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What next, hey? First we got arcade machines; 6 buttons and a joystick. Then we got basic 4 button + D-pad consoles. Next came more ergonomically friendly joypads. The addition of joysticks was married with vibration functions, and now, at the pinnacle of controller ergonics, developers have gone out at a tangent. What am I on about? Specialised peripherals.
The first widespread extra peripheral was probably the steering wheel. A lot of people have, and use steering wheels. Why? Because they enhance the gaming experience. And because they are fun to use.
Next we had the utterly lamentable 'Super Scope 7'. This an example of No R & Little D. Imaginative, yes, Chunky, yes. Crap, yes. You see, while it was a great specialised peripheral, it was the size of a cricket bat, and was really just a plastic tube with knobs on.
And what about the G-Con 45? That was a brilliant piece of technology. A decent size, non-hand cramping, and it had one of the greatest specialised games to go along with it. Fun to the extreme.
And what else have we had. Oh yes, there are the variations on these designs. As far as I know, there are countless different light guns, from teeny-weeny ones, to chunky beasts, each giving different options, like laser targeting, recoil action and all those rapid fire functions. It seems that these hardware manufacturers think we want bigger and better. Bigger steering wheels. Bigger guns. Bigger controllers. I mean, who actually uses those 'slow' and 'rapid fire' functions on those cheap third party controllers? No, what we really need is a little R&D, and some more specialised controllers.
Recently released for the PlayStation 2 is a little gem called Police 24/7. Some may remember it from the arcades, utilising some laser technology to sense your movements, consequently allowing you to move your character; to hide behind obstacles and the like. Fun. But a port to the playstation? Now that required something extra, coming in the form of the web cam. And it is a great fun experience, with the many faults lying in the game, not the technology.
You see, unless we get games which match these peripherals, and utilise their capabilities, nobody will buy them. The steering wheels managed it, as did the light guns. What now should we be looking to? Virtual reality headsets? Been there, done that with the £300 PS2 one which didn't really work. There should be specialised games, which actually make it look like its 3D with this headset, specially designed so the picture looks proper.
And hows about a small sniper rifle, for games like Silent Scope. This may bring back bad memories of the Super Scope 7, but if it was small, light and not really Really tacky, it could work. We have reached the pinnacle that small minds can innovate to, and now we need the big boys such as Sega, Nintendo and Capcom to make brilliant games which utilise technology. There were attempts with voice-recognition games. Didn't really work though. But it COULD be used for online games. Proper vocal communication would be great.
What do we need then? Not peripherals such as hard drives, modems, keyboards and mice, but things which make the games that much more fun to play. The clever bods have done it before, and could do it again. So why not? Innovation is the key to peripheral vision.
The first widespread extra peripheral was probably the steering wheel. A lot of people have, and use steering wheels. Why? Because they enhance the gaming experience. And because they are fun to use.
Next we had the utterly lamentable 'Super Scope 7'. This an example of No R & Little D. Imaginative, yes, Chunky, yes. Crap, yes. You see, while it was a great specialised peripheral, it was the size of a cricket bat, and was really just a plastic tube with knobs on.
And what about the G-Con 45? That was a brilliant piece of technology. A decent size, non-hand cramping, and it had one of the greatest specialised games to go along with it. Fun to the extreme.
And what else have we had. Oh yes, there are the variations on these designs. As far as I know, there are countless different light guns, from teeny-weeny ones, to chunky beasts, each giving different options, like laser targeting, recoil action and all those rapid fire functions. It seems that these hardware manufacturers think we want bigger and better. Bigger steering wheels. Bigger guns. Bigger controllers. I mean, who actually uses those 'slow' and 'rapid fire' functions on those cheap third party controllers? No, what we really need is a little R&D, and some more specialised controllers.
Recently released for the PlayStation 2 is a little gem called Police 24/7. Some may remember it from the arcades, utilising some laser technology to sense your movements, consequently allowing you to move your character; to hide behind obstacles and the like. Fun. But a port to the playstation? Now that required something extra, coming in the form of the web cam. And it is a great fun experience, with the many faults lying in the game, not the technology.
You see, unless we get games which match these peripherals, and utilise their capabilities, nobody will buy them. The steering wheels managed it, as did the light guns. What now should we be looking to? Virtual reality headsets? Been there, done that with the £300 PS2 one which didn't really work. There should be specialised games, which actually make it look like its 3D with this headset, specially designed so the picture looks proper.
And hows about a small sniper rifle, for games like Silent Scope. This may bring back bad memories of the Super Scope 7, but if it was small, light and not really Really tacky, it could work. We have reached the pinnacle that small minds can innovate to, and now we need the big boys such as Sega, Nintendo and Capcom to make brilliant games which utilise technology. There were attempts with voice-recognition games. Didn't really work though. But it COULD be used for online games. Proper vocal communication would be great.
What do we need then? Not peripherals such as hard drives, modems, keyboards and mice, but things which make the games that much more fun to play. The clever bods have done it before, and could do it again. So why not? Innovation is the key to peripheral vision.
Yeah, I heard of it. I also bought it for £50 (import). Great, great fun. This is what I mean about it; Sega made a decent fishing rod, and Nintendo made the motion detector cartridges. They also are doing that link-up GC and GBA thing. The reason their peripherals are so good, is because they actually think about it, before making it. If only more people were like that...
Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble for the Gameboy color sounds pritty damn fun. You heard of it?
I've never played it, but the actual cart has built in sensors in it. You control the main character, Kirby, by tilting your gameboy from side to side! pritty cool eh?
Nice piece of innovation there. I always remember as a youngster tilting pads sideways in a stupid attempt to get round a corner better...
Dunno how well this game works, but the idea is nice..
Tilt 'n' tumble 2 is also coming out for the Gamecube. And features the same kind of gameplay as before. You dont use the Gamecube pad to control it though! This is where the Gameboy advance link-up thingy comes into its own. A special sensor cart plugs into the GBA and you control kirby on the Gamecube with the GBA. Pritty damn nifty.
I've never played it, but the actual cart has built in sensors in it. You control the main character, Kirby, by tilting your gameboy from side to side! pritty cool eh?
Nice piece of innovation there. I always remember as a youngster tilting pads sideways in a stupid attempt to get round a corner better...
Dunno how well this game works, but the idea is nice..
Tilt 'n' tumble 2 is also coming out for the Gamecube. And features the same kind of gameplay as before. You dont use the Gamecube pad to control it though! This is where the Gameboy advance link-up thingy comes into its own. A special sensor cart plugs into the GBA and you control kirby on the Gamecube with the GBA. Pritty damn nifty.
The fishing rod for Sega Get Bass Fishing was ace. You could use it as a sword in Soul Calibur :)
Sonic
Sonic
What next, hey? First we got arcade machines; 6 buttons and a joystick. Then we got basic 4 button + D-pad consoles. Next came more ergonomically friendly joypads. The addition of joysticks was married with vibration functions, and now, at the pinnacle of controller ergonics, developers have gone out at a tangent. What am I on about? Specialised peripherals.
The first widespread extra peripheral was probably the steering wheel. A lot of people have, and use steering wheels. Why? Because they enhance the gaming experience. And because they are fun to use.
Next we had the utterly lamentable 'Super Scope 7'. This an example of No R & Little D. Imaginative, yes, Chunky, yes. Crap, yes. You see, while it was a great specialised peripheral, it was the size of a cricket bat, and was really just a plastic tube with knobs on.
And what about the G-Con 45? That was a brilliant piece of technology. A decent size, non-hand cramping, and it had one of the greatest specialised games to go along with it. Fun to the extreme.
And what else have we had. Oh yes, there are the variations on these designs. As far as I know, there are countless different light guns, from teeny-weeny ones, to chunky beasts, each giving different options, like laser targeting, recoil action and all those rapid fire functions. It seems that these hardware manufacturers think we want bigger and better. Bigger steering wheels. Bigger guns. Bigger controllers. I mean, who actually uses those 'slow' and 'rapid fire' functions on those cheap third party controllers? No, what we really need is a little R&D, and some more specialised controllers.
Recently released for the PlayStation 2 is a little gem called Police 24/7. Some may remember it from the arcades, utilising some laser technology to sense your movements, consequently allowing you to move your character; to hide behind obstacles and the like. Fun. But a port to the playstation? Now that required something extra, coming in the form of the web cam. And it is a great fun experience, with the many faults lying in the game, not the technology.
You see, unless we get games which match these peripherals, and utilise their capabilities, nobody will buy them. The steering wheels managed it, as did the light guns. What now should we be looking to? Virtual reality headsets? Been there, done that with the £300 PS2 one which didn't really work. There should be specialised games, which actually make it look like its 3D with this headset, specially designed so the picture looks proper.
And hows about a small sniper rifle, for games like Silent Scope. This may bring back bad memories of the Super Scope 7, but if it was small, light and not really Really tacky, it could work. We have reached the pinnacle that small minds can innovate to, and now we need the big boys such as Sega, Nintendo and Capcom to make brilliant games which utilise technology. There were attempts with voice-recognition games. Didn't really work though. But it COULD be used for online games. Proper vocal communication would be great.
What do we need then? Not peripherals such as hard drives, modems, keyboards and mice, but things which make the games that much more fun to play. The clever bods have done it before, and could do it again. So why not? Innovation is the key to peripheral vision.
The first widespread extra peripheral was probably the steering wheel. A lot of people have, and use steering wheels. Why? Because they enhance the gaming experience. And because they are fun to use.
Next we had the utterly lamentable 'Super Scope 7'. This an example of No R & Little D. Imaginative, yes, Chunky, yes. Crap, yes. You see, while it was a great specialised peripheral, it was the size of a cricket bat, and was really just a plastic tube with knobs on.
And what about the G-Con 45? That was a brilliant piece of technology. A decent size, non-hand cramping, and it had one of the greatest specialised games to go along with it. Fun to the extreme.
And what else have we had. Oh yes, there are the variations on these designs. As far as I know, there are countless different light guns, from teeny-weeny ones, to chunky beasts, each giving different options, like laser targeting, recoil action and all those rapid fire functions. It seems that these hardware manufacturers think we want bigger and better. Bigger steering wheels. Bigger guns. Bigger controllers. I mean, who actually uses those 'slow' and 'rapid fire' functions on those cheap third party controllers? No, what we really need is a little R&D, and some more specialised controllers.
Recently released for the PlayStation 2 is a little gem called Police 24/7. Some may remember it from the arcades, utilising some laser technology to sense your movements, consequently allowing you to move your character; to hide behind obstacles and the like. Fun. But a port to the playstation? Now that required something extra, coming in the form of the web cam. And it is a great fun experience, with the many faults lying in the game, not the technology.
You see, unless we get games which match these peripherals, and utilise their capabilities, nobody will buy them. The steering wheels managed it, as did the light guns. What now should we be looking to? Virtual reality headsets? Been there, done that with the £300 PS2 one which didn't really work. There should be specialised games, which actually make it look like its 3D with this headset, specially designed so the picture looks proper.
And hows about a small sniper rifle, for games like Silent Scope. This may bring back bad memories of the Super Scope 7, but if it was small, light and not really Really tacky, it could work. We have reached the pinnacle that small minds can innovate to, and now we need the big boys such as Sega, Nintendo and Capcom to make brilliant games which utilise technology. There were attempts with voice-recognition games. Didn't really work though. But it COULD be used for online games. Proper vocal communication would be great.
What do we need then? Not peripherals such as hard drives, modems, keyboards and mice, but things which make the games that much more fun to play. The clever bods have done it before, and could do it again. So why not? Innovation is the key to peripheral vision.