Software

Software for a controller? Don't mind if I do! Unlike the SCUF Prestige or Impact, Microsoft has a first-party program to use for further customization, and I am not referring to the base Windows drivers needed for functionality. No, this is the Xbox Accessories app found only on the Windows Store, much to my regret. I've made my thoughts on how I feel about the Windows Store clear in other reviews, but it remains a terrible thing that barely updates anything, forces a lot of other updates, and has basic user experience issues. Note that the app is thus for Win 10 and Xbox consoles. The only good thing here is that it is lightweight on system resources, so the lack of any installation options other than yes/no is no deal breaker. Once installed, there is a pop-up tutorial that can be skipped at any time.


Whether or not you are signed into your Xbox profile, and irrespective of whether the controller is connected to your PC via Bluetooth or USB, there has likely been a firmware update since the controller was packed up. This was the case here too, with the Xbox Accessories app confirming an update was required before I could do anything else. This requires a wired connection, and the whole process only takes a couple of minutes.


At this point, you are greeted to a mostly bare and gray home page with a slider on the right that leads to where you would add a second controller if you have one. You need to also have the Xbox app installed and signed into, which is just another reason I find this whole Microsoft system so pervasive. What if I never want to use this on an Xbox/Windows store game? I suppose I am no different from a Windows 7 user then since I can't do anything with the app! So I just used my default Windows 10 email address and changed the gamertag to something more specific for the review, knowing that I don't plan on using this account for anything else anyway.

If you have gone through all the hurdles Microsoft unnecessarily put in front of you, you can finally get to customizing the Xbox Elite Series 2 controller. I do like that there is a quick-test button to make sure everything is working as expected first, and to test whether re-mapped functions are also recognized as such. I also chose to record both sound and video this time around, if only so you can get an idea of what the various buttons, thumbsticks, paddle sticks, bumpers, and triggers sound like. Three profiles saved on the controller itself are available, and you can at any time create new ones to replace them. So you might have a Halo profile, a Forza profile, and an Ori profile you overwrite with a Gears 5 profile when done with Ori. As seen in the video, each of these can be associated with a vast plethora of customization options, including re-mapping of the functions, tweaking the thumbstick sensitivity curves, or the trigger dead zones, and even the vibration motor intensity in the four zones for the four motors inside is customizable. This makes for far more options than with SCUF, and in a more user-friendly manner too.