Goodbye TID, hello Xbox 360 Chatpad

Not that this is life-changing news or anything (except maybe for Major Nelson), but it looks like Microsoft has snapped out of its DOS flashback and given the upcoming Xbox 360 QWERTY thumb keyboard a less technical-sounding moniker than "Text Input Device": meet the Chatpad. The real name of the peripheral-formerly-known-as-TID was discovered by a Joystiq reader poking around the Marketplace after Tuesday's Spring update, where its identity is revealed in a page about Windows Live Messenger integration. Expect lawsuits from the makers of ChatBuddy and PepperPad any day now.

[mark @ May 10th 2007 3:22PM]

DO THE MATH.
jaguar. JAGUAR. JAGUAR!!!

[Big @ May 10th 2007 4:02PM]

I forced my father to buy me a $400 Jaguar from THE WIZ the day it was released. Biggest waste of money EVER.

It is easy to draw comparisons between the gamepads, BUT, what killed Jaguar was the lack of games, the shitty catridge graphics (suppossed to be so revolutionary) and the lack of options (except for the Jaguar CD).

360 will never go down that way cause it has a steady flow of good games. PS3 won't go down like that either.

[Upatoi15 @ May 10th 2007 2:38PM]

When is this thing coming out??

[Kaizen Maven @ May 10th 2007 2:54PM]

I just connected my wireless keyboard to my 360, so I won't be needing this.

[Chris @ May 10th 2007 2:49PM]

I'm anxious to grab one of these.. I wish they'd release some details about when it's going to be available. To me it'd make sense to have it on the market somewhere around the time when the update that uses it came out, but what do I know?

[Mario @ May 10th 2007 3:06PM]

The keypad looks like the Sidekick 2's keypad. If it is, then it's a good keypad.

[James @ May 10th 2007 3:13PM]

Has this thing been priced yet? I could see myself shelling out up to $20 if I start playing more games online, but anything more than that and I think it makes more sense to use a USB keyboard...

[Dragod @ May 10th 2007 3:53PM]

I would be buying this.. if it weren't for the whole "Windows Live Messenger isn't available on Windows Live child accounts" crap...

[Big @ May 10th 2007 3:58PM]

#1 DOES THIS THING HAVE BACKLIGHTING?
I play my 360 in the dark alot. This thing needs
a internal light that stays lit until 3 seconds
after the last button has been depressed.

#2 WE NEED A WEB BROWSER!
If PSP and PS3 have one, 360 owners should not
be left out. I don't need people telling me
that a broswer
isn't worth it cause of eyestrain.YOU LET ME
worry about the resolution of my TV and the
strain on my eyes.

#3 It is absolutely stupid for MS to produce this
thing without a jack for the 360 headset.
Are they expecting people to unplug it when
they aren't using it? - or for everyone to spend
$60 on the wireless heaset?

[Grant @ May 10th 2007 5:28PM]

They said in the video last month, about the update, that the chatpad has the headphone jack moved and that it will include an adapter to allow the normal headset to be used.
don't worry.
even though the quality of the wireless headset is better by a significant amount.

[mark @ May 10th 2007 4:15PM]

oh no; i wasn't saying the 360 will go down like the jag. i was just making reference to the controller ;D

one of my best friends had a jag, and we actually played it a lot and enjoyed the hell out of it. we wondered why they didn't do so well with it.
club drive, cypbermorph, and cannon fodder.

i have a 360, and i'd have to say it's a great system, short of the red ring of death. it just makes me laugh that they're making this product, and reminds me of the good ol' days of jaguar. the 360 reigns supreme for me & modern gaming. and i'm glad it's not just another halo machine. gears is great, and it looks like bioshock will also be awesome. AND GTA IV??? +not $600. seems like the people at mircosoft know what they're doing for once.

now if they could just make vista as nice as the 360...

[Zeus the God @ May 10th 2007 4:48PM]

Again, Big, that's a "no" on the browser. It would just be too much hassle. Getting viruses on that thing would be BAD. Now, I know I got a couple other comments that were like, "OH SO DA XBOX OS IS SUSCEPTIBLE TO VIRUSES!!!? BAD MS!!!!!!!!!!" Well, I have to say, any device that connects to the internet can get viruses. Even Macs. The only reason nobody makes viruses for Macs is because Macs suck and no one buys them. Don't say otherwise, because if they were as good as you say they are, then they would sell a lot better.

[sracer @ May 10th 2007 5:06PM]

The real reason why MS will never produce a web browser for the 360 is because it a web browser would open up the 360. If you can watch streaming video, play flash games, and the like for free via the browser, that is going to put a serious crimp in MS' plans to keep the 360 as a Point-of-Sales terminal for MS-controlled transactions.

[Zeus the God @ May 10th 2007 7:10PM]

"The real reason why MS will never produce a web browser for the 360 is because it a web browser would open up the 360. If you can watch streaming video, play flash games, and the like for free via the browser, that is going to put a serious crimp in MS' plans to keep the 360 as a Point-of-Sales terminal for MS-controlled transactions."

Uhhh, no. A web browser would open up vulnerability, something Sony didn't think about. When I had my PSP, I had gotten some weird virus, that whenever I searched Google, it would only come up with porn links (actually, more viruses as the URLs all ended with .info). The same thing would happen with the 360. If the 360 contracts a virus, there would be no legal way to remove it, as it would be stored in the on board memory that contains the firmware. You would have to flash your firmware (illegal). On the PS3, it's the same thing (not comparing the two, just saying it's a bad thing to have on a console). It wouldn't be stored on the hard drive, but the on board memory with the firmware.

That is the real reason. It has nothing to do with Microsoft, other than the fact that they realize this flaw with console stationed web browsers, so really, sracer, your comment is totally flawed.

[Zeus the God @ May 10th 2007 10:34PM]

Yeah, Borat. If you didn't read my post, I'm telling you that if you have a browser on your console that uses firmware stored on an on board memory chip, that will get infected (if it does at all), and you will always have that virus on your Xbox/PS3, always slowing it down. The only way to fix it, on either system, would be to illegally flash your firmware.

Now, as you obviously don't look around, and are ignorant enough to think that annoying a large company will get you anywhere, Microsoft has been working on a solution to this since the patch was released, and an update will be released soon. So stop complaining. If it's that big of a deal to you, then you could wait the few days/week it takes to get it out.

[Tim @ May 11th 2007 8:02AM]

"Text Input Device" sounded like something out of the DHARMA Initiative.

[chad @ May 18th 2007 9:45AM]

Don't fret Borate. All trolls and nitwits would say 1/4 of the things that this idiot things up from day to day.

@ Mars the fool (aka Zeus)

Yeah... MS is thinking about your better interest and teh virus, so... they're not going to add an Internet browser. You do recognize how fundamentally stupid that is on so many levels don't you? Add to the ongoing list of browser supported systems the Wii and factor in MS even MAKES their OWN BROWSER (IE) and then recognize how aggressively [MS] is pushing Vista licensing; it's convergence with the 360, and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure things out from there.

sracer, you're right on point, and Zeus... well, you're still a completely delusional fanboy idiot that spends day in and day out here picking nonsensical arguments out of your rear.