While most folks play games purely for his or her entertainment value, an elite few get their game on while calling themselves “professionals.” These superstars of simulated battle make the rounds in various tournaments, including, most notably, Major League Gaming Pro Circuit championships. Now those digital athletes, in addition to the hundreds of seasoned “amateurs,” can compete with professional (or at the very least officially licensed) equipment — we’re talking about gear like Mad Catz’ Major League Gaming Pro Circuit Controller for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. This Major League gamepad promises to provide competitive gamers a certified, customizable edge over their opponents with swappable “ProModule” thumbsticks and d-pads — invoking the customizable spirit of Mad Catz’ transforming RAT mouse. We gave the PlayStation 3 edition an opportunity to make its rodent cousin proud. Read directly to see if it lives as much as its professional branding.
Hardware
The Pro Circuit controller’s retail packaging cradles the gamepad in a plastic molded display case, showcasing both an absolutely assembled precision gaming tool and a slew of swappable components. As well as the glossy, stock PS3 parts already latched onto the controller’s body, the visual feast encompasses a matte black faceplate, two additional thumbsticks, a couple of matching matte controller grips and a classic D-pad. The spare parts all have a particular “Xbox” style, responding to the pre-installed convex PS3 thumbsticks and separated D-pad with a couple of analog offerings rocking a concave top and a classic, solid crossbar directional pad.
Behind the controller’s molded plastic packaging we found the unit’s 3-meter detachable braided USB cable and a padded carrying case. The case feels about as protective as a cardboard lined plush zipper case can, nonetheless it lacks the premium feel of the controller itself. a couple of velcro walls let you compartmentalize the soft lunchbox to hold your controller and its spare parts.
The controller itself apes the form of Microsoft’s premiere gamepad, closely mimicking the curves, grips, triggers and shoulder buttons of the Xbox 360 controller. There are important differences, needless to say — the gamepad’s face could be rearranged to mimic the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 controllers, a mix of both, or maybe odd customizations featuring two directional pads and one joystick. The backside is a bit of different too — where one might normally discover a battery pack, the MLG Pro-Circuit has a weight compartment, allowing users to bog the unit down with as much as two 25 gram (1.23 ounce) weights. The dearth of battery means exactly what you’d think it does: this puppy is on a leash. Mad Catz says using a wired USB cable will combat input latency and accidental disconnections — we are the first to sing the praises of wireless peripherals, but we won’t blame an expert controller for not taking any chances. Besides, in case you are going to tie a controller down, we will not bring to mind a nicer tether than the MLG Pro Circuit’s three meter braided USB cable. A threaded end ensures the premium feeling wire won’t yank from your controller mid-game.
Components, Configuration and Play
So, you are able to swap and replace the controller’s joysticks and directional pads — but are they worth switching out? For the foremost part, component use is an issue of preference — the convex “PlayStation style” thumbsticks don’t provide a significantly different level of anxiety than the “Xbox style” concave sticks, although Mad Catz says additional ProModule kits will eventually give users additional options in color, texture, sensitivity or even stick length / height. The included thumbsticks offer a little more tension than the Xbox / PlayStation stock controllers, but are still very responsive.
The controller’s modular D-pads are somewhat less equal, each with their very own flaws. The PS3 style “island” D-pad, for example, registers diagonals quite easily — but lean your thumb hard to either fringe of any given direction, and you’ll end up hitting that diagonal unintentionally. The classic, solid crossbar D-Pad even so has less trouble with directional drifting, but hitting those diagonal inputs will also be difficult. Although the PS3 style pad appears to be like better balanced of both, neither of them overshadow the pads they emulate.
Switching out the modular components is straightforward, or even sort of fun. Five tiny magnets hold the controller’s faceplate down, securing it well enough that it doesn’t detach by itself, but making it easy to peel off. Sticks and pads are removed with an easy twist to the left, unlocking them and letting them be lifted out. There are some limits to configuration however — we found that having multiple thumbsticks at the controller’s left simply didn’t work, although dual d-pads had no problem playing nice together. The directional pad components are physical blocked from taking over residence the rightmost modular compartment, and the controller offers no method to re-assign left / right stick functionality. This shouldn’t affect most gamers, but players devoted to playing southpaw won’t find the left-handed holy grail here.
The gamepad’s four primary face buttons aren’t swappable, but feel more than enough that we do not feel like we’d like to replace them, despite the fact that shall we. Just like the controller’s body, its face buttons mimic the poppy buttons of the Xbox 360 controller, but lay somewhat flatter than their model’s bubbly buttons. The shoulder bumpers and triggers echo Microsoft’s pad in addition, although L1 / R1 bumpers offer a hair more resistance and are significantly louder to depress. The triggers are a bit toward the finger-pulls they hope to flatter, and quietly depress with a a little bit less resistance. Despite the excessively clicky bumpers, our index fingers felt very comfortable at the controller’s edge.
Although it isn’t clear instantly, the gamepad’s PS3 variant has a killer exclusive feature: trigger swapping. Strangely absent from the peripheral’s manual, this useful trick predictably swaps the functions of the controller’s trigger and shoulder buttons, allowing L1 and R1 to take where of L2 and R2 and visa versa. This selection is invaluable to PS3 gamers who dislike the console’s tendency to swap the trigger controls on multiplatform titles, letting them manually remap a game’s shoulder buttons to compare the layout its Xbox 360 brethren. Holding the kit’s start and choose button for several seconds makes the switch, inverting the gamepad’s controller assignment indicator lights to inform the user the swap is active. We in the past adjusted to the PS3′s tendency to position its own floppy triggers within the secondary position, but with the ability to make the turn on the Xbox aping MLG Pro-Circuit just felt right. We will easily see this option being a selling point for most gamers — which makes all of it the more unusual that it’s not noted of the PS3 edition’s manual.
Although our review unit is a PS3 controller by trade, it did a passable job moonlighting as a computer gamepad. Windows instantly recognized the controller because the “MLG GamePad for PS3,” a 13-button dual analog controller with an 8-directional D-pad. We used a number of different button mapping programs to get the controller up and running with numerous PC games, although none of them recognized the unit natively. It didn’t adopt any of our machine’s previously configured PS3 controller profiles either, but because it classifies itself as a unique controller, that is not unexpected.
Despite its (very welcome) trigger swapping magic, Mad Catz’ MLG Pro-Circuit has some rather jarring flaws for what’s considered a premium, “professional” gaming controller. Put bluntly, it’s missing features when put next to a typical PlayStation 3 controller. Searching for Sixaxis? You will not find it here — the gamepad’s own manual notes its absence, also mentioning that pressure sensitivity for the controller’s L1 and R1 buttons is gone besides. We’ll admit, Sixaxis control probably doesn’t have a robust foothold in tournament play, but if a peripheral breaks the Hamilton price barrier, we do not expect to lose features. The professional-Circuit controller has also dropped force-feedback, an omission that Sony itself was guilty of with the unique PS3 Sixaxis controller, eventually remedied by the introduction of the DualShock 3. Again, it could be argued that vibration can be distracting in tournament play, however the average gamer searching for a premium controller may prefer the tactile feedback to the tactical advantage.
The Competition
If you are looking for other MLG licensed gamepads, you’ll hit a brick wall pretty quick — but there are a couple of other options available for the competitive gamer. The 0 Razer Onza Tournament Edition 0 would possibly not have the professional-Circuit’s swappable sticks, but resistance adjustable thumbsticks and multifunction buttons are a beautiful hefty helping of customizability at an insignificant $50. Nevertheless, the Onza is Xbox exclusive, leaving PS3 owners within the lurch; its button mapping features also disqualifies it from use in lots of MLG tournaments. If professional play isn’t your concern, there is a whole host of 1 themed controllers 1 and 2 quirky attachments 2 which can keep your gaming experience fresh.
Wrap-up
0 Is Mad Catz’ MLG Pro-Circuit controller the pro kit it promises to be? Well, it meets MLG tournament requirements, and its definitely an effective feeling gamepad. Its Xbox style design feels familiar and comfy, and its modular sticks and pads give it a completely unique air of customizability. For a premium ticket price of $100, however, we feel just like the rig’s directional pads may be stronger, and the PS3 edition’s lack of Sixaxis control and pressure sensitive L1 and R1 buttons is perplexing. Although the exclusion of force feedback may be painted as reasonable, it doesn’t feel so in practice — our hands were unshaken, and that seemed, well, wrong.
On any other hand, the unit feels solidly built, betrayed only by the gamepad’s extra-clicky shoulder buttons. The PlayStation 3 edition’s exclusive trigger-swap trick is a boon to boot, and will be enough to warrant the sticker price for a number of the PS3′s more picky players. In any case, the MLG Pro-Circuit is a reasonably satisfying gamepad, though it can be a more in-depth purchase for gamers playing on an Xbox 360 than for the common PS3 owner. Yes, it fulfills all of these niggling MLG tournament requirements, however the feature loss between the 2 versions is far greater for the PlayStation 3 user. It comes right down to a non-public decision; will the lack of Sixaxis, a feature you most likely don’t use that much anyhow, nag at your lighter wallet — or will you delight in your PS3′s new greater than adequate Xbox 360 controller substitute? What’s $100 worth to you? Take break, give it some thought over a number of rounds of 3 Killzone 3 , and come back to us.
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