Weird Rare Original Xbox Controller?

[Sunnyvale]

I found 2 of these controllers in the wild last week. No luck IDing them. As I'm an older gamer, Xbox's are something I play, but not collect like I do the old stuff. Any of you younger guys have any info on where these came from? Thanks.

http://i1143.photobucket.com/albums/n629/ConneticutLeatherCompany/Picture054.jpg

[saferkefka]

it looks like a normal controller with a cheesy skin on it.

[Sunnyvale]

it looks like a normal controller with a cheesy skin on it.

Under the Xbox button? I've seen stickers, but never under the button. But I am old...

[The 1 2 P]

The part on the bottom is definitely a skin because you can see it peeling off.

[Sunnyvale]

The part on the bottom is definitely a skin because you can see it peeling off.

OK, I'll be a little more clear. There are two stickers on each of the controllers, yes. Who cares, right? But under the Xbox logo; the clear button in the center of the controller, is the same lightning pattern. Under the logo. I never seen that before. Have any of you?

[Borman]

People in the past sold replacements for the middle jewel. The old one was popped off (as it was simply glued), and the new one put right on. Pretty common stuff back then.

[theclaw]

Huh neat. I'd never heard of that. Then again I haven't encountered a replacement middle jewel for Gamecube in person either.

[PapaStu]

Wrong font, no copyright or TM on the jewel. Still not real.

[NYLatenite]

Yup - agreeing with the last poster - it was pretty common during the last-gen for consoles to be skinned or cosmetically modded - especially the Xbox because of how many uses it had beyond being a game console when modded.

That type of controller mod was pretty common because of how easy it was to do - there were also a huge number of illuminated controller mods.

To give you an idea of how far things went, when the DVD drive on my original launch Xbox failed, I modded the console to turn it into an emulation box - here's what it looked like when I was done with it...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v231/NYLatenite/P1010010.jpg

[Sunnyvale]

Could anyone post me a link to where they sell/sold these 'jewels'? I appreciate the help thus far. And it is the same font as the original Xbox jewel, just smaller.

[Sunnyvale]

To give you an idea of how far things went, when the DVD drive on my original launch Xbox failed, I modded the console to turn it into an emulation box - here's what it looked like when I was done with it...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v231/NYLatenite/P1010010.jpg

Very nice mod! I'm always impressed by modern tinkering.

[NYLatenite]

I can't take full credit for the clean final look - the front panel was part of a kit sold for the Xbox. That's what I mean about just how crazy the Xbox modding scene got - you basically put a modchip in, replaced the front of the console, wired all the additional ports and LCD to a modchip and you were good to go. I think the final add-on for that series of mods was an IR port, so you could use a remote control with the Xbox Media Center program.

I think by the end I had that panel with the LCD on it, a modchip (running Xbox Media Center - which is mainly what the LCD was good for), a 200GB Hard Drive, a replacement Thompson DVD Drive, my mp3 collection onboard and a ton of emulators installed.

(Ultimately, the Xbox wasn't the greatest emulation box, as when you got to newer arcade and console emulators, there were some serious memory restrictions - if I remember right, you couldn't run anything greater than 32 or 64mb)

[Sunnyvale]

But at least you have something as opposed to a parts machine. I repair lots of consoles, but mods... Never touched that stuff.

[NYLatenite]

I can't pinpoint the exact jewel used, because every site basically sold their own designs for the most part. I checked most of my old links, and the only places still around were;

http://www.decalstore.com
http://www.decalgirl.com/
http://www.llamma.com

None have controller jewels in stock, though some still sell Xbox controller skins, and in the case of llamma.com, make references to the controller jewels.


here's a link that shows some of the LED jewel mods people would do
http://www.llamma.com/xbox/Mods/xbox_controller_led_mod_tutorial.htm

[Sunnyvale]

Thanks, NY. Now my research on these is complete... They're ass! Want em cheap?

On a side note, does Microsoft know how to make money or what? Buy stickers, replacement jewels, watch your system die, replace it, buy the 89 different versions of the console...

Ugh. Sticking with my SMS.

[PapaStu]

MS had nothing to do with the console or control skins. All 3rd party crap (though some stuff was licensed like the NFL/NBA/MLB type skins). They'd never sell different jewels either.