Article by jekky
Types of game controller br Gamepad br Main article Gamepad br A gamepad also known as a joypad is the most common kind of game controller held in both hands with thumbs and fingers used to provide input Gamepads can have anywhere from two buttons to a dozen or more combined with multiple omnidirectional analogue or digital control sticks Gamepads generally feature a set of action buttons handled with the right fingers or thumb and a direction controller handled with the left These let the player control the game element movements in up to three dimensions citation needed with many buttons to perform quick actions Due to the ease of use and precision of gamepads they have spread from traditional consoles where they originated to computers as a common input device br Most modern game controllers are a variation of a standard gamepad Some common additions to the standard pad include shoulder buttons placed along the edges of the pad centrally placed buttons labeled start select and mode and an internal motor to provide haptic feedback br Gamepads are the primary means of input on nearly all modern video game consoles Gamepads are also available for personal computers but not all computer games support gamepads preferring the more conventional keyboards and mice However most console emulators support gamepads br Paddle br Main article Paddle game controller br A paddle is a controller that features a round wheel and one or more fire buttons The wheel is used to typically control movement of the player or an object along one axis of the video screen Paddle controllers were the first analog controllers they died out when paddle and ball type games fell out of favor A variation on the Paddle the Atari driving controller appeared on the Atari 2600 Designed specifically for the game Indy 500 It was almost identical in operation and design to the regular paddle controller However its wheel can be continuously rotated in either direction and it was missing the extra paddle included on the previous model Unlike a spinner friction prevented the wheel from gaining momentum br Trackball br Main article Trackball br A trackball is basically an upside down mouse that is manipulated with the palm of one s hand It has the advantage of not requiring a lot of desktop space and that it is as fast as one can roll the ball on it This is faster than one can move a mouse due to space not being an issue Notable uses of a Trackball as a gaming controller would be games such as Centipede Marble Madness Golden Tee and Sonic Arcade br Joystick br Main article Joystick br This joystick is a computer peripheral that consists of a handheld stick that can be tilted around either of two axes and sometimes twisted around a third The joystick is often used for flight simulators HOTAS controllers composed of a joystick and throttle quadrant see below are a popular combination for flight simulation among its most fanatic devotees Most joysticks are designed to be operated with the user s primary hand e g with the right hand of a right handed person with the base either held in the opposite hand or mounted on a desk br Arcade style Joystick br A collection of home made and stock arcade style controllers br This device can also be a home version of the kind used in the arcade or for use on emulators It features a shaft that has a ball or drop shaped handle and one or more buttons for in game actions Generally the layout has the joystick on the left and the buttons on the right There are instances when this is reversed or the joystick is in the centre with buttons on both sides br Throttle quadrant br A throttle quadrant as the name indicates is a set of one or more levers that are most often used to simulate throttles or other similar controls in a real vehicle particularly an aircraft Throttle quadrants are most popular in conjunction with joysticks or yokes used in flight simulation br Steering wheel br Main article Racing Wheel game controller br The steering wheel essentially a larger version of a paddle is used for racing simulators such as Live for Speed Grand Prix Legends GTR2 and Richard Burns Rally The first steering wheels appeared in the Nintendo 64 and PlayStation era citation needed Many are force feedback see Force Feedback Wheel designed to give the same feedback as would be experienced when driving a real car but the realism of this depends on the game They usually come with pedals to control the gas and brake Shifting is taken care of with either paddles a simple shifter which is moved forward or back to change gears a paddle shifting system or a shifter which mimics that of real vehicles which may use a clutch Most wheels turn only 200 to 270 degrees lock to lock but some models such as the Logitech Driving Force Pro Logitech G25 and Logitech G27 can turn 900 degrees or 2 5 turns lock to lock br The Namco Jogcon paddle was available for the PlayStation game R4 Ridge Racer Type 4 Unlike real video game steering wheels the Jogcon was designed to fit in the player s hand Its much smaller wheel diameter roughly similar to a soda can s resembles the jog and shuttle control wheel used on some VCRs br The game Mario Kart Wii is bundled with the Wii Wheel a steering wheel shaped shell that the Wii Remote is placed inside thus using the Wii Remote s motion sensing capabilities to control the game br Yoke br A yoke is very similar to a steering wheel except that it resembles the control yoke found on many aircraft and has two axes of movement not only rotational movement about the shaft of the yoke but also a forward and backward axis equivalent to that of pitch control on the yoke of an aircraft Some yokes have additional controls attached directly to the yoke for simulation of aircraft functions such as radio push to talk buttons Yokes like throttle quadrants and pedals are popular with serious flight simulation enthusiasts br Pedals br Pedals may be used for driving simulations or flight simulations In the former case an asymmetric set of pedals can simulate accelerator brake and clutch pedals in a real automobile In the latter case a symmetric set of pedals simulates rudder controls and toe brakes in an aircraft As mentioned most steering wheel controllers come with a set of pedals br Keyboard mouse and mousepad br Main articles Computer keyboard and Computer mouse br The WASD keyboard setup is used widely br The keyboard and mouse are typical input devices for a personal computer and are currently the main game controllers for computer games The keyboard and mouse with the aid of the mousepad achieve greater speed comfort and accuracy for the gamer Some video game consoles also have the ability to function with a keyboard and a mouse The computer keyboard is modeled after the typewriter keyboard and was designed for the input of written text A mouse is a handheld pointing device used in addition to the keyboard For games the keyboard typically controls movement of the character while the mouse is used to control the game camera or used for aiming br The numeric keypad found on the keyboard is also used as a game controller and can be found on a number of separate devices most notably early consoles usually attached to a joystick or a paddle The keypad is a small grid of keys with at least the digits 0 9 br Touch screen br Nintendo DS Touch screen bottom br Main article Touch screen br A touch screen is an input device that allows the user to interact with the computer by touching the display screen It was first used on a dedicated console with the Tiger game com Nintendo popularized it for use in video games with the Nintendo DS other systems including the Tapwave Zodiac as well as the vast majority of PDAs have also included this feature br Modern touch screens use a thin durable transparent plastic sheet overlayed onto the glass screen The location of a touch is calculated from the capacitance for the X and Y axes which varies based upon where the sheet is touched br Motion sensing br Nintendo s Wii system utilizes a new kind of controller called the Wii Remote It uses accelerometers to detect its approximate orientation and acceleration and an infra red transmitter with a infra red sensor bar that sits on top of or below the television so it can be used as a pointing device The Sixaxis and DualShock 3 controllers for Sony s PlayStation 3 system have similar motion sensing capabilities br Light gun br Main article Light gun br A light gun is a peripheral used to shoot targets on a screen They usually roughly resemble firearms or ray guns Their use is normally limited to rail shooter or shooting gallery games like those that came with the Shooting Gallery light gun The first home console light gun was released on the Magnavox Odyssey later on Nintendo would include one standard on their Famicom and NES Nintendo has also released a shell in the style of a light gun for the Wii Remote called the Wii Zapper which comes bundled with Link s Crossbow Training br Gaming keypads and programmable PC controllers br Main article Gaming keypad br There are a few specialized controllers that are specifically used for First person shooter RTS games and some arcade type games These controllers can be programmed to allow the emulation of keys and macros in some cases They were developed because some of these games require a keyboard to play and some players find this to be awkward for such a task br Others br Pinball controllers and multi button consoles for strategy games were released in the past but their popularity was limited to hardcore fans of the genre br Dance pads essentially a grid of flat pressure sensitive gamepad buttons set on a mat meant to be stepped on have seen niche success with the popularity of rhythm games like Dance Dance Revolution and Pump it Up The dance pad was first introduced on the Atari 2600 called the Exus Foot Craz pad Nintendo later purchased the technology from Bandai and used it on their Power Pad for the Famicom and NES br Balance board The Wii Balance Board comes with the game Wii Fit Several other game are in development which will be compatible with the balance board This was preceded by decades by the Joyboard made to plug into an Atari 2600 to play skiing and surfing games br Rhythm games with controllers resembling musical instruments like guitars GuitarFreaks the Guitar Hero series Rock Band and Rock Band 2 drums Donkey Konga DrumMania Guitar Hero World Tour and the two Rock Band games or maracas Samba de Amigo have also seen some success in arcades and home consoles Another rhythm game based around the art of Djing and turntablism DJ Hero uses a turntable shaped peripheral br Buzzers A recent example of specialized while very simple game controllers is the four large buzzers round buttons supplied with the PlayStation 2 amp PlayStation 3 quiz show game series Buzz 2005 present both game and controllers clearly being inspired by the television show genre br NeGcon is a unique controller for racing games on the PlayStation Physically it resembles a gamepad but its left and right halves twist relative to each other making it a variation of the paddle controller br Microphone A few games have made successes in using a headset or microphone as a secondary controller such as Hey You Pikachu Rock Band Tom Clancy s ENDWAR and the SOCOM U S Navy SEALs series The use of these microphones allowed players to issue commands to the game controlling teammates as in SOCOM and other AI characters Pikachu The Nintendo DS features a microphone that is built into the system It has been used for a variety of purposes including speech recognition Nintendogs Brain Age Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day chatting online between and during gameplay sessions Pokmon Diamond and Pearl and minigames that require the player to blow or shout into the microphone Feel the Magic XY XX WarioWare Touched Mario Party DS br Steel Batallion for the Xbox was bundled with a full dashboard with 2 joysticks and over 30 buttons in an attempt to make it feel like an actual mecha simulator br Fishing rod the first fishing rod controller appeared as an accessory for the Sega Dreamcast video console for playing SEGA Marine Fishing Later other games for Playstation console use also a similar controllers br Floating Interactive Display since 2003 two companies IO2Technology from the US and Fogscreen from Finland have developed Minority Report style interactive floating interfaces which display an image projected in mid air but can be interacted with by finger similar to a touch screen The IO2Technology version is called the Heliodisplay br Mind controlled headset As of March 24 2007 a US Australian company called Emotiv Systems began launching a mind controlled device for video games based on Electroencephalography It was reported by Wall Street Journal s Don Clark on MSNBC br PCGamerBike similar to a pair of pedals removed from an exercise bike then set down in front of a chair amp used to precisely control game characters instead br Optical motion tracking systems such as TrackIR and FreeTrack use a video camera to track an infrared illuminated or emissive headpiece Small head movements are tracked and then translated into much larger virtual in game movements allowing hands free view control and improved immersiveness br Mechanical motion tracking systems like Gametrak use cables attached to gloves for tracking position of physical elements in three dimensional space in real time Th Gametrak mechanism contains a retracting cable reel and a small tubular guide arm from which the cable passes out The guide arm is articulated in a ball joint such that the arm and ball follow the angle at which the cable extends from the mechanism The distance of the
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Daniel Sieberg spoke with Mattel’s Jim Sheridan about their new mind control toy, Mind Flex. The game uses brain waves to power a fan that floats a ball through an obstacle course.