Game controller

A game controller, gaming controller, or simply controller, is an input device or input/output device used with video games or entertainment systems to provide input to a video game. Input devices that have been classified as game controllers include keyboards, mice, gamepads, and joysticks, as well as special purpose devices, such as steering wheels for driving games and light guns for shooting games. Controllers designs have evolved to include directional pads, multiple buttons, analog sticks, joysticks, motion detection, touch screens and a plethora of other features.
Game controllers may be input devices that only provide input to the system, or input/output devices that receive data from the system and produce a response (e.g. "rumble" vibration feedback, or sound).
Controllers which are included with the purchase of a home console are referred to as standard controllers, while those that are available to purchase from the console manufacturer or third-party offerings are considered peripheral controllers.
One of the first video game controllers was a simple dial and single button, used to control the game Tennis for Two. Controllers have since evolved to include directional pads, multiple buttons, analog sticks, joysticks, motion detection, touch screens and a plethora of other features.
Game controllers have been designed and improved over the years to be as user friendly as possible. The Microsoft Xbox controller, with its shoulder triggers that mimic actual triggers such as those found on guns, has become popular for shooting games.
Before the seventh generation of video game consoles, plugging in a controller into one of a console's controller ports was the primary means of using a game controller, although since then they have been replaced by wireless controllers, which do not require controller ports on the console but are battery-powered. USB game controllers could also be connected to a computer with a USB port.
Input devices that have been classified as game controllers include keyboards, mouses, gamepads, and joysticks. Special purpose devices, such as steering wheels for driving games and light guns for shooting games, are also game controllers. Some controllers are designed to be best for one type of game, such as steering wheels for driving games, or dance pads for dancing games.
A gamepad, also known as a joypad, is held in both hands with thumbs and fingers used to provide input. Gamepads can have a number of action buttons combined with one or more omnidirectional control sticks or buttons. Action buttons are generally handled with the digits on the right hand, and the directional input handled with the left. Gamepads are the primary means of input on most modern video game consoles. Due to the ease of use and user-friendly nature of gamepads, they have spread from their origin on traditional consoles to personal computers, where a variety of games and emulators support their input as a replacement for keyboard and mouse input. Most modern game controllers are a variation of a standard gamepad. Common additions 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.
As modern game controllers advance, so too do their user ability qualities. Typically, the controllers become smaller and more compact to more easily, and comfortably, fit within the user's hand. Modern examples can be drawn from systems such as the first Xbox console, whose controller has changed in a variety of ways from the original Xbox 360 controller to the Xbox One controller introduced in 2013.
A paddle is a controller that features a round wheel and one or more fire buttons. The wheel is typically used to control movement of the player or of an object along one axis of the video screen. As the user turns the wheel further from the default position, the speed of control in the game become more intensive.
Paddle controllers were the first analog controllers and they lost popularity when "paddle and ball" type games fell out of favor. A variation, the Atari driving controller, appeared on the Atari 2600. Designed specifically for the game Indy 500, it functioned almost identically in operation and design to the regular paddle controller. The exceptions were that its wheel could be continuously rotated in either direction, and that it was missing the extra paddle included on the previous model. Unlike a spinner, friction prevented the wheel from gaining momentum.
A joystick is a 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 (hands on throttle and stick) 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. Arcade controllers are typically joysticks featuring 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, although there are instances when this is reversed.
A trackball is a smooth sphere that is manipulated with the palm of one's hand. The user can roll the ball in any direction to control the cursor. It has the advantage that it can be faster than a mouse depending on the speed of rotation of the physical ball. Another advantage is that it requires less space than a mouse, which the trackball was a precursor of. Notable uses of a Trackball as a gaming controller would be games such as Centipede, Marble Madness, Golden Tee Golf and SegaSonic the Hedgehog.
A throttle quadrant is a set of one or more throttle 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.
A racing wheel, essentially a larger version of a paddle, is used in most racing arcade games as well as more recent racing simulators such as Live for Speed, Grand Prix Legends, GTR2, and Richard Burns Rally. While most arcade racing games have been using steering wheels since Gran Trak 10 in 1974, steering wheels for home systems appeared on fifth-generation consoles such as the PlayStation and Nintendo 64. 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 in various ways including paddle shifting systems, simple stick shifters which are moved forward or back to change gears or more complex shifters which mimic those of real vehicles, which may also use a clutch. Some wheels turn only 200 to 270 degrees lock-to-lock but higher-tier models can turn 900 degrees, or 2.5 turns, lock-to-lock, or more. 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. The Wii 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 kart during the game. Hori also has a steering wheel that is made for the Nintendo 3DS game Mario Kart 7. When the steering wheel is placed on the back of the console, then it will have the same ability as in Mario Kart Wii by using the gyroscope in first-person mode.
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. Some flight simulator sets that include yokes also come with various other aircraft controls such as throttle quadrants and pedals. These sets, including the yoke, are intended to be used in a flight simulator.
Pedals may be used for driving simulations or flight simulations and often ships with a steering-wheel-type input device. 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. There are also variations of the pedal controller such as the proposed rotating pedal device for a cycling game, which relies on an ergometer to generate user inputs such as pedal rpm and pedal resistance. A variation of this concept surfaced in 2016 when a startup called VirZoom debuted a set of sensors that can be installed in the pedal and handlebars, turning a physical bike into one controller for games on the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift virtual reality (VR) platforms. The same concept is behind a product called Cyber ExerCycle, which is a set of sensors attached to the pedal and connected to the PC via USB for bicycle simulation games such as NetAthlon and Fuel.
A mouse and computer keyboard are typical input devices for a personal computer and are currently the main game controllers for computer games. The mouse is often used with a mousepad to achieve greater speed, comfort, accuracy and smoother movement for the gamer. Some video game consoles also have the ability to function with a keyboard and a mouse. The computer keyboard is modelled 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. While originally designed for general computer input, there are several keyboard and mouse peripherals available which are designed specifically for gaming, often with gaming-specific functions built-in. Examples include peripherals by Razer, the "Zboard" range of keyboards and Logitech's 'G' series. 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. A Gaming keypad is a specialized controller used for FPSs, RTSs and some arcade type games. These controllers can be programmed to allow the emulation of keys, and macros in some cases. These generally resemble a small part of a keyboard but may also feature other inputs such as analog sticks. 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. The mouse and keyboard input is also known by the abbreviation "MnK".
A touchscreen is an input device that allows the user to interact with the computer by touching the display screen. The first attempt at a handheld game console with touchscreen controls was Sega's intended successor to the Game Gear, though the device was ultimately shelved and never released due to the high cost of touchscreen technology in the early 1990s. The first released console to use a touchscreen was the Tiger game.com in 1997. Nintendo popularized it for use in video games with the Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS; other systems including the Tapwave Zodiac as well as Smartphones and the vast majority of PDAs have also included this feature. The primary controller for Nintendo's Wii U console, the Wii U GamePad, features an embedded touchscreen. Modern touch screens use a thin, durable, transparent plastic sheet overlaid onto a 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. One console that is touchscreen developed by Sony is the PlayStation Vita which has a 5-inch OLED touchscreen. The Nintendo Switch features a 6.2 inch touchscreen.
Motion controllers include the Sega Activator, released in 1993 for the Mega Drive (Genesis). Based on the Light Harp invented by Assaf Gurner, it could read the player's physical movements and was the first controller to allow full-body motion sensing. However, it was a commercial failure due to its "unwieldiness and inaccuracy". Nintendo's Wii system released in 2006 utilizes the Wii Remote controller, which uses accelerometers to detect its approximate orientation and acceleration and an image sensor, so it can be used as a pointing device. The Sixaxis, DualShock 3, and PlayStation Move controllers for Sony's PlayStation 3 system have similar motion sensing capabilities. In 2010, Microsoft released the Kinect for the Xbox 360. This motion sensing controller uses cameras to track a player’s movement. Microsoft released a revised version of the Kinect with the launch of the Xbox One. This controller was bundled with the console on launch, and was removed from the default bundle in June 2014. Sony's EyeToy similarly uses cameras to detect the player's motions and translate them into inputs for the game. Controllers with gyroscopes may be used to create a pointer without a camera; for example the Joy-Con and Nintendo Switch Pro Controller are used for this in games such as ports of World of Goo and Super Mario Galaxy from the Wii.
An adaptive controller is collections of various input methods that can be combined in multiple ways to create a controller that works for the user. The adaptive controller was designed for people with physical disabilities that would prevent them from using a gamepad or mouse and keyboard. An example would be PlayStation's access controller which allows for a large joystick, eight buttons on a circular pad, and four ports to plug in additional buttons or accessories. Xbox and Logitech have collaborated to make an adaptive controller with two large touch pads, a D-pad, three buttons, and 16 ports to plug in additional accessories. These accessories can include joysticks, pedals, triggers and buttons.
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 shooters, or shooting gallery games like Duck Hunt and those which came with the Shooting Gallery light gun. A rare example of a non-rail first person shooter game is Taito's 1992 video game Gun Buster, a first-person shooter that used a joystick to move and a light gun to aim. Though light guns have been used in earlier arcade games such as Sega's Periscope in 1966 and Missile in 1969, the first home console light gun was released for the Magnavox Odyssey in 1972; later on, Nintendo would include one standard on their Famicom and NES, called the NES Zapper. Nintendo has also released a "shell" in the style of a light gun for the more recent Wii Remote called the Wii Zapper which comes bundled with the game Link's Crossbow Training.
Rhythm game accessories used for rhythm games can resemble musical instruments, such as guitars (from multi-button guitars in Guitar Freaks, the Guitar Hero series, and the Rock Band series to real guitars in Rock Band 3 and Rocksmith), keyboards (Rock Band 3), drums (Donkey Konga, Drum Mania, the Rock Band series and the Guitar Hero series), or maracas (Samba de Amigo) have also seen some success in arcades and home consoles. Other rhythm games are based around the art of Djing or turntablism (DJ Hero), or playing a synthesizer (IIDX) using a turntable shaped peripheral with buttons.
Wireless versions of many popular controller types (joypads, mice, keyboards) exist, and wireless motion controls are an emerging class for virtual reality.
Although gamepads are generally developed for use with consoles, they are also often used for PC gaming and mobile gaming. Modern controllers, such as Sony's DualShock 4 and Nintendo's Switch Pro Controller, support USB and Bluetooth, allowing them to be directly connected to most PCs. Older gamepads can be connected through the use of official or third-party adapters. Controllers typically require the installation of device drivers to be used on contemporary personal computers. The device may be directly supported, or it may require the use of a specialized program which maps controller inputs to mouse and keyboard inputs. Examples of this kind of software include JoyToKey, Xpadder, and antimicro, which is free, open-source, and cross-platform.
Some controllers are specially designed for usage outside of consoles. In this case, support for mapping to different devices is built into the controller itself, such as with the Nostromo SpeedPad n52, which can act as either a keyboard, mouse, or joystick; or with the Samsung Android GamePad, designed for use with Android mobile phones.
The usage of gamepads over the mouse and keyboard has been referred to as a debate, with players of MMORPGs, RTS games, and first-person shooters tending to prefer the mouse and keyboard due to the wider variety of inputs and the high precision of the mouse when compared to an analog stick. Likewise, players of racing games, fighting games, and action RPGs tend to prefer controllers for their analog inputs and ergonomic button layouts.