IS kind of funny that they didn't even try to hide it.
Click to expand...

To be fair, these batteries are inside a plastic casing that you have to break open to see. The plastic *is* the shrink wrap.
 
besada said:
That's because there's not much of a point beyond trolling. The battery pack has ...gasp...batteries in it! The kind you could buy in a store! Gasp, the horror!
Click to expand...

There IS a point, and the point is that this is bullshit. We're paying a premium for a kit that should NOT have parts in it that any Joe Schmoe can go pick up at Wal-Mart. I figured that there must have been some sort of lithium ion battery in it or something, designed specifically for the controller. The fact that it's just two rechargeable AA's is bullshit.
 
This is a remarkable discovery. Holy fuck. I have always thought that the Play and Charge kit DIDN'T have rechargeable batteries in them but this topic has opened my eyes to the light.
 
The SixAxis supports fourth dimension gaming so yeah, I can.
I get a lot of it is marked up, but a lot of costs that come into play for these things are big. There is more to it than production costs. They might have to pay a license on every controller or things along those lines.

It doesn't matter really. The whole argument I made was nickeling and dimeing and last I remember, people were throwing hissyfits about the PS3 not including an HDMI cable and I'm getting labeled the fan boy.
Click to expand...
When you troll a certain console in every thread, that's what happens.
 
bud said:
would you swallow kk's jizz?
Click to expand...

:lol

faq-elf.jpg


"Well Billy, now that you have opened your SIXXAXIS and discovered me, you will have to die."
 
For what it's worth, those are really nice rechargeable batteries. Sanyo batteries are also rebranded and resold by Sony and are very highly rated (I have some Sony ones from Amazon). That and they're 2500 mAh, which is about as much capacity as you can get.
 
lol, for some reason, that is nothing what I would picture it would be. I guess I just never really thought about it.
 
ToxicAdam said:
If you open up a cordless phone, at least the companies shrink wrap the batteries and put their company logo on it to give an illusion that they manufacture the "battery pack".

It IS kind of funny that they didn't even try to hide it.
Click to expand...
But they did hide it. They had the batteries wrapped up in a hardshell plastic case than isnt suppose to be opened. Thats pretty much hiding em.
 
Bah, lousy MS. I bought an extra 2 of those pieces of shit.

MS takes something regular and adds an enclosure + proprietary connection to it and then overcharges you for it.
 
Dartastic said:
There IS a point, and the point is that this is bullshit. We're paying a premium for a kit that should NOT have parts in it that any Joe Schmoe can go pick up at Wal-Mart. I figured that there must have been some sort of lithium ion battery in it or something, designed specifically for the controller. The fact that it's just two rechargeable AA's is bullshit.
Click to expand...

Those same batteries are $8 at my local Walmart, yet the battery pack for the 360 is $12 at my local walmart. Microsoft should be boycotted for making $4!
 
GitarooMan said:
Maybe I'm missing something because I had never thought about the battery pack before today, but is it so outrageous to think that there might have been a Li-Ion battery in the pack rather than the two NiMh batteries? Probably is, I'm just missing something.
Click to expand...

The packaging clearly says NiMH, so no.
 
Switch said:
Those same batteries are $8 at my local Walmart, yet the battery pack for the 360 is $12 at my local walmart. Microsoft should be boycotted for making $4!
Click to expand...
That beautiful 360 accessory packaging aint cheap foo!
 
Dartastic said:
There IS a point, and the point is that this is bullshit. We're paying a premium for a kit that should NOT have parts in it that any Joe Schmoe can go pick up at Wal-Mart. I figured that there must have been some sort of lithium ion battery in it or something, designed specifically for the controller. The fact that it's just two rechargeable AA's is bullshit.
Click to expand...

I think you guys are taking shit too seriously. It's funny and pathetic, but this really isn't a call to arms.

The shit only costs $12, wah wah.

devilscallmedad said:
When you troll a certain console in every thread, that's what happens.
Click to expand...

To be fair, he trolls Wii too.
 
Teen Ape said:
But they did hide it. They had the batteries wrapped up in a hardshell plastic case than isnt suppose to be opened. Thats pretty much hiding em.
Click to expand...

I understand that, that's why the title says "cracked open" in it. But it's just a small touch you expect from electronics companies these days. Then again, MS is still a neophyte in the hardware business and their design and packaging bear witness to this.
 
GitarooMan said:
Maybe I'm missing something because I had never thought about the battery pack before today, but is it so outrageous to think that there might have been a Li-Ion battery in the pack rather than the two NiMh batteries? Probably is, I'm just missing something.
Click to expand...
Thats what I was expecting it to be as well. I guess the last thing I expected to see were a couple of labeled rechargeable batteries that look as if they were picked off the shelf and stuck into a plastic casing to fool everyone :lol

This probably happens all the time.
 
Barnolde said:
Bah, lousy MS. I bought an extra 2 of those pieces of shit.

MS takes something regular and adds an enclosure + proprietary connection to it and then overcharges you for it.
Click to expand...

There is no proprietary connection. The battery casing that comes with a 360 allows you to put your own rechargables in if you so choose.

Dartastic said:
*Ahem*

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000OYMYZQ/?tag=neogaf0e-20

And you're right, it certainly isn't a call to arms. It just sucks to know that I spent 20 dollars on something that should have (and could have) cost me 5.
Click to expand...

So the wire and connectors there are free? They probably make $10 on this, big deal. Single batteries are $12. One wire will have you set for as many controllers as you buy.
 
I don't get what the problem is. It works as advertised, and up until now, everyone was perfectly happy with them. As long as they give you decent battery life, who cares what's inside the plastic?

Buying your own rechargeable AA's has always been the cheaper option, but not all rechargeable batteries are created equally. Some are just terrible and don't hold their charge after a certain number of cycles. The ones that MS is using are pretty good.
 
ToxicAdam said:
I understand that, that's why the title says "cracked open" in it. But it's just a small touch you expect from electronics companies these days. Then again, MS is still a neophyte in the hardware business and their design and packaging bear witness to this.
Click to expand...
But there also just batteries...BATTERIES! Who friggin cares!? You arent even forced to buy em to use with the controller you could have used your own rechargeable batteries from day 1.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

[Valve] Steam Controller: Reservations open May 8th
2 3
110
1K
CrustyBritches replied
Driftguard for Xbox Controllers is out!! Break out your old controllers with stick drift folks!
4
156
Kuranghi replied
Leaked Xbox Cloud Controllers
2
78
652
Dorfdad replied
GameInformer Control Resonant Preview: Set 7 Years After Control, "Open Ended" not Open World, Action RPG with "Meaningful Progression"
23
472
NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt replied
Thomas Mahler shares an interesting message for Asha Sharma
2 3
129
2K
saintjules replied
Top Bottom