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"Controller Styleee"

Control in games is everything. If you aren't at one with your controller, you've no chance of getting the high score that you may crave.

Of course you can still have fun, but when you reach the hardcore stage, skill is everything.

So I've got a mate who just cannot get to grips with analogue controls. (By which I mean the joystick thingys on your controller.) He prefers to use buttons. So when we're racing on Gran Turismo, I always beat him because he just hasn't got the same level of control as I have. Where he can only jog the brakes and has only a few degrees of steering, I can apply smooth braking and acceleration and inch perfect steering with the left and right analogue controls of a PSX joypad.

Sony have brought more degrees of control by introducing analogue buttons on its PS2 joypad, allowing you to apply pressure on the buttons equivalent to how much you want the object you are controlling to respond. But analogue sticks still seem to rule the day.

Flight sims, shooters, driving games, fighting games; all these genres can benefit from analogue control, and I think this is the way controllers will go, not necessarily with joysticks, but buttons allowing you more and more accuracy as they become more fine tuned, with more range than ever before.

The future looks bright; The future is analogue.

I roll on the floor laughing at your witty joke...

(I'm not sure if the word *witty* is the right one to use... perhaps one that convienently rhymes with it could be used instead.)

It's brilliant. The press would love it, especially if I tell them its got 4 ports on the front for the FantasyPads, which vibrate.

I wouldn't call it that.......people might get the wrong idea.

Could make for an interesting marketing campaign though...

OK, I'm going to patent a controller with an analogue on/off for the joystick itself, so you can have either left is left or left is 300 degrees of accuracy left.

Then I'm gonna make a few mil., buy out Bill Gates, and launch....

The FantasyBox!!

Bwahaaahaa.

> Sorry to disappoint you Wookie, but that's what I mean't about
> analogue control on fighting games, an analogue button instead of a
> straight forward 'one press one punch' type control.

Ah - now I have re-read your original post *properly* and to the very, very end, I see that you had already said that. I do apologise!


> can't really see any advantage in using a joystick in a beat 'em up,
> unless the game engine was developed specifically for that type of
> control. But I can't think of one that has....

A digital joystick, like the arcade machines, would be ideal - rapid movement for combos on a D-pad is a bit hard on the thumbs!

Perhaps to change the camera angle... but it would get far too complicated.

Sorry to disappoint you Wookie, but that's what I mean't about analogue control on fighting games, an analogue button instead of a straight forward 'one press one punch' type control.

And yes, I can't really see any advantage in using a joystick in a beat 'em up, unless the game engine was developed specifically for that type of control. But I can't think of one that has....

> but it was, surprise, NINTENDO - Masters of
> Innovation, that brought us the analogue stick on the N64

Are you saying that (a) Nintendo invented the analogue stick, or that (b) they were the first to use it on a home console?

If you're saying (b) then you're probably right. If you're claimin (a) though, I think you're probably wrong.

The old Atari VCS machines and the like had analogue controllers long ago.

Anyway, I think the "best" controller type depends largely on the game you're playing, and maybe even on your personal 'style' of playing. For things such as racing games, there simply is no substitute for analogue controls, but other genres differ.

Personally, I can never get on with analogue control in the Tomb Raider games; I found digital control to be much more precise.

Also, being controversial and disagreeing with FM for probably the first time ever, I think fighting games are better with digital control; but again it depends on exactly what the particular controls are used for.

I think a digital D-pad is better for selecting moves, but analogue buttons will be great for determining the power of the hit. You may not always want to punch someone as hard as possible; you may not want to knock them down with a punch, but just give them a 'jab' to move them back a little, to give you room to unleash a flying kick, etc.

your right game. anologue sticks are much easier in 3-d enviroments and worlds like zelda or d.k. When u r cruising around a dungeon or open area it feels that much better with a anologue stick. even with games like golden eye and p.d it feels good, and if your manouvering around pillars you can just use the strafe button. ahhhh the glories nintendo come up with

eminemmad

It is all about degrees of accuracy. The new Nintendo controller for the Gamecube wil have something like 257 degrees of accuracy, and this can only make games better, if you want to tip-toe or leg-it across a field of dungeon floor with Link then you will be able to with more accuracy. The first we saw of the Analogue Stick was way back in the times of the Vikings, no but seriously there were on arcade sticks but it was, surprise, NINTENDO - Masters of Innovation, that brought us the analogue stick on the N64, and it is still going strong today, Sony, the greedy buggers, have taken two and Sega took one for their Dreamcast, so obviously popularity would suggest that besides the fact they are better for controlling the charachters or whatever they are the first choice from most gamers. I prefer the analogue stick, it is more sensitive and because most games like Mario, Banjo and Mario Tennis use the Analogue stick over the D-Pad, but this is obviously the case as once again, THERE IS MORE CONTROL! Look at the Next-Gen consoles, not one is without an analogue stick, this has got to tell you something, and if it doesn't then...WAKE UP!

The Game

I wonder if they will have Digital Sticks