Reviews - Mad Catz MLG Pro Circuit Controller

[HEXUS]

Mad Catz doesn't do things by halves with its new Xbox 360 controllers.

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[BongoJoe]

"Could have incorporated more features to help out players during the game"
I presume you mean a rapid fire or macro function? I'm OK with that - it is useful - but some gamers consider rapid fire to be cheating.

[Terbinator]

£90.

Nope.

[crossy]

Aimed at professional gamers, and show-offs ... Mad Catz has thrown in a small man-bag adorned with red piping and the MLG logo

These made me LOL, especially that first comment.

We've been using the wireless Xbox 360 controller for many years, which has a bit of extra weight to it (because of the two AA batteries)

What's wrong with the rechargeable packs - saves on having to have stocks of AA's lying around?

£90 is a bit steep for me plus, as SW says, I'm in the "cannon fodder on Halo" group so it's probably not designed for me. Do like the idea of being able to swap the three sticks around - but are the left and right sticks dedicated modules so - for example - you could have two analog sticks on the left?

[pauleden]

LOL @ price tag.

[Dareos]

I know its a bit steep on the price tag, but then so are the dedicated fight sticks. I love the idea of switching out the d pads and analogue sticks, especially for games such as Tekken and Street Fighter. I have gone through 3 or 4 pads in the 4 years I have had a 360 and one of these with replacable sticks might have been a better solution.

Only reason I am not rushing out to get one is because the new Xbox should be out this year and no idea what the controllers will be like for that, tho hopefully the same.

[MadduckUK]

Razer Onza TE head to head?

[Hicks12]

PAHAHAHAHA, professionals... lol, grab a mouse and a keyboard then you lose your "professional" status on a console.

Seriously, its switching of the dpad and thumb stick looks stupid, i personally couldn't get on with the playstation thumb stick locations which is why i avoided using them on the ps1 (and didnt get a ps2!) but the xbox has it sussed it doesnt hurt my hands when playing its natural so they are letting users move to a worse position? I guess thats PS3 owners sorted .

£90 is just a joke, it costs £10 less than the console... thats just depressing, id rather spend £60 on a mechanical keyboard (cherry or razer) and then grab a logitech g400 for £17, costs less yet i have something that will outlast it AND perform better.

The Console market baffles me, sell cheapy headsets at £100 when you can buy proper one for £100 just on the consoles like 360 you cant use a standard form of connectivity. Console players seem to have lower standards .

[Dareos]

I've been a pc gamer for years, much prefer console gaming these days. Far easier drop in and out, far more level playing field as everyone is on the same system, generally using same peripherals as each other. Back in the bad old quake/2 days, it was impossible to get a decent game on public servers due to hacks and aimbots etc. Problem still exists on consoles, but to a far lesser degree.
As far as the swappable sticks go, have you tried playing Tekken with a thumbstick, its awkward and annoying, and the dpad on an xbox is placed such that its good for flicking through inventory menus and so on, but using it for movement or combinations is a nightmare.

As for overpiced headsets, yep thats the case, but as a console doesnt have a dedicated sound card and speakers, and the sound comes through the TV, the headsets need to have audio connections on them for the red and white components on the back/side of a TV, if decent headphone manufacturers added these to their headsets, then any usb headset would do, not just a branded one.

[crossy]

As for overpiced headsets, yep thats the case, but as a console doesnt have a dedicated sound card and speakers, and the sound comes through the TV, the headsets need to have audio connections on them for the red and white components on the back/side of a TV, if decent headphone manufacturers added these to their headsets, then any usb headset would do, not just a branded one.

What's wrong with adding a convertor (such as the one shown at http://www.amazon.co.uk/Headset-Earp.../dp/B0069WJ56I) and then using a "normal" headset?

Personally though, I went for a more expensive solution - I added a TurtleBeach DSS sound processor which gave me a decent (amplified!) headphone-out. This meant that I could then happily use my Triton AX710 headphones (bought for use with BF3 on the PC) since the Triton's also come with an XBox microphone->gamepad adaptor.

Had to use the DSS because I switched monitors to one with HDMI, and the headphone output from my new LG was like a mouse fart, (with no adjustment possible). So I tried using HDMI (for video) and the XBox VGA cable (for sound only since it's got two RCA's), but that arrangement looked pretty awful, plus it was such a tight fit that I was sure that it was straining both connectors. Using the DSS meant that I could remove the VGA cable and use the digital optical instead. Incidental benefit being that the sound from the DSS is pretty pleasing with bags of bass - at least to my addled hearing!