Funny, because the PS2 controller was so repulsive to me that I didn't get into gaming until I finally bought an Xbox...even the original Xbox controllers (excluding the duke) are better than PS3 controllers. I find it funny that you would bring up ergonomics because it's very clear you are clueless on the subject.

You strike me as an engineer Mike B. do you know why? I work with them on a daily basis...and they seem to think they know it all...yet, so often they are wrong. You know why? Because they are detached from reality. It's the nature of the job, they work with drawings not the actually product. I suspect this is much the case with you. 

It's probably not the engineer being wrong, I would bet it is the user not understanding how to use things.

Then the engineer has failed no?

@ Ironman

I once started an in depth thread about this. For a full analysis look it up.

With proper usage, the XBox 360 controller is more likely to cause muscle cramps for more people due to its form factor. Also the MLPP/ROM of the left thumb, the stick is in a much better position on the PS3 controller. Some people seem to confuse ergonomics design with futuristic appearance.

It's funny as the reviewer stated he got numb fingers from the 360 controller...

In addition the bulk seem to agree the 360's d-pad sucks. Only real point may be the triggers, on the 360 feeling more like a gun trigger. But that's not really much of an issue on the PS3.

The PS3 controller forces people to contort their hands in order to use it properly. I have heard more complaints about that very thing than i have of the 360 controller as a whole. The 360 controller is laid out in such a manner that the hand wraps very naturally around it, and one's thumbs fall right on the sticks...if that is not ergonomics, I don't know what is. Some people seem to confuse ergonomics, and personal preferences. 

It's funny because it's better that cramped wrists that one gets from the PS3 controller.

Yes the D-pad sucks...I fixed mine, I took it out and cut slits in the rubber between the contact points...works like a dream now. Let's also not forget that the D-pad is not widely used on most 360 games. And it has very little to do with ergonomics.

@ Feylic, you clearly don't understand. I am a machinist, and as such I MAKE the things engineers design...often times we have to tweak the design because the engineer was working on theory and they forgot to think about the practical world use of their design.

One thing that always confuses me about the 360's supposed "better" thumbstick layout is this: Aren't our hands symmetrical? why would one thumb "naturally" rest higher than the other? Please explain this to me.

O, you're a machinist, that explains it...

Easy, it is a more natural placement given the fact that one needs to reach the A,B,X,Y buttons quite often, their placement is the only reason why the right thumbstick isn't in the same position as the left.

And yes I am a machinist, who works with engineers on a daily basis. One who is only a year away from becoming an engineer himself, one who competes in Battlebots from time to time...and in my experience, you take a battlebot designed by an engineer, and one designed by a machinist...well the one designed by the machinist almost always wins. Without my profession, you are back to rolling hoops with sticks for entertainment, so yeah, that explains it. 

So you're saying that the right thumbstick would be level with the left thumbstick if you didn't have to get to the 4 buttons so much. Interesting, because sony put the thumbsticks level and the buttons down, so in effect both controllers are the same. Good to know.

And so what you're saying is that no other profession on earth matters because we have the godly machinist?