| Xbox 360 messenger kit review |
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When I first used the messenger kit I wasn?t the slightest bit impressed. Before opening the package (a task within itself) I could tell that, although light, the slightly bulky structure of the ?chat-pad? would affect my comfort of holding the Xbox 360 controller. For me personally the Xbox 360 controller is one of the reasons why I would choose an Xbox 360 over any other console, sounds picky I know, but it fits my hands perfectly. I was surprised, initially holding the controller with the chat pad clipped in as it didn?t seem to bother my grip due to not really touching my hands. One thing I didn?t realize when actually using it was having to use your thumbs to type the messages, which seems dim now, especially as you associate a keyboard with using your fingers, as you do with any other keyboard, but obviously this is not the case.
The chat pad layout, as you would expect, is the typical QWERTY layout and the buttons themselves spread quite nicely across the pad, like any other ?run of the mill? keyboard you will find on a computer. Personally though, and to anyone else who uses a laptop, I found it a little difficult to type as some of the letters are a little further away than they are on some laptops, so occasionally I would make the mistake of inputting an?s? instead of ?a? and a ?k? instead of an ?l?, but this really doesn?t take much getting used to.
What is quite nice about this gadget, which took some testing to figure out, is the small green and orange buttons on the side. These act like a shift key on a computer, and as a ?lock? and let you change to the different symbols and signs which I thought was quite clever. A problem that I didn?t have, but noticed some may, is the actual size of the buttons which I think are a bit too small, I can imagine people with larger hands pressing more than one button by accident which is something you can?t do much about..
The evident reason for Microsoft releasing this product was to make typing messages to your friends a lot quicker and easier, It is, although a bit fiddly at first it is definitely a lot easier than shifting through buttons on a controller using the on screen keyboard. However there is one thing I must point out is that if you don?t have, or use, instant messenger on your Xbox, then there really isn?t any point for you buying it as typing messages to your friends when gaming, although more instant when using this nifty gadget, is still slower than actually sending a voice message or simply inviting them to a private chat, and you get a headset with the pack anyway. So other than being slightly narrow with its uses it does compare with the PC when using instant messenger which is its major selling point.
The chat pad itself is a very clever idea, as you can tell by the picture it slots in quite nicely, almost like it was always meant to be there; slotting it into place on the other hand was harder. If you look at the bottom of your controller there are little holes where the controller is screwed together. As well as slotting into the headset fitting it also has to fit into those holes, so when you want to put the chat pad in after playing a game (it can actually get in the way when your playing a fast paced game like Gears of War) you will have a five second struggle. Part of the reason why you get a headset with the chat pad is you can actually use the headset, this is because the headset fitting is slightly different, there are some quirks I found with this also as the headset mute is now on the wire not on the end making it that little bit more annoying when you want talk to someone in the same room as you, not a major fault though but it isn?t making things easier outside the game screen.
That being said though, now that I?ve used it for some time I couldn?t do with out it. Yes, the chat pad gets in the way when playing Gears of War, yes, it?s fiddly attaching it, yes, my thumbs are a little too big for the buttons; but it really does make communication that bit easier. It now takes about 5 seconds for me to send a quick message to a friend I am not able to talk to. I will now stay on my Xbox 360 when my friends are on MSN messenger rather than switching over to the computer. As I mentioned before, it was almost like the chat pad was always meant to be there as its light, small and well suited to the controller, and it really doesn?t take that long to get used to even though you?re just using your thumbs.
Something which would give this a bit more use would be adding some implementation within gameplay, in RPGs for example. Future hopes maybe? The messenger kit will be available this September and is well worth it for those of you tired of the on screen keyboard when chatting to friends.
Posted By: Lee Burton
Date: 2007-08-17
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