I was intrigued when I first saw pictures of the Xbox 360 controller chat pad. It’s a little keyboard that snaps onto the bottom of a 360 controller. The form factor looked really cool, and who wants to thumbstick around a virtual keyboard when you have to type shit in? Better yet, the chat pad was only $30. Inexpensive enough for a Gibberish experiment. I went to Best Buy and picked one up two days after it launched in September.

The Messenger kit comes with the keyboard and a redesigned headset for voice communications. I like the way the new headset fits, and it seems more robust than the flimsy one that came with my elite. However, it has two problems the original headset does not: the mute and volume control is on a dongle halfway up the Messenger kit’s headset cord, which makes on-the-fly muting and volume adjustment difficult. The original headset had these controls at the base, and you could manipulate things without removing your hand from the controller. The sound quality is also worse on the new headset, despite feeling like it is made out of better materials.

I was very impressed with the fit and finish of the chat pad. It attached with a reassuring click and I don’t think any amount of tomfoolery could dislodge the accessory by accident. The keyboard itself seems well-made and I think the overall design is quite ingenious. I am a bit pissed that it only comes in white — the controller for my Elite is black — but I imagine there are vastly more Core and Premium units out there than Elites. The chat pad is designed well enough that it doesn’t interfere with my normal game play. Some early reviewers said that the chat pad added unnecessary weight to the controller, but I disagree. I don’t really notice the added weight at all, and it certainly doesn’t throw off the balance of the controller as some have claimed.

The chat pad has a few nice touches that I didn’t expect. The keyboard is backlit after you press the first button — just like a mobile phone keypad. I don’t always play in low-light conditions, but I do appreciate the ability to see WTF I am typing if the lights are off. The chat pad addresses “special” characters in a nifty way. There are green and orange keys on the pad that serve as “control” and “alt” buttons. This control scheme allows the chat pad to cram a SHIT TON of characters into a small form factor without reducing the keys to the size of pinheads.

Typing with the chat pad is pretty easy, but I am used to text messaging with my Samsung u740 mobile phone. I have gotten pretty good at typing with my thumbs but novice text-boarders may have a more difficult time adjusting. One thing I don’t like about the chat pad is that sometimes the 360 makes a “beep” noise when a key is depressed, and other times it is silent. I don’t care what it does one way or another, as long as it is consistent. When things are “beep beep beep”-ing along and then all of a sudden it’s quiet, I think that I’ve missed a keystroke. I stop typing and look up at the screen only to find that every character is present. Not a big deal, but it is annoying and should have been caught in QA.

The chat pad is pretty sweet, granted. It looks cool, is well made, and is easy to use. But the real question is … what the hell do you need it for?

The Xbox 360 has a very robust voice chat protocol that allows you to either talk in-game or in up to four chat channels. This means you don’t have to type to people to communicate in a game, unlike most PC games. People playing those games have to use an external voice service like Ventrilo or TeamSpeak.

The 360’s gamer-to-gamer messaging system allows you to attach up to ten (fifteen?) seconds of audio. Most of my friends just send each other short voice messages instead of typing stuff out. When I used the chat pad to send messages to my friends, they all responded with a voice note.

So, you don’t need the chat pad to talk to people while you’re playing a game. You don’t need it when you send people messages outside of a game. What do you need it for, then? Web browsing? No such thing on the 360. I was thinking that a real-time strategy game could make use of the keypad, but there aren’t any games that utilize keyboard-based shortcuts.

The only other reason to own the chat pad is for MSN Messenger integration, in case you want to communicate with users who do not have the 360’s voice capabilities. But really, do I want to instant message people while I am shooting Nazis in Medal of Honor?

The Xbox 360 Messenger kit is a fun gadget for $30, but doesn’t address any pressing problems with how 360 players communicate with each other. I’m mixed on how to rate this little device, because while it functions well, it’s a function that isn’t needed.

Xbox 360 Messenger kit, I thumb-QWERTY out:
Four out of five STFU mugs!