Hello Ben,
I had an idea a little while back for a console (Xbox 360 and PS3 in mind) controller mod. This came about while wondering if there was a more efficient possible location of the X, Y, B, and A buttons, and possibly the D-pad. My idea was, on a controller from either of the to modern consoles, to place the aforemetioned controls on the underside of the controller, where they can be pressed by the idle 8 fingers that are neglected with teh standard thumb-oriented layout. This way the thumbs would not have to be take from the control sticks to operate functions attached to these buttons. I am not sure what would be the best area to place the buttons, as in on the two wings used to hold the controller or further underneath or somewhere else. This would eliminate the restricted multitasking capability of the two thumbs we are conventionally confined to using.
So there's my idea,
Please consider it and thank you for you time.