This has been a pet project of his for ages (like years), so I'm pretty sure he's interested in building one from the ground up if possible
I've actually wanted a controller with a trackball for awhile myself. In fact, I was hoping one of the systems last gen (360, PS3, Wii) were going to do it before they were officially announced. When Valve announced they were designing a controller for the Steambox, I got my hopes up again, but I they went in a different direction. Basically what I want (maybe I should just try modding this myself) is a controller that's simple to use for gaming, but also allows easy navigation of Windows OS without the need of getting up from the couch. Basically incorporate a KB&M into a standard controller.
Anyway, here's my idea of how to do it:
- Standard controller layout - I prefer the 360 for ergonomics
- Replace the right analog stick with a track ball - in addition to being more accurate aiming, it would allow navigating the OS from the couch with a single device.
- Replace the bumpers (L1/R1 on a dual shock) w/a clickable scroll wheel - this allows weapon/item cycling while keeping that buttons original function mapped to the same location.
- Add in a QWERTY keyboard - like the one for 360. Again for use in game or in the OS.
The reason I mentioned the 360 controller is because in addition to personal preference, it already works on PC. Since PC will recognize both a 360 pad and KB&M at the same time, essentially this means you would just need to disable the right analog stick and replace it with the track ball. The same thing applies with the bumpers or L1/R1 buttons. So basically when you're playing a game, you'll still have analog movement with the left stick along with any other options specifically mapped to the controller available. Of course, this could all be completely customized either in game or with something like Xpadder. The only problem is that I'm not sure the wireless receiver for the 360 controller would recognize the new inputs.
If anyone has any suggestions or would like to add more input, please let me know. Again, this might be a project I decide to do on my own, so I would appreciate some feedback.