XBOX ONE WIRELESS PC ADAPTER
Like most PC gamers I predominately use the keyboard and mouse for gaming, it just feels right for me but that probably comes about due to the types of games that I play. However, occasionally you’ll come across a game that just cries out to be played with a controller, platformers or football for example, in my case it was FIFA 16.
Admittedly this isn’t my normal type of game, I’m more of an FPS gamer however every so often you just want a break from the norm and play something you don’t really need to think much about to succeed.
I’ve had an XBOX 360 controller on my PC for a while and it has served me well over the years, and still works perfectly fine however I thought it was time to upgrade to a newer XBOX One controller, in particular the wireless one.
Noooooo I hear you scream not a wireless one, response times, etc. etc. what are you thinking? Well let’s just remember here I’m using this controller for those “special” games, remember, platformers, football, maybe even driving but the keyboard and mouse still reigns for when I need accuracy!
Now you may or may not know that the PC just uses the standard XBOX controller, gone are the days of having proprietary connections which is absolutely fantastic but when it comes to using the wireless XBOX One controller Microsoft in it’s wisdom has lagged behind on making a wireless adapter available for the PC, until now!
Behold the big green box!
The eagle eyed among you might have noticed that Windows 10 at the bottom of the box. I’ve upgraded to Windows 10, I think it’s fine, in my opinion Microsoft have made great steps forward with this operating system however some of you are probably still running Windows 7 or even Windows 8.1 and are probably about to close your browser – but wait!
When this adapter was originally launched not so long ago it would only work with Windows 10 and so across the gaming community pitchforks and flaming torches were held aloft and riots started in the streets until such time that Microsoft decided to make the drivers compatible with earlier versions of their operating system. Woohoo! everyone can rejoice now.
So, back to the adapter. As you can see it’s in a lovely XBOX One green box, you get the adapter and a short USB extension cable along with the usual collection of leaflets. The adapter has a tiny light on the front and a small button on the side which is used to pair to your wireless controller.
It’s bigger than you think it’ll be
I’m not sure why, but I was expecting a smaller adapter than what it is. With all things tech getting smaller nowadays you’d think Microsoft could have halved the size of this thing, after all other manufacturers of wireless keyboards and mice are able to but hey I don’t know what’s inside – maybe it needs all this space.
You can choose to plug the adapter straight into your USB port or use the adapter cable, given you have a status light on the thing I prefer to have mine in sight so I use the cable. As I’m using Windows 10 it detected it straight away when connected, installed the drivers and was ready.
It’s then just a case of turning on the XBOX One wireless controller and following the instructions to pair it with the adapter.
On one of the leaflets in the box are details regarding an update to fix an issue with the audio connection on the wireless controller, simply follow the link and the controller is updated in seconds. I don’t use the audio connection so I don’t know what the difference is but I have read on forums that people have experienced issues prior to this update.
In use, I just can’t fault it. It does it’s job superbly and allows me to use the newer controller, which comes with massive benefits over the XBOX 360 controller (cue future blog post), with ease. You can pick up the adapter on Amazon for approximately £25 which is pretty much the cheapest I’ve found.
