Wow, didn’t see this one coming. After years (literally years) of Xbox 360 owners complaining that using the d-pad on the official controller is about as fun as farting in a spacesuit, Microsoft have actually listened.

Major Nelson revealed the new controller on YouTube this morning complete with a brand new colour scheme and a d-pad that houses a little party piece. Video and pics after the break.

The d-pad is a disk shape by day, but give it a quick twist and the traditional cross-configured bars raise from the surface a few centimetres making it, well, useable. The analogue sticks have also been reworked slightly, making them more concave and the ABXY buttons are now a translucent monochrome. Gone are the red, blue, green and yellow of yesteryear, replaced with buttons more fitting for a controller that rides the sky on a surfboard or comes sent from the future to eliminate John Connor.

If you live in the US you can pick up the new controller as part of the Play and Charge bundle for $64.99 on 9 November. Those of us in Europe will have to wait until around February for the pleasure. The new iteration will slowly phase out the old model. Sucks for those who just bought one of those fancy new Stealthbox 360s though.