Week 9 Task

The most comfortable controllers I’ve used are probably the Mega Drive controller and the Gamecube controller. The Mega Drive controller was comfortable and simple so it was easy to learn (possibly the only reason my Dad ever played it).

The Gamecube controller I find to be the most comfortable of all the current generation consoles with the revised Xbox controller coming second, PS2 third and original Xbox controller dead last. As far as I’m concerned there is one problem with the controller which is the curvature at the back ends too soon so my finger tips cant quite fit comfortably if I want to use the middle of my fingers on the shoulder buttons rather than my finger tips. However this is an issue that won’t affect a lot of people as I have quite large hands. Aside from this small issue I find all the controls to be in comfortable, reachable places and the shape of the controller fits my hands almost perfectly.

As far as the actual look of consoles goes I like the look of a Black Gamecube best with the Dreamcast and PSone a close 2^nd and 3^rd however I think that the Nintendo Wii looks better than any other TV games console I’ve seen to date. I think the look of every handheld console has been excellent ever since the birth of the Gameboy Color, particularly the GBA SP.

The future of console control looks set to change with the next-gen consoles, all are wireless removing the awkwardness presented by having cables all over the floor. The Wii and PS3 controllers have a type of motion sensitive control allowing for new ways to actually play games. If the new style catches on I can see game play becoming less and less based around just control sticks, d-pads and buttons however I doubt they will go unused for a good while yet (at least until were at the point where we practically live the games anyway).