Microsoft doesn't care if you use turbo controllers

September 7th, 2009, 20:19 Posted By: LyonHrt


In a podcast posted by Major Nelson that was recorded yesterday at PAX 2009, Stephen Toulouse hosted a panel about rules enforcement on Xbox LIVE. During the panel, he took questions from those in attendance about Microsoft's specific policy regarding some rules and behavior. One question involved the use of turbo controllers and he explained that Microsoft allows their use and it is not considered a form of cheating. For those unfamiliar with what a turbo controller is, it is a modded controller that allows users to perform multiple actions by holding a button or pressing it once when normally it would require repeated button presses. For example, in a game such as Call of Duty 4, you can make the slowest firing sniper rifles into rapid fire machine guns.
See vid

Some gamers would argue that turbo controllers are a form of cheating and looking at the footage above it is easy to see why. Toulouse said that Microsoft does not share this way of thinking because there are legitimate titles that expect turbo functionality to be a part of their game. Microsoft believes that it is up to the game developer to deal with that input device so if a game just blindly accepts turbo inputs, then it is the developers fault. He did warn, however, that you should never crack open your controller to modify it because that is against their terms of service.

Customized turbo controllers for the 360 can be bought on Ebay for around $60. Luckily, most gamers frown upon the use of such a device that gives you an unfair advantage over another player. As the person who asked the question at the PAX panel said "I feel dirty just touching it."

If you want to enhance your performance without using a dubious turbo mod, I suggest purchasing some FPS Freeks. These are analog extenders that you snap on to your controller to increase your range of movement and thus increase your precision and accuracy. It is not like using a turbo controller because you still must rely on your skill, these just allow you to utilize it more.

Listen to the podcast here

Source examiner.

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