Back in May I praised the looks of a custom Xbox 360 controller created especially for Kotaku by the folks at The Controller Shop, and the verdict was nearly unanimous — that's an ugly controller. Speaking as the man that selected the color scheme, everyone was wrong.

But I'm not here to review the gorgeous color scheme of this $180 Xbox 360 controller. I'm here to determine if this unit, regardless of color scheme, is worth $130 more than the standard model.

My definitive answer? Maybe.

First off, the unit The Controller Shop chose to modify for my design isn't the standard Xbox 360 controller, but rather the special version with the directional pad that transforms from useful to useless. That means The Controller Shop only needs to justify an additional $115 dollars. Piece of cake.

For starters, there's the SureGrip finish, which is described as a "military-grade coating that provides tremendous grip and provides a rubber-like, matte finish". What that means is it has a non-glossy look and a soft feel to it. Does it enhance grip? After using the unit for two months I'd say yes, though the overall effect is subtle. Mostly it just feels satiny, which is a plus in my book.

Then there are these things:

The Controller Shop does do normal buttons. They even do normal buttons in custom colors to match your custom paint job. The folks there wanted to show off, however, so they loaded our controller up with a set of nickel-plated 9mm bullet buttons. These look quite striking, of course, and the action on them is every bit as responsive as the standard set. The difference is hard edges versus gentle curves. I am used to my fingers gliding effortlessly along the surface of my controller, and these just ruin the vibe. Pimping ain't easy; fortunately it is optional.

Optional like the yellow Omni-Grips covering the analog sticks. Available for purchase separately, the nubbed rubber Omni-Grips are the sort of product I would never purchase of my own volition. The Xbox 360 analog sticks are just fine. Having said that, I love these damn things. They look silly, but the added tactile sensation and enhanced grip really work for me. The Controller Shop provided sets in a variety of colors with the controller, and now every Xbox 360 controller in the house is sporting a set. They've become part of my arsenal.

And while we're on the topic of grip, that bizarre looking black-speckled finish on the bottom adds quite a lot as well. The Controller Shop calls it MicroSpeckle, tiny black bits mixed with standard colors that make any surface they are applied to feel like it has eczema. It takes a great deal of getting used to, having that oddly bumpy texture beneath your fingertips. At first it feels like it would crumble away under your fingertips, but I've scratched the living hell out of this stuff and haven't made a dent.

After two months of hard wear the paint still looks fresh, the custom logo is intact, and it still looks as gorgeous as everyone else assures me it's not. If you don't like the look, you can always design something else, and there are options available I've not even touched on.

Remember earlier when I said I'd be evaluating if this particular controller adds $130 more value to the standard Xbox 360 controller? Let's throw that out the window. This isn't a review on this particular product, but rather a review on the quality of work performed by The Controller Shop. This feels like a manufactured product, and not something a group of guys cobbled together in their garage. Like a sword forged for a legendary hero, this is my weapon. There are no others like it.

Should you buy a custom controller from The Controller Shop? If you're in the market I couldn't recommend a finer product. The question is can you order a custom controller from The Controller Shop?

Unfortunately, the folks at The Controller Shop are so busy perfecting their craft that they've no time to create a proper ordering system. There is no preview function on their website; you just have to take it on faith that the options you are selecting will come together. Come on, guys. You are charging folks from $90 to more than $200 for the game controller of their dreams. Hire a web designer.

Billed as a big reveal tonight during the Evolution Championship Series, the next two fighters on the PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale roster sound a little familiar. That's because Heihachi Mishima and Toro Inoue were both in the lineup for Street Fighter X Tekken.

Still, both have long and noteworthy ties to the Sony brand. Heihachi has appeared in all versions of Tekken since he graced the console original on PS3 in 1995. Toro is also known as the "Sony Cat." He appeared in PS3 and PS Vita versions of Street Fighter X Tekken.

PlayStation Blog vows that Heihachi will be formidable in PlayStation All-Stars: "Familiar moves such as his Electric Wind God Fist and Twin Pistons are intact and as deadly as ever. He excels at close-range combat, overwhelming opponents with quick, powerful strikes. Heihachi's combo potential ranks among the best in the roster."

As for Toro, he "brings a unique stance-based fighting style to PlayStation All-Stars, affording him several different sets of attacks to utilize in combat. He transitions seamlessly from a close-range fighter in his Justice form, to a ranged specialist in his Torobi form, to an effective wide-area controller in his Oni form."

PlayStation All-Stars EVO Reveal: Heihachi and Toro [PlayStation Blog]

LEGO and video games to together perfectly. The blocky, pixel-based aethetic of retro 8-bit gaming is ripe for recreation in squared off blocks.

One gamer out there has the time and the LEGOs to make it all happen, and the tumblr for showing it off. Meufer's recreations range from the iconic to the nearly unknown, with a hefty dose of 8-bit recollection in between. Check out the gallery for some others, or catch the whole collection (some are huge) at her site.

Videogame Art - Meufer [tumblr]

Welcome to "Backhanded Box Quotes," a collection of super pissed-off user reviews from people just like you! Whoa, whoa, don't take that personal.

Spec Ops: The Line

Released: June 26.

Critic: hcookie (Metacritic)
• "Incredible storyline. The Apocalypse Now for the next generation."
• "Gameplay is fantastic and a great story. "
• "Do not miss this game."

But ...

• "Once again, Developers fail to polish what is probably one of the better games released in 2012."
•"And for that, what would have been a perfect 10 is now an 8."

And yet ...

Score: 0.

OK ...

The Amazing Spider-Man

Released: June 26.

Critic: Criticalkev1169 (Metacritic)
• "[T]he graphics are amazing."
• "[T]he combat system is amazing and very simple."

But ...

Score: 0.

OK ...

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Tuesday afternoon I got the Internet connected in my new home. From Wednesday morning until Thursday afternoon, my PlayStation 3 was downloading every free title due to me as a PlayStation Plus subscriber. Since I moved, that console has literally spent more time acquiring games than I will likely spend playing them, or any game on that console for at least the next month.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine? Did I have any interest in that game before now? No. Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light? I wasn't even aware of that until it showed up. Sure, I'd been meaning to get around to inFamous 2, but Choplifter HD? Really? Why?

At least it's easy to identify why I picked all of these up: They are free, and if I don't download them, then some or all of the subscription I'm paying to Sony is being wasted.

But most of the others I have, especially those gathering dust on a shelf, don't afford the same excuse. I cataloged every single video game I own—console and mobile, retail and downloadable, even including the free-to-play clients I have installed and the stupid poker simulators I bought for my iMac in 2007. The total? Four-hundred forty-seven.

Think about that for a second. That's more than 400 video games. That includes titles like MLB Stickball and Red Dead Redemption. It applies to beloved, dog-eared titles like Borderlands and classics I never finished—but should have—like Grand Theft Auto III. It gives Canabalt equal weight to DC Universe Online, sure, but it also doesn't account for a game that took hours from me—like L.A. Noire, or Bully or Mafia II—before I traded it in. Nor all of the sports video games I have played, from NCAA Football 2005 through countless obsolete versions of Madden NFL.

I seriously must wonder if having video games has become a greater priority than even playing them.

This isn't like a music collection, in which you are practically assured of owning more content than you could possibly be expected to know in a firsthand, critical fashion. It's more like a wall full of unfinished great books. The difference is, frankly, it's easier to fake knowledge of the contents of a book, no matter how important the work, than a video game. Cliffs Notes and Wikipedia will give you what you need to know—the story, the characters, their motivations, etc., from Moby-Dick to Anna Karenina. I can find all of that for the original Mass Effect. But if the controversy over that trilogy's ending, and reconditioning, has shown us anything, it's the necessity of actually playing through the game to speak to its outcomes with any sort of authority.

I'm never completing the entire Mass Effect trilogy, but I still have all of it. I still have Fallout New Vegas, which I swear I haven't touched beyond speccing out my first character at 1 a.m. one night and then realizing there would be no way I'd ever finish what I had started. I have Saint's Row: The Third still in shrinkwrap, next to SSX and WWE '12. In fact, I can go ahead and sell WWE '12 now, I won't finish a career in it before WWE '13 arrives. And, hell, maybe not before WWE '14 comes around.

This is where the Pile of Shame, which every gamer has and refers to in a self-deprecating manner, begins to anger me. Because it represents a waste of money—a game you'll never play; or a waste of time—thousands of man-hours spent building something that only got a weekend rental's worth of use, even if it was purchased.

In one sense, this is my occupational hazard because I'm required to have an inch-deep/mile-wide understanding of my subject. But unlike a film critic, I really do take my work home with me. I keep it. I put it on a shelf. I tell myself I will see all it has to offer. Some day. When I'm stranded on a desert island with a console and a TV and a power supply.

Hey folks, Something Negative is a rant. Love it or hate it, we all need to blow off steam on Fridays. Let yours out in the comments.

For a minimum bid starting at a more than a million dollars, a collector is offering his entire catalog of video games for Nintendo home systems from the NES/Famicom through the GameCube, plus the full lineup of every game released on any Sega system—all of it in the box with original instructions.

Easily numbering more than 5,000 games, the collection comprises the full run of cartridges for the NES, Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, GameCube and even the Virtual Boy-plus the full run of anything published for the Sega Master System, MegaDrive/Genesis, Game Gear, Saturn and Dreamcast. The Dreamcast collection itself, totaling 550 games, is advertised as factory sealed. All of it.

Further, "all games ever released on NEC systems, all factory sealed!" also is promised in the lot, given a buy-it-now price of 999,999.99 Euro, or $1,238,099.99 US at current exchange rates.

One would need uncommon industry access, presence of mind, or a freaking time machine, to assemble this sort of library, if the collection is on the level. But the lister vows it is, and welcomes any questions. "You can email me asking the presence of a specific title in a fullset," he writes, "but you can be 99.9% sure it is present."

Also, "I live in a pet-free/smoke-free home."

UPDATE - The listing now says the lot has sold.

BIGGEST COLLECTION EVER? 22 SEGA / NINTENDO / PC ENGINE FULLSETS,FACTORY SEALED! [eBay via NeoGAF.]

There are few things in life as sweet or satisfying as the companionship of a pet. Okay, I think I'm saying that as a crazy-cat-lady-in-the-making, but still! Unable to get a pet of my own, I thought I'd ask developers about their pets. It's a living vicariously through other people thing. Plus, who can resist looking at cute dog and cat pictures on the Internet? Nobody, that's who.

Here's a gallery of the pets owned by game developers who make many of the games we know and love. Well, save for this first cat, belonging to Kotaku's Tina Amini. She's called Gorbachev!

Here's Cliff Bleszinski, the mind behind Gears of War. He's with his dog, Ted. Ted happens to have a Twitter feed, as does his sister, Evee. Following either grants you access to some terrific dog pictures.

Here's Joakim Sandberg and his cat Mymlan. Joakim is best known for indie darlings Noitu Love 2 and Iconoclasts, the former just recently released on Steam. He blames his black cat for his love life, I think. The cat doesn't like to share.

This hound dog called Gladys is owned by Mike Wikan, an industry vet that has worked on titles like Donkey Kong Country Returns, the Metroid Prime Series, and Duke Nukem.

Two for the price of one: here's Krogan and Echo, both boxer dogs. These lovely canines are owned by a game dev duo, Tami Baribeau from The Playforge (behind hit iOS game Zombie Farm) and Luke Sigmund from Trion Worlds (behind the MMO Defiance).

I gotta say, Krogan is probably the best name for a dog I've heard yet.

These are Artemis and Apollo, owned by game designer Zoe Quinn. She's currently working on an online dating simulator called It's Not Okay, Cupid.

This cutie was sent in by Julie Marable from SuperBot Entertainment, the folks behind the upcoming PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. He's called REZ—yes, all caps!

This is Encyclopedia Frown, a black kitten who has boundary issues. Her master would be Anna Anthropy, who is behind the brilliant dys4ia.

Nathan Gary is the creative director at Sony Santa Monica, and he's lucky to lay claim to these two beauties. Here's Beau a Chow and Golden retriever mix and Chopper a Jack Russell Terrier and Chihuahua mix.

Juliette the Maine Coon will stop the Helghast all by herself, thank you very much. She's owned by Poria Torkan, a producer at Guerrilla Games. As you might've guessed, they've behind the Killzone franchise.

Because there's never enough Maine Coon in the world, here's DJ Arcas' fluffy white cat. Arcas is the creator of Fortresscraft.

Paul Alexander works at Camouflaj, the development studio behind the recently-Kickstartered title Republique . He owns a cute lil chihuahua, Lola.

Klei Entertainment developer Nels Anderson owns this Formosan Mountain dog, Avatar. He's a recue dog from Taiwain who has a lighning bolt on his butt. Klei Entertainment are currently developing XBLA title Mark of the Ninja.

Antti Ilvessuo, creative director and co-founder of RedLynx (Trials HD & Evolution) surrounds his 7 year old pug Manu with dinosaurs. How cruel!

2K Sports has told us to keep on the lookout for a huge announcement—biggest ever in the label's history—and so far we haven't heard anything. The reveal of details for the "Dynasty Edition" of NBA 2K13 was not it—that much was confirmed by a 2K Sports representative to me, earlier this week.

Whatever they have in mind, I don't know. Last year at this time, they were coming to us with news that Sidney Moncrief, Pete Maravich and Dell Curry would be in the game—names instantly recognizable to basketball cognoscenti. A year before that, we were told to expect a recreation of Michael Jordan's 10 greatest moments.

What could 2K do for an encore to that? I have no idea. That doesn't mean Shady00018's montage of awesome 1990s NBA-on-NBC performers—including Grant Hill, Charles Oakley, Vlade Divac and even a created Glenn Robinson and Charles Barkley, isn't worth a peep. Setting it all to Naughty by Nature was a nice touch, too.

The 90's Jam Session [Operation Sports]

Hand it to EA Sports, its marketing of the "Heisman Challenge" mode of NCAA Football knows exactly what you'll do with it. Given the means to put an all time great on any college team, you're more apt to pervert history than recreate it. Ads have shown Eddie George in Michigan's winged helmet, Robert Griffin III tossing passes for TCU, and Tim Tebow, well, Tebowing for Georgia.

There are eight other Heisman winners available to anyone who buys the game, with another six available as downloadable content bonuses (for now). My copy of NCAA 13 arrived yesterday, and I immediately set to putting its roster of all-time greats in uniforms calculated to be the most nauseating and spiteful to their fans. Enjoy Choke on it!

Barry Sanders

Colorado
It'd be real easy to put Barry in Sooner crimson, and Oklahoma State indeed never beat Oklahoma (nor Nebraska) during Sanders' career in Stillwater. But talk to anyone from the old Big 8 and they'll tell you the most hated school of the late 1980s was Bill McCartney's arriviste Colorado Buffaloes, who barged in on the scene, made Nebraska a rivalry game by unilateral declaration (thanks to the Denver media), and won a National Championship on a fifth down against Missouri. Oklahoma State can respect Oklahoma and Nebraska, but not Colorado, a useless bunch of California ski bums who couldn't even get into UCLA.

Doug Flutie

West Virginia
Flutie wasn't recruited by any other Division I school, so there's no real what-if scenario to play there. It'd be so easy to stick him on Miami, the team he defeated with the spine-tingling Hail Mary to Gerard Phelan that practically shipped the Heisman to Chestnut Hill in 1984. Instead, I'll tweak BC by putting Flutie back in the pocket at West Fuckin' Virginia, whom the Eagles never defeated in four tries during Flutie's career.

Desmond Howard

Notre Dame
Everyone remembers the "Hello Heisman" end zone pose when Howard returned a punt 93 yards in Michigan's 31-3 shellacking of Ohio State in 1991. But Howard had a highlight-reel season all year long, in games more meaningful than that one. Remember his diving touchdown grab on 4th-and-1 to end a four-game losing skid to Lou Holtz's Notre Dame? Maybe Howard would have won the Heisman as a receiver in South Bend—Tim Brown did so in 1987. It's more fun to erase a magical Michigan moment.

Herschel Walker

Vanderbilt Commodes
I'm gonna tell you what, son, it's dang blasphemy to put one of the greatest Dawgs ever on some ol' sissy school like Vanderbilt. I'd druther you just shot me than have to look at that.

Charlie Ward

The U
As tempting as it would be to stick the quarterback from Florida State's breakthrough national championship season in some completely irrelevant backwater like Maryland or the Terrapins or College Park, nothing would piss off a Seminole more than to see Charlie Ward doing this.

Andre Ware

State
Houston, N.C. State punched you in the balls in 1983, now we're going to take away your Heisman Trophy, too, heh hah!

Marcus Allen

Syracuse
While USC lost twice in Allen's Heisman year of 1981 and Washington (with Steve Pelleur) won the Pac-10 that year, putting him on either Arizona or the Huskies, or the loathsome UCLA Bruins, would be so cliché. Instead, let's send Allen to Syracuse, alma mater of Al Davis, who called Allen "a cancer to the team" and ran him out of Oakland in the twilight of Allen's years with the Raida Organization.

Carson Palmer

Stanford
Would Carson Palmer have made Stanford a better team in 2002? Hell yes. Would J.J. Redick have made UNC better in his senior year? Of course. Doesn't mean anyone wants the bastard. Same principle holds here. Sending Palmer north deeply trolls the Pac-12's other blueblood, Stanford, which likes to think it isn't also a despised private school.

deviantART artist kitsovereign created an awesome montage of the 120 stars of Super Mario 64. Meaning each star mission, represented visually here.

After making its rounds on the Internet, this Reddit user decided to partition and categorize them by mission. For ultimate nerdiness. And factiness. Check them out down below. Don't forget to expand both for maximum detail.

The 120 Stars of Super Mario 64 (rearranged so you can see which panel is which mission) [Reddit]

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