The Xbox Elite series of controllers are among the best first party controllers ever made. This is especially if you can get over, or even prefer, the asymmetrical analog stick setup. The good news is that there’s a third generation coming along, which also sports a new button.
These were first reported by Brazilian outlet Tecnoblog, who first saw images of the controller published by the country’s National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) regulator. To be clear, there’s clear indication from the regulator’s accidental posting that names it as specifically the Xbox Elite 3 controller, but the way it looks says all you need to know, really.
It sports just about everything that the controller series is known for. Offset sticks aside, there’s also the round D-pad option, paddles at the back, and locks for the triggers. The removable battery is noted to be smaller though, now rated at 1,528 mAh, where the previous generation had a 2,050 mAh pack.
What’s new are the roller-like buttons flanking the 3.5mm audio jack. The report speculates that these are for flight simulators, though it’s unclear what’s the exact context that requires scroll wheels instead of the other existing options. There’s also mention in the documentation about being able to switch between local and cloud modes, the latter of which also requires the Xbox mobile app.
The report also mentions a new Xbox Cloud Gaming controller, which is best described as a flattened version of the ordinary controller. No paddles and rollers here, but it looks to also have the indicator for the local and cloud modes. The D-pad and sticks also don’t look to be interchangeable, but that’s an understandable compromise for its form factor.
For now, there’s no official word on when these will be made available, to say nothing of the local market. All that being said, the existing Xbox Elite 2 controller should be enough for most applications, to say nothing of, say, the DualSense Edge.
(Source: Tecnoblog)
