Kilting It
Sometimes, people make gimmick controllers and they turn out whack. I remember having a Spider-Man controller for PS2. It was big, clumsy, and the buttons felt weird to press. Thumbs down. While third party controllers can be pretty hit or miss, when a first party puts their mind to it, they can make a pretty sweet controller, like the Xbox Tartan controller.
Tartan is the fabric pattern originating in Scotland that you may recognize on flannel or kilts. Here in North America, it is commonly called plaid, like that button up you’re currently wearing. Xbox UK reached out to Gordon Nicholson Kiltmakers to bring us a custom made Xbox Tartan controller. They made a quick video showing how it was made.
The controller isn’t just wrapped in wool. They took a standard Xbox Series X controller and removed the faceplate and side-grips. Using the Xbox colors green, black, and white accents, they wove the tartan. The faceplate is wrapped, the tartan carefully poked through all the button-holes, and then pressed flat, since the fabric can be pretty thick. Once the faceplate is back on the controller, the side-grips are popped back on the hold everything in place.
Xbox: Played in Scotland since 2002 🏴
To celebrate we created an official Xbox Tartan with Gordon Nicolson Kiltmakers and then made a hand-crafted, ultra-custom controller 🎮 pic.twitter.com/69eR7hcBv4
— Xbox UK (@xboxuk) April 27, 2022
Honestly, I think it looks and probably feels better than Xbox Canada’s denim controller. You may be able to win one of the ultra-rare custom Xbox Tartan controllers if you pay attention to Xbox UK’s Twitter account.
Do you like the look of this controller? Let us know in the comments below.