The Hyperkin Duke brings back and revamps 2001’s Xbox controller, complete with giant green logo
Duke: nuke ’em!
We last year got original Xbox games on the Xbox One, and now you can play them using the original controller. Sort of. The Hyperkin Duke (£69.99) remakes the fondly remembered ‘Duke’, in a project spearheaded by the original Xbox designer. The officially licensed unit’s chunky, wired, and retains a button layout that now looks decidedly odd. But this isn’t an exercise in slavish nostalgia – the Duke’s been made suitable for Xbox One and Windows 10 PC fare with additional shoulder buttons above the triggers, and the inclusion of a 3.5mm audio jack. The massive green logo’s been revamped, too, as a Home button/screen combo that when pressed plays the original Xbox boot cycle. Although unless you’ve big hands and an odd hankering for what was always a divisive controller, you might suggest displaying rose-tinted specs would be more appropriate.