Week Nine - A Controller To Play Computer Games With

Gaming technology, I’m not too sure this task is meant to be about just the controllers but I feel as if I could write a lot about them, so let’s start at the beginning shall we. Well I suppose the earliest forms were just dials you turned and a couple of buttons, but seeing as that was the birth of games ergonomics wasn’t the highest priority on the list. Then when arcade machines started getting popular the joystick was the main tool of the trade, but for some reason the joystick didn’t really move over to home consols. Right so now that’s out the way we can talk about one the greatest controllers ever, it is of course the NES controller. Okay so nothing too fancy, a rectangular box, 4 buttons and a d-pad, but really what else could you have asked for, it did the job, and it wasn’t uncomfortable, surprisingly. Okay I think one of the main reason I like it so much is the sentimental value, but I wouldn’t say there’s much wrong with it.

NES!

After this came the SNES, really the consol and controller were slightly more rounded versions of the NES, which was good no worries there. And also somewhere around that time Sega came out with mega drive and master systems, which in all honestly looked like black SNES’s, so not much to comment on them there.

Megadrive and SNES!

Not only did this next consol have probably the best name ever, and a logo that beats the rest, it also had a controller that could be used in more then one way…, it is of course the Nintendo 64, or N64 for short. I think this is the point at when ergonomics and style were first given a real consideration. Now as I’m typing this I can already hear people saying how can you say it actually looks good, well I am, I think it took a big step forward, I can remember taking the consol out of the box and just looking at it for a while taking in all the different parts (this may have also been because for the first 2 weeks of owning it I had no games). Aside from the consol the controller also took a drastic turn, implementing the analogue stick as the main tool, having a trigger button underneath, adding more buttons, and obviously having those three infamous prongs to latch onto to. The N64 controller opened a lot of scope for the future of gaming (the N64 was a pretty significant piece of kit in the gaming history), as well as the analogue it also had the expansion slot where rumble packs or memory card could be plugged in, as well as some other fun things.

N64!

To lead on from this is my personal favourite of all controllers, the Gamecube’s. Now firstly there was the Gamecube, which was, well a cube, not all that revolutionary I suppose, however it was small and used them tiny discs, and the best part was it hand a handle on the back of, which was actually fairly useful. But now the controller, to me this controller was the gold crown of all, it had a perfected analogue stick, easy to reach buttons all round, and was just so incredibly comfortable, it just seemed to mould to your hands. The problem I think a lot of people struggled with was the very small d-pad, which I think you do get use to after a while, but I must admit it could catch you out at crucial moments.

Gamecube!

Sony seem to think that the Playstation controller is bang on and have therefore not changed the overall design of it from PS2 to PS3, and a lot of people seem to like it and say they can play for hours without discomfort. But personally I loath it and think it’s one of the most uncomfortable controllers ever. The way the side parts stick out at some random angle does not fit in the hand what so ever, the buttons do not feel satisfying to press, the analogue sticks are made out of some cheap 1970’s rubber, and more than often they seem to break a lot, I bet you all know someone if not your own who has got a knackered controller. There was for a little while this new design for the PS3 controller, but because of little enthusiasm it got dropped, and personally I never really liked its look, but after reading how they got to the design I under stand why it ended up like that, they wanted it to fit more naturally and fit the hands shape better, but I think somewhere along the line they went a bit mental with this and lost track of the fact it was a controller to play computer games with.

Ps2 and Ps3!

And last but not least is the Xbox’s controllers, but first the lets talk about the architecture of the consoles. Yeah so the first one wasn’t the smallest and sleekest out of the bunch and was quite possible bigger than most of the TV’s it was played on, but it was their first attempt, and what came to follow impressed even the likes of me. The Xbox 360 is a very stylish machine that has been designed very well. The controller is actually very good, it looks very stylish and is also very comfortable.

Xbox and Xbox 360!

And finally there is the Wii, the consol it’s self has been designed to not look out of place in the home, and has a smooth sleek design all topped off with a shinny blue light. And then the conventional controller had been chucked out the window and a new way of playing games thought of. You could say not much has been designed for the Wii remote, as in essence it is just a remote but it’s hardly uncomfortable and has simple enough interface to use. The nun-chuck part I think is perfect, it fits into the palm of your hand so naturally, and I swear it’s one of the prongs from the N64 controller. One of the main things that has come from this generation of consol’s is wireless capabilities, it’s something that has bugged gamers for a long time, having to have wires draped along the floor, although I think it’s bugger parents more who have tripped over them as they walk past, but now wireless is a necessity and the only thing to improve it is the power in them, but batteries are getting all the more better now.

Wii!

So what’s held for the future of gaming, will the Wii’s new design catch on and the conventional controller fizzle out. Personally I think not, I think the two will somehow run along side each, it’s kind of already happened with the classic controller for the Wii, however I don’t think the classic controller looks very good at all, and even know I haven’t held one, it doesn’t look all that comfortable. But as I’ve said before, it will be very interesting to see what the next generation of gaming technology has to hold for us.