Innovative controllers rounded up
by Jennie Lees 
{ Sep 13th 2006 at 12:00PM }
This article over at bit-tech.net looks at ten of the more offbeat game control schemes -- from bongos and maracas to cameras and dance mats. It's a nice reminder that gaming isn't all "up up down down" and that sometimes you can have a little fun with the controller as well as with the game.Of course, collecting multiple peripherals, one for each game, quickly becomes a hassle -- will next-gen's out of the box accessories render a cupboardful of controllers unnecessary? Or will we see some manufacturers continue to make third-party peripherals because their games simply aren't possible otherwise? Perhaps it'll be a bit of both -- the thought of playing Guitar Hero with a PS3 joypad, or dance games with the Wii, has us reaching for our plug-in accessories already.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Matt @ Sep 13th 2006 12:08PM
I am really surprised companies haven't come out with a "universal" control for the xbox/ps2.
FSK405K @ Sep 13th 2006 12:09PM
The Wii controller should make a lot of this stuff irrelevant. Still need that dance pad though. Perhaps the smartest thing would be for N, MS, & S to--guffah!--work together and make all their controllers work together? 'Course that'll never happen.
Kevout @ Sep 13th 2006 12:17PM
Excuse me where is the Sega Activator
KVN @ Sep 13th 2006 12:20PM
Is it me or should the nes zapper be higher on the list.
Isurus @ Sep 13th 2006 12:21PM
I would say the title to this post is a little misleading. The linked article rounds up the 10 most 'unique' controllers, not the 10 most 'innovative'. The last time I checked, unique and innovative meant entirely different things.
dsub @ Sep 13th 2006 12:21PM
Red Octane didn't create the guitar controller, Konami did. Also, the SNES Super Scope and the Sega Menacer should be in here as well. Also, kevout is right the Activator was awesome. I still have it somewhere in my crawlspace packaged with Eternal Champions.
FSK405K @ Sep 13th 2006 12:21PM
(after reading the whole article)
WHAT? No Power Glove?
Rootbeer @ Sep 13th 2006 12:50PM
I don't think the NES Zapper deserves as much credit as this article gives it. Lightgun-based home games already existed 10 years prior to the NES, and at least two other consoles--the Sega Master System and the Atari XEGS--came out at the same time as the NES with light guns bundled.
And really, it was a controller that most people who had one really only used for playing Duck Hunt, anyway.
minus_273 @ Sep 13th 2006 3:44PM
UFORCE!
Franky Digital @ Sep 13th 2006 12:46PM
I've got to agree with #2. Regardless of whether or not the Wii controller has yet to "prove" itself, making a list of innovative controllers and not including the Wiimote is like making a list of the greatest games of all time and not including...
Wait, maybe that's not such a good simile to use. Anyway, travesty is afoot with that article and this post. Travesty, I say.
32_footsteps @ Sep 13th 2006 12:49PM
Wait a minute... didn't SOCOM bring USB mikes onto the console systems first? And I know that Karaoke Revolution came out a full year before SingStar first appeared. And it's not like that series crapped out - there have been 6 different iterations on the PS2 alone.
Also, they forgot to mention why later Zapper light guns were orange - because US law said that facsimile guns made as toys had to have brightly-colored orange parts to allow easy distinguising between them and real guns. Nintendo figured it was better safe than sorry to just make all Zappers worldwide that color.
Also, while Guitar Freaks and Konami's guitar controller predate Guitar Hero and Red Octane's version by a couple years, only a precious few would claim that Red Octane created the inferior controller. There's a reaon Harmonix destroyed a few dozen of Konami's controller - it just wasn't suited to actual playing.
Finally - how many times do people have to make fun of the Eye Toy before media outlets accept it was a terrible idea? And before anyone asks, I think the camera for the 360 is just as much a bad idea, and one for any console would be just as bad. I don't buy a console to play all the lousy webcam games I avoided on the PC for years.
Segata-San @ Sep 13th 2006 2:04PM
What? No mention of the Twin Sticks for Virtual-ON?!
Arimasen @ Sep 13th 2006 2:10PM
I scoff that the Guitar Hero controller is on this list, it shouldve been the Konami GuitarFreaks controller, since they beat Guitar Hero MANY years in making it first. Also where is the IIDX controller? The Taiko drum? The Pop'n Music controller? I tell you, that site is very anti-japan, stupid people.
Khidr @ Sep 13th 2006 3:13PM
second sex aid post today (well chronologically first... but still)... doesn't the 360 live vision chat let you vibrate your "friend's" controller on command as well... will sony lose the console war due to it's uselessness as a masturbation aid?
How does one even focus group that question?
happy to see you guys getting your freak on.
rockintom99 @ Sep 14th 2006 3:20AM
Ok, that's it. I have *got* to get my hands on samba de amigo :(
Of course, they could totally remake this on the wii. That would be freaking awesome.
BobSaget @ Sep 13th 2006 5:49PM
Yes, Konami's home guitar controller was pretty bad, but their arcade versions were meant to last. Beatmania controller should have definitely taken a spot somewhere on the list. The Pop'N Music controller, while more fun than any of the rest, is admittedly just a bunch of big buttons.