Viewing Thread:
"Controlling The Play (no, not a topic about EA slogans)"

Cast you mind back to the early days. The days when Space Invaders was the thing everyone was talking about. Now have another think. What were you or other Space Invader enthusiasts using to control the little space ship around the screen? I expect most of you have a vision in your mind now of a little box with a stick and a single button on the top of it. Quite a simple little device wasn’t it? But just supposing this little box not only had one button, but two! Think of the possibilities. Not only would the gamer not be limited to single missiles anymore but also a whole new option could have been deployed! The gamer could of had the choice to fire cluster bombs, lasers, and all sorts of devastating devices as well as the boring old single shot missile. The game play would have been broadened hence the game would have been a lot more fun to play. All because of an additional button. Some may argue that the programmers wanted the game how it was, but surely if there was a simple way to make it better then they would have took it in their stride to achieve this.

Nowadays if you look at the original Pong and then have a look at Atari’s recent attempt on the PSOne, then it is clear to see which is better (The recent one of course!). Not only is this to do with better graphics capabilities, but also the choice to add more options when it comes to control. The Playstation controller allowed new additions to the play such as the choice to deploy special moves with a tap R1 and also the chance to change the speed of the bats thanks to the analogue control.

It’s not just past controllers that can be improved on. Take the new Playstation 2 Dual Shock 2 controller. Imagine now that your playing Tekken Tag with it. Now just supposing there was an extra button placed right in the center of all the other fire buttons (Triangle, Circle, X, and Square). Lets for now call this extra button the ‘Zigzag’ button (purely made up). Now go back to playing Tekken Tag. Imagine you’re a bit of a master, you’ve beat the game, learnt the moves ect. Supposing though Sony released their new controller with the extra ‘Zigzag’ button and to coincide Namco released a new version of their popular Tekken series. Being a fan of the game, you are very excited about this prospect. The thing that gets you even more excited is the whole new set of fighting moves promised. And thanks to Sony’s new revolutionary controller this now means that there are over a hundred more move combos just because of that one extra button! This would mean the game would take a lot longer to master, there would be more moves to discover, and on the whole the game is better for it. Now a whole lot more can be added to every game. MGS 3 could now have the option to make your character jump, FIFA 2003 could have a punch button to make things more interesting, and V-Rally 4 could have brilliant rain affects obscuring the wind screen which you could clear with your new wind screen wiper activator button! And none of these options would have to sacrifice any other buttons meaning you can still have all your usual commands as well as some nice extras!

Ok I understand this is all fiction, but that kind of change has been shown in the past. Remember when Playstation was first released. All we had to hold was a small gray device with all the simple command buttons. Then as games got more advance Sony had to try and improve their controller. Such improvements like the analogue sticks meant better movement and overall more control for the player. Now instead of just pressing the D-Pad and making a car swerve off to the side more than you wanted, the analogue sticks meant the player could control the exact angle that your car turned, making for a more precise and enjoyable experience. And not just driving games benefited. Platform, sports, and even puzzle games improved in one way or another and this was in some ways just down to better controller design. Since then improvements to the controllers we all know have include rumble features, now used on most controller devices, and also analogue buttons, and hopefully in the future further improvements will make our gaming even better.

Sometimes however the simple controller just isn’t enough for playing some games. When Die Hard Trilogy was released on the Playstation and Sega Saturn consoles neither controller was adapted very well for the shooting levels. So straight from the Arcades came the Light gun. This revolutionary device allowed the player to shoot on screen objects just by pointing the gun at the T.V. screen and pressing a trigger. Many people where impressed, and light gun games became very popular among consoles owners. The Time Crisis series is a great example of this.

Another fine device, the steering wheel, also came from the arcades. Sega Rally was really the game that influenced peripheral makers such as Blaze and Mad Catz to bring the steering wheel into the console market. At first very simple designs were created but over the time, evolution in the steering wheel has seen great improvements, like the excellent Gran Turismo Force Feedback steering wheel. No one can deny this greatly improves the game play of the already brilliant GT3 and really gives the player the feel of driving a real car.

Just recently the gaming market has see a whole load of wacky interactive controllers. It’s pretty hard to walk into an Arcade today without seeing some sort of giant interactive device that sees the gamer jumping around like a nutter as though they were really in the game. It’s how games are evolving, and when you look at it it’s all down to the controllers. And pretty soon you could be experience this in your own home. Already we’ve seen dance mats, cameras that can track your movement, and even now an interactive football mat! Gaming really is becoming more advanced, not only in what we see, but how we control it. Sony’s new I-Toy looks like it’s going to be another barrier breaker. It’s a revolutionary device that basically tracks a ball that you can hold in your hand and effects what is on screen when the ball moves. This will be great for sword fighting games or even games that require you to throw a ball around i.e. baseball. Things really are getting better. Soon we could even own our very own interactive arena where we can do all sorts of activities that affect what happens on screen.

Of course all this is in the future. So for now I want you all to go over to your console (or PC) and stare at the controller. And then think to yourself, ‘If it wasn’t for this little device I wouldn’t have been able to do all the gaming delights I enjoy. I wouldn’t be able to win world cups, or fight against gorgeous women. I would lose all control’. Because my friends, it may not be big, fancy, or hi tech, but it sure does offer you a door into a living fantasy. It has been created so anything is possible from playing football to shooting zombies. It is the ultimate weapon, and no matter how much people may criticize it, they can’t deny it’s a stroke of pure genius.


Thanks for reading.

Please reply on,
How you think controller design effects game play,
What sort of controllers you enjoy,
What you think we will see in the future,
And any other things you wish to discuss on the matter of controllers.

Thanks,

Nath

Thanks for everyone who read or posted in this topic and thanks SR for picking it for GAD.

I was playing splashdown yesterday, and i thought, wouldn't it be cool if the playstation controller had a rip cord. The anologue sticks could be altered so that they can be pulled. It would be good if your machine stops half way round a course so u had to restart it using the rip cord. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a new peripheral with handle bars like a quad bike/jetski which had a rip cord and egnition key, released with ATV off road 2 or summit.

What i meant was shifting the dpad with the analogue stick around so it was more like the PS2 controller. It would be alot better because the way it is already u tend to get thumb ache in your left thumb. They need to lower it to the position that the d-pad is.


And Pro....that sounds pretty cool...the only problem is this...in the Arcades there is a shocker game where u sit on an electric chair an hold some bars and u have to try and sit for as long as possible while getting shocked. The thing is is that there is no electric current its just the bars vibrate really fast. I know electricity is an extreme form of vibration (I'll have to be careful what i say here) but in order to make it safe the vibration would have to be at a low level to make it safe. But it would be a good idea....it might make the controller heavy but who knows....

Na†ßu© wrote:
> What adaptions would u think controllers will see in the near future?
> I expet the gamecube controller to have an extra anologue stick in
> place of the d-pad.

But that would mean three joysticks on one pad, a feature suitable only for people with three arms.

What about taking the good old rumble feature even further?

Some pads have already tried this (but im not sure they ever made it to the market or not) where you would get a little electric surge through your hands on moments of impact say in beat-em-ups. If they ever got a safe version of this going, it would certainly be interesting to play and watch as your mate next to you is sitting there with his hair stood on end. :D

What adaptions would u think controllers will see in the near future? I expet the gamecube controller to have an extra anologue stick in place of the d-pad. Also i think we may see perhaps trigger buttons on the back of the PS2 controller?

Some valid points there, nice to see a proper discussion for once. One thing I think we will see more of in games, and we already have to a certain extent in games like Pro Evo, is context sensitivity. In that I mean that pressing one button can do many different things, depending in the context in which they were executed. But again, who effective that is depends on the developer.

lol, i like how you brought the old science stuff in there. :D

It would be interesting to see this new button concept being made for real though, just imagine the possibilties of more moves in games like Pro Evo and MGS and so on...

yes...again true....it's a bit like photosynthesis......if one of the factors limited even though there is plenty of another factor u still get a limited outcome....i.e. limited controller good producer still will only give how much the controller allows...good controller poor developer means that the developer is not good enough to deploy the controllers limitation.
So i agree with ya there.

I still think its a bit of both, you need a good pad to allow for good controls, and you need a good developer to make use of what they get.