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Gaming peripherals are slowly becoming more and more expensive. Yet at the same time, they are becoming more and more of a neccessity. With the end of cartridges, consoles using discs must use a memory card to save until the hard drive revolution comeas about. Thankfully, some peripherals are becoming intergrated into the hardware, such as vibration in the controllers. I've analysed some of the console peripherals I know of and commented on price and quality of them.
Firstly, the N64. The last major console to use carts. The first peripheral to analyse is the controller. The controller is very ergonomic for both left and right handed people, it is well layed out and has a slot for any extra features. Unfortunately no vibration was intergrated into it, as you have to buy a separate pack. But at £25 it is good quality and good value for money, the only problem being it's now fairly hard to find one new. Next, the memory pak. Holding 256K of data, and at around £20, it was slightly expensive, but still excellent quality plus there are lots of bigger alternatives on the market. The Rumble Pak, which I think should have come as part of the controller, had a very good rumble to it, and some 3rd party paks also had a memory pak incorporated in the rumble pak. And for £20 it was quite expensive, but you got it free with Starfox. Finally we have the Transfer pak, one of the more original peripherals allowing transfer between your N64 and a GB game cartridge. Few games ever actually made use of it, but Pokemon Stadium was 10 times better if you did use it. Free with Pokemon Stadium or around £20 alone, it was a bit pricey considering its limitations.
Next we have the Playstation 2. The first "next gen" console, with a DVD Player. One must for this console peripheral wise is a memory card. They hold 8MB of data but cost £30, which I think is slightly too expensive, but it's hard to do without. Then we have the multi-tap. Why Sony didn't just give the PS2 4 controller ports is anyone's guess, but they didn't, so a multi-tap is neccessary for any real multipalyer gaming. But at £30 you might resort to another console for your 4-player cravings. Next we go on to the controller. It has a nice, ergonomic design and a quality feel to it. It has a vibration feature already as a default so no excess spending in this deparment, and it's reasonably priced at £30. And finally, the DVD remote. To get the most from the PS2 player you need this. It is official, so you're promised quality, and it also has a disc to fix all those errors on the DVD player. Nice and cheap at £20.
Gamecube. Nintendo's next offering in a long line of successful offerings...and i can't wait. And it also looks promising on the peripheral side. With a pleasant controller with a vibration feature and 2 analog sticks it does the job and its aesthetically pleasing so it also looks the job. To make it even better, its only £25 at launch, so its great value for money. The storage for the GC is also fairly priced too, with a 4MB card being £15. Half the price of Sony's, yet half the size. You choose which you prefer. Since the GC is yet to be released, the other peripherals including a 5" screen (£100), a battery pack for the screen (£45) and a GBA/GC link up option cannot be judged, but we're guessing they're just as good!
And finally, the monster console - Xbox. But it's the peripherals we're attacking, not the console. Firstly, the controller. It's huge and difficult to access every button. Can't they make it any smaller? But at £30 at least you get your money's worth. The console comes with a built in hard drive (a gaming first) so a memory card isn't really neccessary. But if you want saves "on the move" then a £30 memory card is worth it. Really, it is.
So now i've summed up most basic peripherals, whats to come? Modems, hard drives, keyboards, USB devices? And this revolution of peripherals is good, but its also expensive!
Thanks for reading, and post any comments too :)
Firstly, the N64. The last major console to use carts. The first peripheral to analyse is the controller. The controller is very ergonomic for both left and right handed people, it is well layed out and has a slot for any extra features. Unfortunately no vibration was intergrated into it, as you have to buy a separate pack. But at £25 it is good quality and good value for money, the only problem being it's now fairly hard to find one new. Next, the memory pak. Holding 256K of data, and at around £20, it was slightly expensive, but still excellent quality plus there are lots of bigger alternatives on the market. The Rumble Pak, which I think should have come as part of the controller, had a very good rumble to it, and some 3rd party paks also had a memory pak incorporated in the rumble pak. And for £20 it was quite expensive, but you got it free with Starfox. Finally we have the Transfer pak, one of the more original peripherals allowing transfer between your N64 and a GB game cartridge. Few games ever actually made use of it, but Pokemon Stadium was 10 times better if you did use it. Free with Pokemon Stadium or around £20 alone, it was a bit pricey considering its limitations.
Next we have the Playstation 2. The first "next gen" console, with a DVD Player. One must for this console peripheral wise is a memory card. They hold 8MB of data but cost £30, which I think is slightly too expensive, but it's hard to do without. Then we have the multi-tap. Why Sony didn't just give the PS2 4 controller ports is anyone's guess, but they didn't, so a multi-tap is neccessary for any real multipalyer gaming. But at £30 you might resort to another console for your 4-player cravings. Next we go on to the controller. It has a nice, ergonomic design and a quality feel to it. It has a vibration feature already as a default so no excess spending in this deparment, and it's reasonably priced at £30. And finally, the DVD remote. To get the most from the PS2 player you need this. It is official, so you're promised quality, and it also has a disc to fix all those errors on the DVD player. Nice and cheap at £20.
Gamecube. Nintendo's next offering in a long line of successful offerings...and i can't wait. And it also looks promising on the peripheral side. With a pleasant controller with a vibration feature and 2 analog sticks it does the job and its aesthetically pleasing so it also looks the job. To make it even better, its only £25 at launch, so its great value for money. The storage for the GC is also fairly priced too, with a 4MB card being £15. Half the price of Sony's, yet half the size. You choose which you prefer. Since the GC is yet to be released, the other peripherals including a 5" screen (£100), a battery pack for the screen (£45) and a GBA/GC link up option cannot be judged, but we're guessing they're just as good!
And finally, the monster console - Xbox. But it's the peripherals we're attacking, not the console. Firstly, the controller. It's huge and difficult to access every button. Can't they make it any smaller? But at £30 at least you get your money's worth. The console comes with a built in hard drive (a gaming first) so a memory card isn't really neccessary. But if you want saves "on the move" then a £30 memory card is worth it. Really, it is.
So now i've summed up most basic peripherals, whats to come? Modems, hard drives, keyboards, USB devices? And this revolution of peripherals is good, but its also expensive!
Thanks for reading, and post any comments too :)
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Gaming peripherals are slowly becoming more and more expensive. Yet at the same time, they are becoming more and more of a neccessity. With the end of cartridges, consoles using discs must use a memory card to save until the hard drive revolution comeas about. Thankfully, some peripherals are becoming intergrated into the hardware, such as vibration in the controllers. I've analysed some of the console peripherals I know of and commented on price and quality of them.
Firstly, the N64. The last major console to use carts. The first peripheral to analyse is the controller. The controller is very ergonomic for both left and right handed people, it is well layed out and has a slot for any extra features. Unfortunately no vibration was intergrated into it, as you have to buy a separate pack. But at £25 it is good quality and good value for money, the only problem being it's now fairly hard to find one new. Next, the memory pak. Holding 256K of data, and at around £20, it was slightly expensive, but still excellent quality plus there are lots of bigger alternatives on the market. The Rumble Pak, which I think should have come as part of the controller, had a very good rumble to it, and some 3rd party paks also had a memory pak incorporated in the rumble pak. And for £20 it was quite expensive, but you got it free with Starfox. Finally we have the Transfer pak, one of the more original peripherals allowing transfer between your N64 and a GB game cartridge. Few games ever actually made use of it, but Pokemon Stadium was 10 times better if you did use it. Free with Pokemon Stadium or around £20 alone, it was a bit pricey considering its limitations.
Next we have the Playstation 2. The first "next gen" console, with a DVD Player. One must for this console peripheral wise is a memory card. They hold 8MB of data but cost £30, which I think is slightly too expensive, but it's hard to do without. Then we have the multi-tap. Why Sony didn't just give the PS2 4 controller ports is anyone's guess, but they didn't, so a multi-tap is neccessary for any real multipalyer gaming. But at £30 you might resort to another console for your 4-player cravings. Next we go on to the controller. It has a nice, ergonomic design and a quality feel to it. It has a vibration feature already as a default so no excess spending in this deparment, and it's reasonably priced at £30. And finally, the DVD remote. To get the most from the PS2 player you need this. It is official, so you're promised quality, and it also has a disc to fix all those errors on the DVD player. Nice and cheap at £20.
Gamecube. Nintendo's next offering in a long line of successful offerings...and i can't wait. And it also looks promising on the peripheral side. With a pleasant controller with a vibration feature and 2 analog sticks it does the job and its aesthetically pleasing so it also looks the job. To make it even better, its only £25 at launch, so its great value for money. The storage for the GC is also fairly priced too, with a 4MB card being £15. Half the price of Sony's, yet half the size. You choose which you prefer. Since the GC is yet to be released, the other peripherals including a 5" screen (£100), a battery pack for the screen (£45) and a GBA/GC link up option cannot be judged, but we're guessing they're just as good!
And finally, the monster console - Xbox. But it's the peripherals we're attacking, not the console. Firstly, the controller. It's huge and difficult to access every button. Can't they make it any smaller? But at £30 at least you get your money's worth. The console comes with a built in hard drive (a gaming first) so a memory card isn't really neccessary. But if you want saves "on the move" then a £30 memory card is worth it. Really, it is.
So now i've summed up most basic peripherals, whats to come? Modems, hard drives, keyboards, USB devices? And this revolution of peripherals is good, but its also expensive!
Thanks for reading, and post any comments too :)
Firstly, the N64. The last major console to use carts. The first peripheral to analyse is the controller. The controller is very ergonomic for both left and right handed people, it is well layed out and has a slot for any extra features. Unfortunately no vibration was intergrated into it, as you have to buy a separate pack. But at £25 it is good quality and good value for money, the only problem being it's now fairly hard to find one new. Next, the memory pak. Holding 256K of data, and at around £20, it was slightly expensive, but still excellent quality plus there are lots of bigger alternatives on the market. The Rumble Pak, which I think should have come as part of the controller, had a very good rumble to it, and some 3rd party paks also had a memory pak incorporated in the rumble pak. And for £20 it was quite expensive, but you got it free with Starfox. Finally we have the Transfer pak, one of the more original peripherals allowing transfer between your N64 and a GB game cartridge. Few games ever actually made use of it, but Pokemon Stadium was 10 times better if you did use it. Free with Pokemon Stadium or around £20 alone, it was a bit pricey considering its limitations.
Next we have the Playstation 2. The first "next gen" console, with a DVD Player. One must for this console peripheral wise is a memory card. They hold 8MB of data but cost £30, which I think is slightly too expensive, but it's hard to do without. Then we have the multi-tap. Why Sony didn't just give the PS2 4 controller ports is anyone's guess, but they didn't, so a multi-tap is neccessary for any real multipalyer gaming. But at £30 you might resort to another console for your 4-player cravings. Next we go on to the controller. It has a nice, ergonomic design and a quality feel to it. It has a vibration feature already as a default so no excess spending in this deparment, and it's reasonably priced at £30. And finally, the DVD remote. To get the most from the PS2 player you need this. It is official, so you're promised quality, and it also has a disc to fix all those errors on the DVD player. Nice and cheap at £20.
Gamecube. Nintendo's next offering in a long line of successful offerings...and i can't wait. And it also looks promising on the peripheral side. With a pleasant controller with a vibration feature and 2 analog sticks it does the job and its aesthetically pleasing so it also looks the job. To make it even better, its only £25 at launch, so its great value for money. The storage for the GC is also fairly priced too, with a 4MB card being £15. Half the price of Sony's, yet half the size. You choose which you prefer. Since the GC is yet to be released, the other peripherals including a 5" screen (£100), a battery pack for the screen (£45) and a GBA/GC link up option cannot be judged, but we're guessing they're just as good!
And finally, the monster console - Xbox. But it's the peripherals we're attacking, not the console. Firstly, the controller. It's huge and difficult to access every button. Can't they make it any smaller? But at £30 at least you get your money's worth. The console comes with a built in hard drive (a gaming first) so a memory card isn't really neccessary. But if you want saves "on the move" then a £30 memory card is worth it. Really, it is.
So now i've summed up most basic peripherals, whats to come? Modems, hard drives, keyboards, USB devices? And this revolution of peripherals is good, but its also expensive!
Thanks for reading, and post any comments too :)