Analog sticks beneath the buttons gives me crampy finger.

It obivously has nothing to do with the360 controller exept in the minds of people who are dying to lable Nintendo as copying so that their preffered HD console won't look as bad now. The 360 controller is just a copy of others itself with the, primarily the Dreamcast.

Also the default coloration of the 360 controller isn't black as well as there being more differences in the design when looked at from other angles, so whoever made that gif is trying their hardest to make the associations. The clearest sign of this is that people refuse to even view the other probabilities as they know it would instantly shoot down their claim.

The Pro design is pretty much the Gamecube controller fused with the SNES

I like my controllers fat like the 360 so it is win. Sony better copy and make the PS4 controller nice and fat.

From what I have learned the position of the analog sticks has no affect on comfort. It is usually a complaint of biased whiners.

By all means my prefered HD console will likely be the Wii U and all it needed was a Super Mario game to be shown. Come on It does look like a 360 controller with a new layout. I don't get these discussions, really. Controllers keep evolving and whenever one company finds a way to make it even more comfortable the others will try to mimick that. It's a good thing for the players. 

The modern controller design stems from the NES controller, which was later improved with the release of the SNES (and, thankfully, won over the Genesis controller design) so basically it's still Nintendo's design wich prevailed. I wouldn't even argue that. The Wii U Pro controller looks like the most comfortable controller ever designed, at least looking at the pictures. To get to this level of comfortability Nintendo obviously had to take some design cues from other more recent controllers and the 360 controller is the most comfortable one on the market right now (says a guy who sold his 360 because he sadly didn't like the exclusive games) but it has a terrible d-pad. Just like the Gamecube controller which was just as comfortable and had a terrible d-pad as well. The layout of the buttons on the Pro controller may look unfamiliar but it's actually a good thing for most games because it is the most natural position for your thumbs. I own a PS3 and I still prefer the analog sticks to be in this position. It's just more natural. 

- All modern controllers (besides the Wiimote) stem from the NES / SNES controller designs

- The PS Move controller was heavily influenced by the Wii remote

- The Xbox controller was an evolution / mix of the Playstation / SNES and Dreamcast controller and took big parts of its design from them

- The Wii U Pro controller mixes the 360 controller with a Gamecube Pad

There, I probably made thousands of people angry with a single post. I don't understand why people are getting so upset over it. This thing will likely be the best controller ever shipped. I'm happy they took some design cues from Microsoft instead of "doing their own thing" just for the sake of it. 

Nope, the 360 controller is better.

OMG NintendoPie! For the first time you say something I was about to say.

The Classic Controller was a flimsy PoS. The only thing that redeemed it was the Classic Controller Pro that came with Monster Hunter, but even then it's gaming junk.

greenmedic88 said: Mummelmann said: So after a generation of telling us that the HD consoles were stupid and would have to follow their lead to survive and that motion controls were the shizzle, they decide to announce a black 360 controller?! It also comes in white!

Revolution! I'm one of those weird types who actually thought that the N64 pad was brilliant.

You must be bonkers. The PS1 controller, from which we get the parallel layout for D-pad and face buttons you're talking about, was made as pure rip-off of the Super Nintendo controller.

The 360 controller isn't really directly from the Dreamcast, the original XB controller was, then MS realised it was ridiculously uncomfortable and improved upon it twice with the second XB controller (which I thought was still uncomfortable, but useable) and then the X360 version.

There is no denying the X360 controller is clearly inspiring the general shape of the controller shell here, but there is nothing wrong with that in the same way that there was nothing wring with the SNES controller being the main inspiration for the original PS controller... or the GC controller in turn taking inspiration from the dual analogue.

My personal opinion is that if two of those shoulder buttons are digital, and the other two analogue triggers this is probably the pinnacle of what has become the standard 3D gaming controller. I think it is about time the other control stick has been moved to a more dominant position... when your thumb is out of it's comfort zone it's easier to press a button than use a control stick, so I would say this is finally a controller that is solely designed for gaming in 3 dimensions. The N64 design was Nintendo's attempt at mushing a 3D controller with a 2D. The Dual Shock was originally just a PS controller (which came from the SNES controller, which was for 2D games) but after the N64 came out they tacked on two sticks... the sticks were not given priority position, but did at least show that two sticks were better than one. Dreamcast indicated that the control stick needs priority over d-pad without resorting to multiple hand positions like N64, and GC/XB brought that into dual-stick realm.

So this is the ultimate 3D controller. It has the d-pad and button placement originally derived form the SNES, but finally moved out of the priority position. Shoulder buttons also from the SNES, and shoulder triggers derived from GC/XB/PS2 design. The control sticks are finally both in the priority position and the heads are from the nunchuck stick design (convex but with a single ridge, I think if pressed I would argue the GC's three ridges are my fave, but this is still better than concave or convex with no ridge). And of course the shell is from the X360 controller, which is arguably the most comfortable of these types of controllers (I haven't extensively used one, but I have held one and could tell at once it was a good design) Until I hold it I can't know for sure of course but assuming it is as comfortable at the X360 controller I really can't see anything wrong with the UPro (from now on we must all call it the UPro!) apart from my personal gripe about the control stick inset being circular (I like the 8 point compass method, probably due to being used to Nintendo controllers but it is nice to be able to easily find those 8 directions)

sorry... thats not my opinion... i was in a hurry and post the original news article from the source (copy, paste)... they made that final question... not me...

now IMO, for the overall aspect of it... yes it looks like a 360 controller... whats wrong with that? from a distance you might think that is a 360 controller, proving the similarity. we can only guess where is the inspiration come from when MS, Sony and Nintendo do their design, but human hands are what they are... there is not much they can do to fit and be ergonomic. there will always be similarities.