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feature :: the fridge door - episode 2
The Fridge Door - Episode 2
The life and times of controllers
Ever had that feeling where you know you should stop doing something, but you’re having so much fun doing it you just can’t stop? No, get that thought out of your heads I wasn’t referring to THAT. Filthy people. I’m referring more to brilliant games. Be it to go to work or to bed or to save a squirrel from being run over by a raging senior citizen on their electric scooter, whatever. I’ve pulled all-nighters before where the story of a game was just so good that I couldn’t pull myself away. Times where game stories put me in mind of reading a well written book. Like BioShock or Final Fantasy X.
I had this problem recently with Forza Motorsport 2 only on a slightly more painful level. There’s either an interesting quirk to the design of the xbox 360 controller or an interesting quirk to the design of my hand, probably the latter, but I found that in situations like long endurance races where my mind was hanging on the ragged edge of intense concentration and my grip was feverishly tight (on the controller, smarties), the small of my first left index knuckle, the finger that operates the braking trigger, rubbed very harshly on the controller casing next to the trigger. This caused a big callous on my finger but Forza was so good I couldn’t pull myself away making the problem worse every time I sat down to play.
Wow, this article is turning into a double-entendre minefield or maybe it’s just my wandering mind, I’m taking the opportunity to write this on a slow day at work.
The callous was starting to affect my every day life outside of gaming too. I’m a leftie, so it rubbed on my pen every time I tried to write something, which made writing painful. It niggled every time I typed anything because every time I flexed that joint it let me know in no uncertain terms that it was there. So this is the price I pay. Even now, nearly a month after I stopped playing Forza regularly I still have a small but hard lump in that location where the callous was. Thankfully it’s not painful any more but it’s not gone.
Yeah, I know I sound like I’m whinging but the xbox 360 controller is the best in the business yet it still doesn’t necessarily work for everyone. I’ve gone on record saying it’s perfect before, yet it clearly isn’t. Maybe we need better quality plastics or rubber in the areas our hands are likely to rub? I work in the automotive industry and I’m in cars every day where some of the soft-feel dashboard plastics would work wonders in that area of a controller. It’s interesting that while a lot of attention has been paid to the shape of controllers and the location of buttons no-one has yet looked at materials. Hard, grained plastics are still par for the course and they have hardly changed over the years.
The N64 controller was made of the same stuff, although thankfully console makers learned a lesson from the small base of the analogue stick and how easily thin plastic breaks away after a good bout with Mario Party one. Ah yes, there’s another injury I sustained, rubbing all the skin away from the palm of my hand in the high speed analogue stick rotation mini games. Ouch.
My really big controller gripe though is the Playstation. There are 3rd party controllers for the PS2 that offer an improved shape and rubber sections for more comfort and on almost all counts they are more comfortable to hold but it seems that no 3rd party controller that I’ve used has ever been able to reproduce the response or even the feeling of quality that a genuine controller always has. Then again, anyone who can come up with an improved design for the PlayStation controller has got to be on a winner. That is an ergonomic design that is long past its used by date.
I find when I use a Playstation controller for an extended length of time I get a cramp in my left thumb from having it bent over at a stupidly unnatural angle. So if I want to use my PS2 for extended periods of time, I either have to walk away or suffer. All because Sony won’t update a silly old design that has been far outclassed by its rivals. I have no doubts about the PS3’s hardware greatness but I’ve been thinking to myself whether I’d prefer to play GTA 4 and Assassins Creed on the PS3 or xbox 360. Despite the likelihood of the PS3 versions looking slightly better, I’d prefer the xbox simply because the controller is so much more comfortable. The thought of playing Assassins Creed with the Playstation controller frankly makes me want to club baby seals. It’s depressing. I won’t buy a 3rd party controller because for them to succeed they need to be cheaper than the genuine ones and being cheap means poor standards for the hardware. This compromises the analogue stick response and button feel.
I can’t for the life of me figure out why Sony deems their controller design to be so sacred. Nintendo and Microsoft are constantly refining their controllers and the 360 and Wii controllers are very near perfect ergonomically. The Playstation controller was first released in 1994 and in 1997 Sony haphazardly stuck on a couple of analogue sticks. It hasn’t changed since. Oh wait, in 2006 they removed rumble and added motion sense. A big step back for two small steps forward. If Nintendo had the same philosophy with their controllers we’d still be using a NES control brick on the Wii. But instead we have what is most possibly the most innovative and interesting controller yet. Has Nintendo lost any of their identity or customers because of the Wiimote? No, if anything they’ve gained on both counts. Sony is too busy playing conservative while the competition is getting away. It’s especially disappointing considering the recent release of the PS3, a perfect opportunity to innovate if there ever was one.
So instead Sony’s new whiz bang PS3 is controlled by what is basically a 13 year old design. Even if you count the 1997 addition of the analogue sticks its still 10 years old. In a market that moves so fast, a 10 year old design is simply unacceptable, especially when the more refined, more recent stuff still isn’t right.
I had this problem recently with Forza Motorsport 2 only on a slightly more painful level. There’s either an interesting quirk to the design of the xbox 360 controller or an interesting quirk to the design of my hand, probably the latter, but I found that in situations like long endurance races where my mind was hanging on the ragged edge of intense concentration and my grip was feverishly tight (on the controller, smarties), the small of my first left index knuckle, the finger that operates the braking trigger, rubbed very harshly on the controller casing next to the trigger. This caused a big callous on my finger but Forza was so good I couldn’t pull myself away making the problem worse every time I sat down to play.
Wow, this article is turning into a double-entendre minefield or maybe it’s just my wandering mind, I’m taking the opportunity to write this on a slow day at work.
The callous was starting to affect my every day life outside of gaming too. I’m a leftie, so it rubbed on my pen every time I tried to write something, which made writing painful. It niggled every time I typed anything because every time I flexed that joint it let me know in no uncertain terms that it was there. So this is the price I pay. Even now, nearly a month after I stopped playing Forza regularly I still have a small but hard lump in that location where the callous was. Thankfully it’s not painful any more but it’s not gone.
Yeah, I know I sound like I’m whinging but the xbox 360 controller is the best in the business yet it still doesn’t necessarily work for everyone. I’ve gone on record saying it’s perfect before, yet it clearly isn’t. Maybe we need better quality plastics or rubber in the areas our hands are likely to rub? I work in the automotive industry and I’m in cars every day where some of the soft-feel dashboard plastics would work wonders in that area of a controller. It’s interesting that while a lot of attention has been paid to the shape of controllers and the location of buttons no-one has yet looked at materials. Hard, grained plastics are still par for the course and they have hardly changed over the years.
The N64 controller was made of the same stuff, although thankfully console makers learned a lesson from the small base of the analogue stick and how easily thin plastic breaks away after a good bout with Mario Party one. Ah yes, there’s another injury I sustained, rubbing all the skin away from the palm of my hand in the high speed analogue stick rotation mini games. Ouch.
My really big controller gripe though is the Playstation. There are 3rd party controllers for the PS2 that offer an improved shape and rubber sections for more comfort and on almost all counts they are more comfortable to hold but it seems that no 3rd party controller that I’ve used has ever been able to reproduce the response or even the feeling of quality that a genuine controller always has. Then again, anyone who can come up with an improved design for the PlayStation controller has got to be on a winner. That is an ergonomic design that is long past its used by date.
I find when I use a Playstation controller for an extended length of time I get a cramp in my left thumb from having it bent over at a stupidly unnatural angle. So if I want to use my PS2 for extended periods of time, I either have to walk away or suffer. All because Sony won’t update a silly old design that has been far outclassed by its rivals. I have no doubts about the PS3’s hardware greatness but I’ve been thinking to myself whether I’d prefer to play GTA 4 and Assassins Creed on the PS3 or xbox 360. Despite the likelihood of the PS3 versions looking slightly better, I’d prefer the xbox simply because the controller is so much more comfortable. The thought of playing Assassins Creed with the Playstation controller frankly makes me want to club baby seals. It’s depressing. I won’t buy a 3rd party controller because for them to succeed they need to be cheaper than the genuine ones and being cheap means poor standards for the hardware. This compromises the analogue stick response and button feel.
I can’t for the life of me figure out why Sony deems their controller design to be so sacred. Nintendo and Microsoft are constantly refining their controllers and the 360 and Wii controllers are very near perfect ergonomically. The Playstation controller was first released in 1994 and in 1997 Sony haphazardly stuck on a couple of analogue sticks. It hasn’t changed since. Oh wait, in 2006 they removed rumble and added motion sense. A big step back for two small steps forward. If Nintendo had the same philosophy with their controllers we’d still be using a NES control brick on the Wii. But instead we have what is most possibly the most innovative and interesting controller yet. Has Nintendo lost any of their identity or customers because of the Wiimote? No, if anything they’ve gained on both counts. Sony is too busy playing conservative while the competition is getting away. It’s especially disappointing considering the recent release of the PS3, a perfect opportunity to innovate if there ever was one.
So instead Sony’s new whiz bang PS3 is controlled by what is basically a 13 year old design. Even if you count the 1997 addition of the analogue sticks its still 10 years old. In a market that moves so fast, a 10 year old design is simply unacceptable, especially when the more refined, more recent stuff still isn’t right.
