There seems to be an ongoing struggle against the fans of both most popular consoles – Sony PlayStation and the Microsoft Xbox 360. This conflict has apparently been transfered onto the controllers for these consoles, generating numerous topics on how one is better than the other, and how much does the competitor suck.
Well, the quick summary of all this is: the DualShock 3 and the Xbox 360 controller are both excellent devices! You can’t make a mistake by choosing any of these two. However, there may be some preference points that might suit your personal likes.
The most important thing for you to consider is as simple as this: how comfortable it is to hold and use the controller. The significance of this might be neglected by many, due to preference of the logo on the controller (I’m not saying being a fan of Sony’s or Microsoft’s products is a bad thing, believe me – I love them both!) or other issues, but after using both of them for a longer period of time, I can say that the ergonomy is a definite asset of the 360 controller.
The DualShock 3 is great to hold as well, but it just isn’t perfect. It’s a bit too small (and my hands aren’t that big, I think they’re average), causing for instance, my fingers to be placed on the triggers in an uncomfortable way – so that the middle parts of my fingers are placed on the triggers instead of the fingertips.
The shapes of the buttons differ on both devices, as well as other things. The key differences are:
- triggers on the DS3 are shaped convexly, so that fingers tend to slip off of them when you press them, while the 360 controller have them shaped like a real trigger, so that finger is placed better anatomically and it doesn’t slip off.
- Triggers are buttons that are sensitive to the amount of press. The DualShock 3’s triggers have increasing pressure feedback, meaning that from the point you start pressing, to the point that the trigger is pressed fully, you have to apply increasingly more force/strength to push the button further. That means that in racing games when you keep the trigger pushed down most of the time, your finger will get tired – or at least it is a bigger deal than with the Xbox 360 controller, where the force needed to press the trigger is the same at every position.
- The D-Pad on the 360 controller is much worse than the one on the DS3. I haven’t had very bad experience with the D-Pad on the 360, I mean it works, but it happened to me a few times that it read ‘up-right’ when I wanted just ‘right’ or such, but it wasn’t frequent at all. The DualShock 3’s D-Pad is a well deserved win – it works flawlessly, no chance for a misread of your intentions.
- DualShock 3 weighs much less, which in my preference and in this comparison counts as a downside considering comfortability, the Xbox 360 controller has better weight.
- The shape of the analog sticks is convex on the DualShock 3, while the 360 controller has them concave. What that gives is that while using the 360 controller, your fingers tend to stick to the knobs more firmly. When using the DualShock 3 it didn’t occur that my finger would slip, but I can imagine that if someone was eating something kinda greasy (like potato chips) this might be an issue. No biggie though, I’m sure. It does however count as an upside in terms of comfortability on the 360 controller side.
- Clicking of the analog sticks is farely the same on both devices.
- DualShock 3 has the analog sticks placed simmetrically, while the Xbox 360 controller has them diagonally. I thought that I would prefer the simmetrical approach on the Sony and that different placement of fingers would annoy me on the 360, but it turned out that for me personaly – both are equally comfortable and I don’t think about i when playing.
- The RB and LB are ‘clicky’ on the 360 controller, and more ‘squashy’ on the DualShock 3.
- Both controllers support the rumble feature, that allows for directional vibration. That means that if you get hit in a shooter game from the left, then you wil feel the vibration more on the left hand. The vibration itself seems to be much stronger on the Xbox 360 controller in my case.
Most of us appreciate when a product is well built – it makes you feel that you’ve spent your money well. So how’s the quality and feel with the DualShock 3 and the Xbox 360 controller?
Both are well built devices. The plastic is durable, after much time it doesn’t seem worn off or change color (especially the white ones). However, when comparing the DS3 and the 360 controller, the latter definitely takes the lead.
If you haven’t ever try to play around with Microsoft’s pad before, you might not even notice the shortcomings in quality of the DualShock 3. But when you try the Xbox controller, you will surely see the difference. DualShock 3, when compared side by side with the 360, both in terms of visual and touch quality seems to me like a toy, the difference is really apparent. It is my personal judgement of course, but I’m sure anyone could see that to some extent and admit that. The fact that DualShock 3 weighs much less might also add to the cheaper feel.
This comparison is strictly providing hints for people, that need a gamepad for PC. I would be delighted if it also helped someone to choose a console, but that’s not the case. That is why considering how one of these devices connects with your computer and how to charge them is extremely important.
First off – power. The DualShock 3 uses an built-in battery, that you can charge through a mini-USB cable (easily found, used with most digital cameras) that may also serve as communication cable. In other words – you can use the USB cable for both charging and playing.
If the battery dies (I mean when the battery is no longer useable) you can unscrew the controller and replace it with a new one.
Xbox 360 controller uses 2 AA replaceable batteries. Charging may be done with a charging USB cable that serves only for charging (no communication with the PC is done through the cable). The cable has to be bought separately. I personally use rechargeable batteries and recharge them with a recharger (what a clumsy sentence, excuse me please).
Connecting these gamepads is not a walk in the park, I can tell you that. You might want to fall naively into a false impression that with companies like Sony or Microsoft it should be just like: unbox it, turn it on, and off we go! Well, it isn’t.
Microsoft officially offers support for the Xbox 360 controller in Windows 7 and up (perhaps also Vista). I have read ridiculous posts about how the controllers for Windows are signed as Xbox 360 controllers, but they are different inside from those meant for the console – but don’t worry, that’s nonsense. The thing is, however, that you can’t just take the controller from the Xbox 360 console and connect it with a computer. You need a special Microsoft reciever (called the Xbox 360 wireless reciever) and nothing else will work. You can try installing drivers only, searching the web for some hacky solutions, but I’ll spare you the precious time – there is no way to connect the Xbox 360 controller with a PC other than with Microsoft’s Xbox 360 wireless reciever.
Once you have the wireless reciever though, all comes down to just connecting the reciever to the PC, wait for the drivers to be automatically installed (that might take a while) and turn on the Xbox controller by holding down the button with the Xbox 360 logo in the center of the controller. You should be connected by then.
The DualShock 3 doesn’t need an additional reciever on the other hand, it works with a simple bluetooth reciever that is usually built-in in most of laptops. You will need a certain piece of software to make it work – I recommend DS3 Tool from http://www.motioninjoy.com/. The installment is a bit tricky, you might want to prepare yourself for that.
Software-wise the Xbox 360 controller should install it’s little program along with the drivers and it stays in tray. No additional stuff is needed.
Since the 360 controller is officially supported, it has the advantage of being automatically recognized by games that have support for a gamepad. The DualShock 3 might have problems with that, especially with the rumble feature (vibration) and you have to have a 3rd party application running in the background (such as DS3 Tool). The DualShock 3 also has the Sixaxis (gyroscope) that is supported in the mentioned DS3 Tool, but it isn’t used much in games and is negligible. It is worth mentioning that Xbox 360 controller uses radio connectivity, while the DualShock 3 connects through bluetooth, which means it will loose signal against walls and interference easier that Microsoft's controller. It is true, however, that in this kind of scenario (it is doubtful that you'll play through a wall, unless you have some kind of superpower vision), bluetooth is mostly enough.
I own a Sony TV and a Sony Vaio laptop. I really like Sony products and usually I prefer them over Microsoft, generally. When I was making my own research to make a decision which controller to choose for couch gaming, I was convinced that DualShock 3 was the winner.
However, I stumbled upon an online offer in my city, where someone was offering a used, white Xbox 360 controller (they only sell black ones now and officially discontinued the white version, which was an advantage for me) for a very cheap price, and I am happy I took it.
After using both controllers in my setting I can honestly recommend the Xbox 360 controller over the DualShock 3. As I stated at the beginning of this article, you can’t go wrong choosing any of these two. They are both excellent devices. But the comfortability of Microsoft’s gamepad is just stunning. It is a pleasure just holding it.
I can understand why many people would choose DualShock 3 over the 360 controller, and I can imagine I overlooked many of it’s advantages, but I was convinced on buying Sony’s pad, but after using both of the controllers myself, I changed my mind.
So if you have the dilemma of choosing one of those – either buy both (!) or just go to a store or a friend that owns one and try them out in your own hands. If you don’t have that opportuniy – trust me, the 360 is the way to go.
Good hunting!
