Does it really matter? There's probably a reason behind Sony's decision to trash the design in favor of the Dual shock.

NorthernAvengeR

@joandrade: sorry, i should have read the whole post. Where's the "EDIT" button?

joandrade

this is on hackaday, he bought the chinese knockoff, and inserted the guts of an actual sony controller.

[hackaday.com]

joandrade

@matshorics: Try clicking the link.

Đipic

... unless of course I'm terrible at photoshop and needed to fuzzy up my terrible attempt at making that chinese rip off that I bought look legit

matshorics

hahaha

who takes a picture that fuzzy and in black and white, and expects to be taken seriously - I mean, if I spend hours modding a control and want to show it off, I'd take a clear photo of it at least...

matshorics

They should have kept the boomerang controller, It would make Sixaxis games more enjoyable.... Even tho the Dualshock design is the best ever! lol

Stikasasn

@Dayvie: Yes, the buttons are the original PS3 controller and the cable is different.

Philantrophy

@Dayvie: Yes, you can see the button are changed and the cable is different.

Edit on my previous comment: I read the reason for the lack of a quality picture. Dead batteries....

Philantrophy

They both look like crap.

Kirk Douglas

If anything, he has slightly modded the knock off one.

Dayvie

Oh Shi-

I've been found out! *Flees in shame at not reading the post*

ChunkOFunk

@Dao2SKP: Beat me too it. Still, you don't know whether he's telling the truth or not.

Đipic

A clearer picture would have settled this pretty quick...

Philantrophy

@QBasic: Straw-Man... Occam's Razor etc etc...

One tiny inconsistency can't contradict piles of evidence that say otherwise. The fact that the weird looking "Turbo" and "Clear" paper thingies are there in the first place are enough to tell me that he had to design around those buttons to make it look like something on a normal PS3 controller. Besides, why the hell would there even be turbo buttons on a simple controller case mod?

ChunkOFunk

This is what was written in the thread from the modder (?):

"Regarding the Boomerang VS Ripoff Boomerang Controller:

Read the post on engadget.

If you DONT know how to click a link, I'll tell you.

That controller in the picture is a PS2/unofficial hardware ps3 boomerang shaped controller. I know this as, I used that as my BASE design. I bought the controller, ripped the guts out and put in REAL sony six axis controller guts. (Guts = Motherboard and such). I ALSO made the controller 15-20% bigger.

So in shortform, I took the cheap chinese ps2/fake ps3 controller, took out the CHEAPLY made motherboard inside of it, and put a REAL OFFICIAL sony controller motherboard inside. I said this right in the hackaday article. Just incase someone would ask. The cheap controller board that came originally inside the boomerang knock off was very fragile and didnt have the nostalga feeling that I wanted. So I took my secondary sony six axis controller, and made the board fit inside of this case. I also made the controller about 15-20% bigger using bondo editing. As I have big hands. Also, my version of the controller doesnt have a LOGO of the company branded under the PS button, like the one you showed the picture of. Heck, even my face buttons are designed different. xD :smileywink: Observation is key, my dear."

Is he lying? You be the judge...

Đipic

Alrighty, case settled then. Half fake, half legit.

bakalhau

L2R

"Regarding the Boomerang VS Ripoff Boomerang Controller:

Read the post on engadget.

If you DONT know how to click a link, I'll tell you.

That controller in the picture is a PS2/unofficial hardware ps3 boomerang shaped controller. I know this as, I used that as my BASE design. I bought the controller, ripped the guts out and put in REAL sony six axis controller guts. (Guts = Motherboard and such). I ALSO made the controller 15-20% bigger.

So in shortform, I took the cheap chinese ps2/fake ps3 controller, took out the CHEAPLY made motherboard inside of it, and put a REAL OFFICIAL sony controller motherboard inside. I said this right in the hackaday article. Just incase someone would ask. The cheap controller board that came originally inside the boomerang knock off was very fragile and didnt have the nostalga feeling that I wanted. So I took my secondary sony six axis controller, and made the board fit inside of this case. I also made the controller about 15-20% bigger using bondo editing. As I have big hands. Also, my version of the controller doesnt have a LOGO of the company branded under the PS button, like the one you showed the picture of. Heck, even my face buttons are designed different. xD :smileywink: Observation is key, my dear."

Dao2SKP

I agree with the "small light thingies" comment.

CosmicElement

It's legit. Look closely: The "turbo" and "clear" buttons are aligned differently. There are also two small light thingies on his mod, where the Chinese knockoff lacks them.

QBasic

He clearly just bought the Chinese knockoff and taped some pieces of paper (or something) over the Turbo and Clear buttons.

Not that it matters because that boomerang controller doesn't have the angled d-pad and face buttons that would have made it comfortable to use.

Jeff Paine

Ok, I see what he did. He says he did use a boomerang controller, and if you look at the color picture, you can kind of see that he added bondo to the outside of the grips, in what seems to be an effort to make them fatter.

keyrat

@NorthernAvengeR: people say the reason is that the public wasn't ready for a such a radical controller design. also, it got a lot of negative feedback.

alby13

I *own* this controller, though the one pictured in the link is wireless, and the one I have is wired. $7.50 at Wal-Mart FTW.
[tinyurl.com]

It's a PS2 controller, with tilt sensing technology. It was cool-for about 15 minutes. Everything you do feels really impotent, like you could have done more, like pushing the analog stick all the way to the edge. This is especially frustrating coming out of a dive in Ace Combat 5.

Mascott

I never understood the complaints against the boomerang controller. I thought it looked way more ergonomic than the sixaxis or dualshock 2 did, and it brought that whole "next-gen" look to the PS3.

DigiMish

@joandrade: There isn't one, unfortunately.

Lezard

I can't see if the buttons are dotted. Maybe gutted one part and just encased it?

PsycheE

i actually liked the boomerang from when they 1st showed it... *sighs

BADASSgeek

@LittleBigPlaneteer:

Racing*

How'd I mess that word up >.<

LittleBigPlaneteer

As weird as the boomarang looked, I would have liked to give it a try. I think Sony should release it anyway, just for kicks. It could be fun!

I think the contours of it might even make it better for SIXAXIS use, especially racising. The crescent shape is sort of like 1/2 a steering wheel.

LittleBigPlaneteer

i say fake just cause it's the internet

VixDiesel

Did any of you bother clicking the link? The first thing he says is that he took the cheap knockoff and put good parts in it and gave it some more girth. So, uh, yeah it's going to look a lot like the knockoff.

Sigh.

Wolfers

I wouldn't touch either of those. Unofficial controllers, third part or otherwise, usually set off my gag reflex.

kingofrain

The picture he originally posted looks better than that, as it's in color. The black and white was from the hackaday post.

I don't see what he could be hiding when he outright says he didn't make the shell of the thing, he just added some bondo to it to make the innards fit properly.

It'd be like saying those PC case mods posted up here earlier where they were shoved into a Wii and a Game Cube aren't really mods because they didn't fabricate the entire shell themselves.

eurkos

It is incredibly easy to change the buttons of a controller. What parts were widened? Its clearly not anything on the front, as it still has the controller texture which bondo can't quite capture, plus the whole button text still being there. Yeah, the mode button text is gone, but it is easier to remove then it is to add stuff back. Plus how the whole bondo surface is uniform on the front with its plastic-molded texture, its kind of suspect. And the blemish on the front, which seems to lend itself to being the only thing changed.

It is entirely possible that the inside has been modded, but the outside is a bit more doubtful

Borman18

My question, if it is real, why can't he take a good picture of it? A cell phone picture looks better than that. I suspect it is intentional so you can't quite see what it is. The only differences are the center buttons and the two "lights" at the bottom center, but the picture is too poor quality to see what the differences are, all we can tell is that they are indeed somehow different.

Seems like he is hiding something.

zdevex

Still doesn't look like the original boomerang. It was more like a half circle and could be stood upright. And it was silver.
But it makes sense if the guy said he replaced the insides with a real PS3 controller. That's easy enough.

Benjammn

It's bigfoot!

Fujoshi

Of course it will come back. It's a boomerang.

wingingflipper

@Swizzler121:

Can you read? Try this: [forums.benheck.com]

He full acknowledges the controller is fake. And note the color image. It was HackaDay that made it black and white.

His post:

Hey guys! I finally finished this beast!

What I basically did was take a cheap PS2 boomerang-ish shaped controller, and take its guts out and modify a REAL official Six Axis Controller and put it inside the shell. I also expanded the shell 15%.

I got the controller painted black, so it would be a batman inspired "Batarang Controller".

Please excuse my picture quality. My 5mp camera thinks brand new batteries, are dead. Also, excuse my bondo job. It was my first time.

LittleBigPlaneteer

I'm thinking he bought the Chinese one and modded that to make it better, so 50/50 here.

kylo4

It is legit, the D-Pad looks pressed down, as if it was removed then placed back in, not exactly as intended so it's not sitting up. Look at the up and left D-pad keys. This is common for those of us who tinker with controllers. I'd say impossible unless he intended open up the knockoff and take the D-Pad in and out for some odd reason, which is extremely unlikely so it is legit. Most of you are just glancing and saying it's fake.

Shockadin

@zdevex:

He's not trying to hide anything. Read his post:

"Please excuse my picture quality. My 5mp camera thinks brand new batteries"

He clearly states it's a knock-off controller that he gutted, put authentic guts in, and added some bondo to the grips or something to make it more ergonomic.

The guy has 2500 posts on a forum dedicated to a console modder/customizer (Ben Heck). I'm sure he has enough of a reputation with that amount of posts to avoid getting away with lying. Plus if you look at his signature he writes: "Batarang Controller: 100% Done!" which leads me to believe he has been working on it and updating the status little by little in his signature.

LittleBigPlaneteer

Bondo my ass. Look at it carefully and you can easily tell that's fake. By using a terrible camera phone and a shaky hand he creates the illusion of the buttons being straight line. And by keeping the control poorly lit, some of the buttons 'appear to disappear'.

MalariaMan21077

its obviously fake. why is it out of focus, in black an white, and has crud all over the front buttons where the turbo buttons were on the Chinese ripoff? This one is filed in with all those blurry alien photos.

Swizzler121

@LittleBigPlaneteer: It seems that you are correct. I neglected to read the actual forum post, going purely off the kotaku post which is somewhat misleading. I suppose that it could still be fake, but there is no way to tell from the pictures, and after reading that I would agree that it doesn't seem all that likely.

zdevex

lol
i have that controller. its by physclone
except the logo on the top isnt protruding out of it like crazy. and it doesnt look so greasy.
and its also wireless. but for ps2.
fake or from china? i think its just a shell with a few changes

kilikafinal

Looks hideous..

This is much better

[imshopping.rediff.com]).jpg

theEnemy

@zdevex:

Yeah, I find it strange that Owen uses the picture from Hack a Day yet links to the direct story. The Hack a Day article doesn't give any details that it's a store bought knockoff controller, but the forum post clearly states that. Owen should have read the first sentence of the guy's post at least and at least post the better colored pictures.

As stated, it appears to be something he was working on for a while. Someone even said to him that he finalyl finished a project, which indicates others there knew about it. If you look at the second page of that forum thread, they're even dissapointed and angry at posters here for even thinking it's fake.

Ultimately this poll is completely flawed, since it's both a Legit Mod and a fake where he bought the knock-off.

LittleBigPlaneteer

One thing I'd say about the Boomerang as a positive is that we never knew it, we consumers never touched it. Hell, it may have seemed like a poorly constructed hunk of plastic, but now, we'll never know for sure.

Think of that one game we were all excited for (pick any, all that comes to mind is Too Human for me. I can't remember one right now) but it came into our house and ended up pissing all over itself (Spiderman 3! the PS2 one). If that game never showed up, We might've been sad and been angry at the developer, but we'd never find out it was shit, it might have always seemed brilliant if it wasn't publicized (Okami for the Wii, I always thought the controls were going to be shit. Human beings weren't meant to solve such redundant tasks).

I'd like to think that maybe, just maybe, if I got my hands on the original. I would find out that it actually was the most comfortable, efficient controller every. But, since I can't, I'll never know, and thus I'll never be disappointed. Sometimes, being a quiet cynic has it's advantages in future insight (hint, hint), but I do feel I need something to believe in, so I have my Boomerang theory, and The Forced Unleashed (which I was only worried about after playing the demo).

AntiZERØ

Yeah..it's real. I have that controller too ;) But mine is wireless too just like kilikafinal mentioned. But since I don't have my PS2 anymore....I never use it. It had motion sensing already built into it...which I thought was interesting.

CreativePlug

Why would you produce a controller that looks and feels naff? I used a similar one on PC ONCE, needless to say I then used it as a boomerang where unfortunately it hit the wall of the bedroom and smashed. If you want to make a better PS3 controller then just gut it and stich the insides in a 360 pad. I'm in the middle of this now because for me the 360's pad feels right.

Felch

If you look at the colored photo it's not fake. why it was shown here in black and white I don't know, looking at it in black and white i was sure his mod was fake once I saw the colored version, you could see it was legit.

EaGle1337

Fake ofcpurse. Why the hell else would he take a "blurred" picture.. My 3 year old 2mpixel camera in my cellphone takes better pictures.

cmd

If its "real" he used ready made parts as a big component, does that still count as a mod?

MyLittlePwny

@EaGle1337:

i dont know how, it looks the same only in color?

what details convinced you?

MyLittlePwny

Just thinking... Bondo is usually pretty fragile isn't it? Especially for something you're going to be holding in your hands all day? Sure it's not like it rubs away in your hands, but it still seems like it'll pick up every scratch or drop that the controller takes. I've only really used Bondo to fill up seams though, not actually create an entire new surface.

everybest

Like someone above said, the whole blurred b/w picture seems to be hiding masking tape over the buttons.

Alphavillain

@InsaneGenius:
I mean, SERIOUSLY, why did you post the black and white pic instead of the colored one?

InsaneGenius

I voted this to be a fake.
But after reading the thread AFTER that (I know, stupid) and saw the coloured pic I'm convinced it's Legit.

InsaneGenius

I was remembering this controllers concept this week.

The PS3 should have a different controller, that design is very dated...

lucasreis

ph, and anyone at all who thinks it is fake really should read more into it and stop just glancing and assuming. All of you commenters do this for every discussion point and assume without fully backing up your argument other than "obvious fake lol!1!!!1"

Shockadin

When you look at the real prototype 'boomerang' controller from 05, you can tell this design is quite flawed in many ways. From the angle of grips to size. Still pretty close though.

I would love to see the real boomerang controller though, I actually really loved it and it seemed to be very comfortable in the hands/natural.

As for this picture... its hard to tell but it could easily be a fake. Firstly, its blurry, what a surprise. Secondly, its black and white... why? And thirdly some of the buttons/text on the previous version of this boomerang copy are different in this screen, that could be just the advancement of the developing cycle of the controller itself but who knows.

Sentry

@Shockadin: *reads thread* knew it, it's a legit mod, he just used the shell of the chinese controller and put the sixaxis "guts" in it. told ya the d-pad was slightly messed with lol

Shockadin

He didn't even try to make it look different from the Chinese knockoff. Plagiarism.

RaepGoblin

@RaepGoblin: Yeah, a plagiarism of a plagiarism. As the young 'uns would say, "epic fail, dude".

Alphavillain

@Kirk Douglas:

I was just about to say that.

em

@MyLittlePwny: easy with the black and white it's not hard to move the controller around to make the buttons solid instead of dashed.
The turbo and clear look like there no way they'd work.

EaGle1337

@LittleBigPlaneteer:

They should release SOME kind of different controller, just to have more options available.

I had many consoles as a young person; starting with an Atari 2600 and ending with the first Playstation. Then I didn't game at all for several years. I got back into gaming with the original XBox about a year after it's release.

When I was a kid, I didn't care about controller ergonomics. I could use that rectangular Nintendo pad for hours and never experience discomfort. As an adult who works on a computer many hours a day, and then wants to game for a few hours in the evening, controller ergonomics is now a HUGE factor for me. I have no problem using the 360 controller for hours, but I have to give up on the PS3 controller in an hour tops. The ergonomics seriously need to be improved somehow. I think the biggest problem for me is having the two thumbsticks at the same level. I think it causes me to curve my wrists in an unnatural angle, because my wrists is where I experience discomfort after trying to use a PS3 controller for any length of time.

robinandtami

OK, you are idiots to think that this is the Chinese knock off. This thing is 100% real.

Thread relating to the Final product(Thats means click link to the below): [forums.benheck.com]

The Work in Progress thread(Thats means click this link on the below too): [forums.benheck.com]

I hope that that proves to you guys that this thing is real.

nightwheel

@bakalhau:

"Alrighty, case settled then. Half fake, half legit."

But all pointless.

pjcard

I'm not sure why we care so much. I could certainly be obtuse, but why would we actually want a boomerang controller? Does it somehow help with six-axis use? Just to be cool and different?

Jesse_Dylan

Obviously the Chinese controller. Its stupid to even argue that its a MOD.

TenderBranson

@ZelimirMilda: Sorry man. People don't know what's what.

It looks cool to me. Great job!

Spoony Bard

Hey guys. Its me Wakka. You guys seem to not understand what I have done here. I bought the cheap chinese knockoff controller for Ps2, and then took out the cheap chinese motherboard from inside. Then I made the case 15% bigger (I have big hands), and then put real OFFICIAL Sony Six Axis hardware (Motherboard and controller board) in the controller. So basically, I used the chinese ripoff shell, made it somewhat bigger and put official hardware in it. Also, my picture quality was bad for some reason. I do not know why, my 5MP camera is acting up. It seems to think new batteries are dead. That is the best picture that I could get. I have 2 more pictures that I took with my webcam but they are 2MP quality, and look horrid. Once, I fix the bondo spots and MAYBE spraypaint it silver, I will take some good quality photos. I promise. Feel free to track my thread on the benheck news forum. I also know that most of you think its a fake, and thats fine. Everyones entitled to an opinion. _________________________________________________________________

ZelimirMilda