Originally Posted by
Steve
In regards to Bolivar's point with the AA batteries on the 360 pad. The 360 controller was designed with the idea that people would use either the play and charge rechargeable batter pack, or by putting rechargeable batteries in to the provided battery case. It was never designed with the idea that someone would be dumb enough not to adopt to that practice. However, given the fact that rechargeable batteries even lithium ion ones like the one built in to the PS3 controller degrade, lose potency and ability to hold a charge over time and use. The decision to give the controller a replaceable external battery costing around £15 for 2 recharging packs is far more consumer friendly and cost saving than Sony's decision to enforce their customers to replace the entire control pad for £45 a pop. Case in point, I have 3 different control pads for the 360. 1 came with my original 20GB hard-drive console (original option for a hard-drive. Again, the option was there for me to choose the hard-drive not a cost forced on me by default) 1 was purchased so I could play split screen multiplayer with an exgirlfriend. The 3rd pad is the black one which came with my 250gb Xbox 360s model purchased after 6 years of service from my original 20GB model caused it to RROD when playing Gears 3. I've never had to purchase another pad. I have however, had to purchase 3 packs of rechargeable AA batteries for a grand cost of £10 in 8 years or so of gaming on Xbox 360. In 5 years of owning PS3 consoles, my sister's partner has gone through 3 consoles (2 yellow lights of death compared to 1 RROD in 8 years for me on the 360) and about 10 controllers either through breakage of buttons or the battery in them going.