The Game Controllers That Shaped the Way We Play 103
An anonymous reader writes "Neal Stephenson's ambitious sword fighting Kickstarter Clang has run into financial troubles, and part of the reason is down to new controller that was required — the extra investment reportedly scared away investors. Sometimes though, games can help usher in a whole new type of controller, and create new ways to play. From Pong's easy dials, which helped bring the video game into the home, to Ape Escape's twin thumbsticks and Doodle's Jump savvy use of the accelerometer on the iPhone, some games have hit the critical mass necessary to establish a new input as a way to play. So what's next?"
Wii or a Kinect? (Score:5, Interesting)
What is wrong with Wii as a controller? Or a kinect and youse a real sword (wooden sword)?
As someone who has kenjutsu experience I really wonder how a sword fighting 'game' should work at all.
E.g. without something that has the weight and feel of a sword in your hands, and nothing to actuall block your blow etc.
To have a sword fighting game you would need a robot, at least with a sword arm and a torso to hit at.
The redbull article was not accurate (Score:3, Interesting)
1) The Nintendo N64 controller was the first to introduce the analog joystick. This was a huge stage of controller evolution. This should have had its own section before PlayStations dual shock. And this goes into my second point.
2) The environment that was mentioned for Ape Escape was already introduced in the super Mario world for the N64. The dual shock control did raise the bar for thumb sticks by having two, but the N64 controller already was doing the environment the dual shock was allowing. Nintendo did this with the combination of the thumb sticks and the four directional butons. Play golden eye for N64 and you will see Nintendo forced PlayStations hand in creating the dual-shock controller
IMO
When it comes to controller ergonomics the dual shock was a step backwards in controller design. The thumb sticks do not sit in a place where you thumbs would natural rest. Making the thumb sticks awkward to use. The 2nd generation Xbox controllers perfected the dual thumb stick controller.
my 2 cents
Clang attracted, not scared away, investors (Score:4, Interesting)
Kickstarter investors are just as much investors as anyone else. There's no way Clang would have reached the goal they did without proposing the custom hardware.
I've written off Clang as a loss, which is fine - the more ambitious a project is, the more that is possible. But in the future I'm not sure I'd back a game project with custom hardware asking for less than a million or so, or with a very clear plan on how they are delivering on the hardware.