The Missing Titanic Submarine Was Using A $30 Video Game Controller

[baddisease]

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Tragedy appears to have struck an expensive submersible trip where the passengers have disappeared in the ocean attempting to visit the Titanic, with no contact and a limited supply of air.

While the reason for the disaster has not yet been found, one point has been brought up frequently, the fact that the sub was controlled by not just a video game controller, which is not all that unusual for some craft or even things like military drone pilots, but a $30 Logitech PC controller.

The controller, which was shown in videos about the sub before it launched with slightly modified thumbsticks, is a Logitech G F710, currently available on Amazon as a “renewed” (refurbished) version for $30. The original has a 4.2/5 rating.

This is not a PlayStation controller as some have said, even though that’s what it most closely resembles. Rather the compatible devices for it are all Windows-based, going all the way back to Windows Vista and Windows 7. Again, there is no way to know if the controller had anything to do with the sub issues, nor should anyone be holding Logitech responsible given that uh, “submarine control” was not promised when the controller was built. However, Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate Expeditions did say, "We run the whole thing with this game controller” before launch, indicating they made it essential to the submersible’s operation.

If you’ve ever used a video game controller, on or off-brand versions, you know that over time, they tend to degrade or can become unreliable. Looking at some reviews of this controller specifically, we can see that like all controllers this also can happen to this one:

“I bought this back in February and I'd like to say I game a decent amount on the daily on my pc. If, that's also you then I highly recommend you shop around first. The buttons are already dying on me. It's been a struggle.”

This is also an…old controller, I’m not precisely sure when it was first made, but some of these reviews (and there are loads of positive ones!) are from 2012. It’s just a very old controller at this point, though it definitely still works today, as some recent reviews are indeed from this year. But like all controllers, it has the potential to degrade or malfunction in time.

Again, I don’t think any blame should be cast at Logitech, whether or not the controller was at fault. There are a million things that could go wrong with a submersible like that, where passengers were crammed in a tiny metal tube that apparently didn’t even have actual seats. We’ll have to wait and see if it’s ever found, and if so, if the cause of the accident can ever be determined.

I’ve reached out to Logitech to see if they have a comment on the situation, and will update if I hear back.

 

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The Missing Titanic Submarine Was Using A $30 Video Game Controller (forbes.com)

[emliqua]

Ughhh this whole thing is so scary. And claustrophobic. What a sucky way to go?

[past the bushes]

[prettywhenimhigh]

omfg

[Mer]

When I was 8 my parents took me on the Finding Nemo submarine ride in Disneyland. I was traumatized. Why anyone would willingly get into a submarine is beyond me—I hope that they can survive this with as little emotional trauma as possible. 

[Strangelove]

I think they took Lana's new song Lost At Sea a little too seriously. 

[Coney Island King]

PUT YOUR HANDS ON ME JACK

[Strangelove]

This is really the Lost At Sea, Video Games and The Ocean trifecta. 

[Rorman Nockwell]

I am really invested in this situation idk why

I just find it really creepy that people would go to the bottom of the ocean to look at a shipwreck but it's also really fascinating

The latest is that they've detected banging/knocking on sonar coming from the vicinity of the Titanic wreckage

I hope they can rescue the people but from what I've read it doesn't seem likely that they could do anything if it's on the bottom because not many vessels can go that deep and the ones that can have no way of attaching to the hatch or doing anything useful to help

[MamaDelGhey]

Imagine paying a quarter of a million dollars to tour an underwater graveyard, and the entire expedition being controlled by a fucking Logitech controller. Some people have more money than sense. 

[ChaoticLipster]

I’m quite a Titanic enthusiast and I can say the chances of finding them are extremely slim. Chances are it’s at the bottom somewhere or imploded, if the former is true then bringing it up to the surface would be extremely challenging, never been done before. It’s like finding an Ant on the area the size of a 2 football pitchs.  The whole sub looks like something made from stuff purchased off Amazon it’s very makeshift, and it surprises me anyone would pay $250,000 to get inside one. Ocean Expeditions is finished that’s for sure whatever happens.

[Veinsineon]

When I went to Florida years ago, I got to go to a titanic museum and touch a piece of the actual ice berg that struck the ship. The Atlantic Ocean is a very angry ocean

[ChaoticLipster]

  On 6/21/2023 at 11:52 AM, Veinsineon said:

When I went to Florida years ago, I got to go to a titanic museum and touch a piece of the actual ice berg that struck the ship. The Atlantic Ocean is a very angry ocean

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Not that actual ice berg though that melted 100 years ago lol. 

[Veinsineon]

  On 6/21/2023 at 11:56 AM, ChaoticLipster said:

Not that actual ice berg though that melted 100 years ago lol. 

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Okay I misremembered, at Titanic Orlando there is a recreation of the iceberg but there is over 2k REAL artifacts, some of which you can touch. I got to touch the piece of Hull from the part of the ship that was struck!  (And also the fake ice cap)

[Rorman Nockwell]

  On 6/21/2023 at 10:12 AM, MamaDelGhey said:

Imagine paying a quarter of a million dollars to tour an underwater graveyard, and the entire expedition being controlled by a fucking Logitech controller. Some people have more money than sense. 

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  On 6/21/2023 at 11:47 AM, ChaoticLipster said:

I’m quite a Titanic enthusiast and I can say the chances of finding them are extremely slim. Chances are it’s at the bottom somewhere or imploded, if the former is true then bringing it up to the surface would be extremely challenging, never been done before. It’s like finding an Ant on the area the size of a 2 football pitchs.  The whole sub looks like something made from stuff purchased off Amazon it’s very makeshift, and it surprises me anyone would pay $250,000 to get inside one. Ocean Expeditions is finished that’s for sure whatever happens.

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Not to make light of any loss of life because obviously it's tragic, but the irony of dying in a sunken pod beside a sunken ship (on which 1500 people died) that you paid $250k to see ... 

Rich people are silly

[prettywhenimhigh]

this made me dream that I went with my mom to spend NYE in a submarine but we gave up once we got there because there were other submarines blocking our view   

but yeah that was basically an assisted suicide, they gotta be floating somewhere to get rescued and something tells me they're not floating

[DeadSeaOfMercury]

I wouldn’t blame Logitech, The controller was probably the best piece of equipment on that death trap…

[Mash Tragic]

  On 6/21/2023 at 12:28 PM, Rorman Nockwell said:

 

Not to make light of any loss of life because obviously it's tragic, but the irony of dying in a sunken pod beside a sunken ship (on which 1500 people died) that you paid $250k to see ... 

Rich people are silly

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I feel awful for thinking that when lives are at stake, but I can't help finding outrageous to deploy sooo many ressources for FIVE people who paid $250k each to see pieces of rusting metal in the depths of the sea... Especially when you see that garbage submersible. No money would have convince me to set foot in it. To think they paid that much money for that outcome...  

 

Now of course I wouldn't say that if one of my relatives was in there, and it's really a freaking tragedy, but imagine how many deserving people those $250k*5 + the money invested in rescuing them would have helped. Instead, it's just thrown away deep in the water. 

[prettywhenimhigh]

the fact they could've stayed at home and watched titanic instead because there isn't even windows for them to look out, they were gonna see it through a screen 

it's hard to really feel bad for them, it's just overall a very stupid idea, especially when also there isn't a way to push them back to surface if anything goes wrong

[baddisease]

  On 6/21/2023 at 1:05 PM, prettywhenimhigh said:

the fact they could've stayed at home and watched titanic instead because there isn't even windows for them to look out, they were gonna see it through a screen 

it's hard to really feel bad for them, it's just overall a very stupid idea, especially when also there isn't a way to push them back to surface if anything goes wrong

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ngl the fact that BILLIONAIRES cheaped out on a submarine kinda makes me feel like "play stupid games, win stupid prizes" is in effect. there are other subs capable of seeing Titanic that weren't crappy. they woulda just needed to spend a bit more to use them.