It's nice to see that Microsoft listens -- at least when it comes to tweaking its Xbox. When Xbox came out last November, one of the original criticisms of the gaming system was that the controller was too unwieldy. In some cases, the complaint is justified.
Consider "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3." My 22-year-old son, a whiz at the PlayStation 2 (news - web sites) version of the game, suddenly found himself unable to do nearly as many tricks when he tried the Xbox version. He blames the controller and the button arrangement.
Microsoft intentionally created a larger controller to buttress the image that Xbox was a game system for grownups. But even people with average hands who were accustomed to the smaller PlayStation controller, felt Microsoft had gone overboard and that the layout of the buttons was too cumbersome.
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