Ion Total Controller

This is making the rounds over at Destructoid. Mad props to this fellow for looking like...well I don't think I need to say it, but he has a compelling game face and a unique take on how to hold the controller. I'm sure it's for effect, to show us the buttons, but really Ion? You couldn't have had your photographer stand at a different angle or showed this guy playing and then put an inset of the controller embedded in this photo?

If there is one thing many gamers hate, myself included, it is the perception that when you game you look like an ass: jumping up and down, gesturing, and whipping the controller around furiously. The wild antics so popular on TV and in photos for products do not happen. Even when using the wii-mote we don't look crazy! A much more accurate image of a console gamer would be this scene from The Guild season 3 in which Riley challenges Codex to some FPS action.

See, she's just sitting there, albeit aggressively because it's in the storyline, but she looks like she is actually playing Halo or something.

So, the Ion controller. Can you imagine playing a FPS or MMO, as the company suggests with this?

I'm interested in the different approach that they took with replacing the D-pad with a mouse ball, but I'd have to game with it before I could truly judge it. How much could this thing cost? I mean even some of the best controllers I have purchased have ended up malfunctioning at critical times or even just began to glitch randomly. Usually those problems have happened with the D-pad for me. Would the track ball change that or make it even worse?

However, the main problem I have with this is the size and probable weight. I have very small hands. Gamers come in all shapes and sizes and I'm on the hobbit-like end of that scale. Petite, to say the least. Can I picture myself holding this up for hours on end while I play Dragon Age? No.