Original Xbox controller designs show how the Dreamcast influenced Microsoft's first console

The Dreamcast appears to have more influence on the original Xbox than most originally thought.

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Xbox co-creator Seamus Blackley released some original designs for the original Xbox controller, which would have given it several different looks if any of these actually came to be.

The original Xbox controller designs showed what kind of influence Sega’s Dreamcast had at the time. Not only can we see some unique controller designs, but each one of them had a corresponding design for a device that appears to be similar to the Dreamcast’s Visual Memory Unit, or VMU. It's really interesting to see Microsoft draw up designs for VMUs for each controller design, although we wonder at what point in its development the company decided not to offer a portable memory unit.

Many of the controller designs appear to mimic some spaceship designs from popular science fiction properties, such as the Star Wars and Star Trek series. None of the controllers look particularly comfortable to use, although we don’t believe anyone felt the original Xbox controller was anywhere near as good as the Xbox 360 or Xbox One controller.

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