10 Mind-Blowing Gaming Features Everybody Takes For Granted

Playing games with headphones used to be kind of a burden. Consoles themselves almost never offered a direct way to plug them in, and 3.5mm jacks weren’t exactly standard on tube TVs. In fact, when consoles like the original PlayStation and the Nintendo 64 reigned, most gamers simply accepted the middling-quality of the TV’s speaker output.

This issue persisted for quite a while, and even the seventh generation consoles didn’t parlay with wired headphones very well, though certain Microsoft-supported products could be plugged into the 360 controller.

Today, while Sony still forces consumers to buy one of their brands of headsets should they want to connect wirelessly, the headphone jack in both the Xbox One Controller and the DualShock 4 make easy, quality listening experiences so much easier to set up. No longer do players have to deal with lesser-quality external speakers or chain themselves to the TV via a too-short headphone cable.

In the future, wires like these will most likely be a thing of the past, especially if companies like Apple have their way. In the meantime, though, this is definitely an underrated feature.