Asus has surprised nerds at this year’s CES with an officially licensed Xbox gaming controller that has a dedicated 1.3-inch mini OLED display to beam custom animations, display favorite wallpaper, microphone status, battery status, or the active controller profile.
The 128×40 resolution screen is placed right where you’d find the Xbox home button, and I’m not complaining one bit. Dubbed ROG Raikiri Pro, the controller derives its name from Naruto’s special attack.
Designer: Asus
Raikiri Pro is the first ever Xbox-licensed controller having tri-mode connectivity, wherein it has Bluetooth, a low-latency 2.4GHz RF mode, and wired USB-C. The controller is well suited for PC connectivity with all the pro features on offer. Asus officially mentions the controller to have Xbox Series X/S console compatibility only, so PlayStation 5 is left high and dry for now. The controller has four left and right rear buttons with a textured finish for slippery fingers. These buttons double as hotkeys for game commands, or even adjusting the game sensitivity.
Asus gives gamers the option to switch profiles in-game via the two buttons at the top. Further customization is possible with the four programmable rear buttons, circular D-pad and trigger locks for options beyond the known Xbox layout. The button remapping, joystick sensitivity, dead zones and trigger modes are also customizable using the Asus Armoury Crate PC app. To take game immersion even further the controller has a built-in ESS DAC for premium sound from the 3.5mm headphone jack.
There is no word on the pricing of the Raikiri Pro Xbox controller as of now, but one thing is certain, it will demand a price slightly above the normal options. Agonizingly there is no word either on the availability of the attractive controller, however, common sense suggests a Q1 release might be imminent.
