The truth is, we simply won't know what this thing will look like in six months without a time machine. It would be easier if Microsoft would be more transparent about the issues with the first Elite controllers, but that would mean admitting liability for defective units. The Xbox Accessories App doesn't allow you to program a string of buttons to the paddles - a huge disappointment if you play fighting games and like to have a few combos up your sleeve when things get dicey.

The controller can save two profiles at a time, and switching between them is as simple as moving a slider on the face of the controller. If you need more than two apps at any given time you'll need to return to the Accessories app, however, I never found myself playing more than two games in any one gaming session.That said, the amount of customization options can be overwhelming for someone who isn't interested in X- and Y-axis acceleration or setting the sensitivity of a trigger down to the nearest millimeter. You're concerned about its durability, given that its predecessor had many construction and quality issues. Over the course of a weekend, I used the controller in a half-dozen racing, fighting, shooting and sports games in my Xbox One collection. Some benefited immensely from the controller while others merely felt more comfortable than usual.

Hold it in your hands for a minute and you'll instantly feel the big changes over the standard Xbox One pad. It's heavier by far, and more comfortable too thanks to the rubberized grip and amazingly smooth matte finish.It's hard to spot a serious design flaw with Microsoft's new control pad. For the first six hours with the controller I pored over every detail trying to find something that didn't live up to the price tag. But after the six hours passed I hadn't found anything that annoyed me that couldn't either be swapped out, recalibrated or reprogrammed. Spin the controller around and things get more interesting. There you'll find the four aforementioned paddles, aptly named P1, P2, P3 and P4. At first I thought they might interfere with how I usually grip the controller - like most gamers I place pressure on the wings with my palms and three outside fingers - and for a few irritating seconds when I first started using the controller that's exactly what happened.