Gamepad
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A gamepad, also called joypad or control pad, is a type of game controller held in the hand, where the digits (especially thumbs) are used to provide input. Gamepads generally feature a set of action buttons handled with the right thumb and a direction controller handled with the left. The direction controller has traditionally been a four-way digital cross (D-pad), but most modern controllers additionally (or as a substitute) feature an analog stick. The analog stick was introduced with the Atari 5200 controller, but did not reach popularity until the Nintendo 64.
Some common additions to the standard pad include shoulder buttons placed along the edges of the pad, centrally placed start, select, and mode buttons, and an internal motor to provide force feedback.
Gamepads are the primary means of input on all modern video game consoles except for the Wii (though the Wii Remote can function alternately as a gamepad). Gamepads are also available for personal computers, although a keyboard and mouse combination tends to be utilized more often for certain genres.
Some programmable joysticks that can be programmed to act as a key on a keyboard have been made to circumvent the problem lacking joystick support in some computer games, notably the Belkin Nostromo SpeedPad n52. There is also a program called JoyToKey for Microsoft Windows that emulates keyboard input for gamepads. The Linux equivalent is sausage.
Some manufacturers and retailers may also use the term "gamepad" to refer to a gaming keypad.
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[edit] Third Generation: 1983-1992
The third Generation of video games saw many major changes, and the eminence of Gamepads in the video Game market. Nintendo Launched the first gamepad, its NES controller, and was followed soon later by Sega's Master system Controller in 1986. Gamepads offered gamers a new and more universal way to play games, and their dominance continued throughout later generations as they eventually became the only significant kind of game controller.
[edit] Nintendo Entertainment System
The NES controller used Nintendo's patented cross-shaped D-pad (a modified version of Milton Bradley's Cosmic Hunter D-pad concept), which was used by their "Game and Watch" series of games as the standard for their home console controllers. The NES and Famicom controller featured a brick-like design with a simple, four button layout: two buttons labeled "A" and "B," a "start" button, and a "select" button. Near the end of the NES's lifespan, upon the release of the AV Famicom and the NES 2, the design of the game controller was modified slightly, abandoning the "brick" shell in favor of a "dog bone" shape, reminiscent of the controllers of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.
The original Famicom controllers were different from the NES ones in the sense that, besides their design (and being hardwired into the console), the second controller lacked Select and Start buttons- in their place was a microphone, although very few games supported it.
The Famicom was also the first home system to put the directional control on the left. While many arcade systems had the directional control joystick on the left of the buttons, most home systems of the era used joysticks designed for right-handed operation. The division has continued to this day, with computer joysticks typically being designed for use in the right hand with gamepads and arcade joysticks favouring the left hand.
[edit] Master System
The Master System has a similar brick-shaped appearance to the NES controller, but the D-pad is square-shaped instead of cross-shaped, and there are no distinct "select" and "start" buttons. The two action buttons were labeled "1" and "2", and the "1" button doubled as a "Start" button. Master System games were pausable only by accessing a button on the console itself. Some early models of the pad featured a hole in the centre of the D-pad into which a small attachment could be screwed to make the pad function more like a joystick. A proper joystick was later released for the machine. Unlike the Nintendo machines of the time, the Sega machines used a common D-subminiature connection, enabling their pads to be used on different systems.
[edit] Fourth Generation
[edit] Virtual Boy
The Virtual Boy controller was a controller which utilized dual gamepads similar to how analog sticks functioned in later "dual control" sixth-generation systems. The presence of two pads was an effort to control objects in a 3D environment (one pad controlling pitch and turning while the other controlling forward movement and strafing). The "two gamepad" setup has since been used in the GameCube controller.
[edit] Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System controller had a more rounded dog-bone like design and added two more face buttons, "X" and "Y", arranging the four in a diamond formation. Another addition was the "L" and "R" shoulder buttons, which have been imitated by most controllers since.
There is a slight variation in the Japanese and European version of the controller, where the A, B, Y and X buttons are all convex-curved and each one has a distinct color. For the American SNES, the A and B buttons were colored purple, whereas the Y and X buttons were lavender and concave-curved.
[edit] Genesis/Mega Drive
The Sega Mega Drive/Genesis control pad has an eight-direction D-pad, a start button and three action buttons. The three buttons were enough for early arcade ports such as Golden Axe. As fighting games evolved (specifically the release of Street Fighter II), a six-button pad was released. Noticeably smaller, it features 3 more buttons placed over the original three (traditionally called the "Street Fighter" layout). Some games were not compatible with the new controller (like John Madden Football and Olympic Gold); a "mode" button was placed in the right shoulder position. In order to work with these games, this button had to pressed during the console power-on sequence, until the SEGA logo appeared. Both versions of the Mega Drive pad again used the DE9 connection.
[edit] TurboGrafx-16
The TurboGrafx-16's controller was similar to Nintendo's NES and SNES controllers, in the fact that it had a D pad, start and select buttons, and A & B buttons. The system was launched for Japan, America and Europe (on a limited basis) from 1987 to 1990, and games were produced for it until 1999.
[edit] Fifth Generation
[edit] Nintendo 64
The Nintendo 64 controller started a trend to have both an analog stick (referred to by Nintendo as a 'control stick') and a D-pad. It has the traditional A, B, L, and R buttons, along with a Z trigger button on its underside. Four "C" buttons are used mainly for controlling the camera in games. In addition to the Rumble Pak, the controller also can house a Controller Pak for saving games, and a microphone add-on. The Nintendo 64 controller's design seems controversial with its trident shape, making for three ways to hold the controller. The most used way in games to hold the controller was for the left hand to hold the center grip, so the thumb could move the analog stick and the index finger could press the Z trigger. The right hand would be on the right grip of the controller and have access to all the main face buttons, and the R button. In addition to the standard grey, Nintendo 64 controllers were available in seven different semi-transparent colors, with consoles to match: Blue, Green, Orange, Purple, Red, Black and Clear Blue. Accessories for the N64 controller included a Rumble Pak that contained a force-feedback vibration motor (which has since become a standard feature for most Nintendo controllers) and a Transfer Pak that added an input slot for Game Boy cartridges to allow connectivity between Nintendo 64 and Game Boy games.
[edit] PlayStation
Sony's original controller had a four direction D-pad, and two groups of four digital buttons, the action buttons (referred not by color or letter/number like most pads until then, but by four shapes - a square, a triangle, a circle, and an X standing for cross), four shoulder buttons (R1, R2, L1, and L2, standing for right and left) plus start and select buttons. It was the default pad for the first year of the PlayStation, until the release of the Dual Analog.
First announced in a press release in late 1995, the Dual Analog was finally shown to the public at the PlayStation expo in November 1996. It was similar to the original PlayStation controller, with several key differences. The Dual Analog's handles were longer and more tapered, the first Japanese revisions had rumble capability, and there were twin concave analog thumbsticks placed in the lower center of the controller, below a tri-function "mode" button. Apparently due to lack of interest, later models of Japanese Dual Analog controllers had the rumble feature removed.
The next revision saw the introduction of Sony's Dual Shock. This device brought back rumble (hence the name), cosmetically changed the handles, removed the third "mode" option and added "L3 and R3", which were incorporated into the sticks themselves (you could push down on the stick to make it "click"). The controller was released as a secondary peripheral in late 1997 in Japan, and in May 1998 in North America. Its popularity dictated the end of the Dual Analog, and the Dual Shock was selected as the new standard controller during a large part of the final half of the console's life.
The original PlayStation control pad has a strong visual similarity to that of the Nintendo SNES. Given that the PlayStation began development as a CD-Rom add-on for the SNES, it is certainly possible that the design of the controller is a holdover from that earlier Nintendo design process.[citation needed]
 The original PlayStation controller |
 The upgraded PlayStation Dual Shock controller, first utilized in the Gran Turismo series |
[edit] Saturn
The Sega Saturn control pad has eight buttons, six of which are action buttons and two additional left and right buttons (plus an additional start button). The 3D Control Pad (pictured right) was included with the breakthrough game, Nights into Dreams..., that introduced an analog stick. The console had several official controllers: a light gun (named Stunner), a steering wheel (Arcade Racer), a flight simulator stick (Mission Stick), dual arcade sticks (Twin Sticks), and a traditional arcade joystick (Virtua Stick).
Sega has since re-released the Japanese version of the Sega Saturn gamepad as a Windows and Mac OS X-compatible USB version.[1]
[edit] Sixth Generation
[edit] Xbox
Similar in design to the Sega Dreamcast controller, the Xbox controller includes two expansion slots, six analog buttons, two analog triggers, and two analog sticks, a total of eight digital buttons (four of which make up the d-pad), as well as built in rumble support. Differing from the Dreamcast controller, the Microsoft controller adds a right analog stick, making it similar to the configuration used by the Nintendo GameCube controller. It also adds the "black", "white" and "back" (select) buttons.
The Xbox controller went through a revision specifically for Japanese consumers and due to complaints that the initial controller was too bulky. (The size of the Xbox controller has been the subject of many jokes in video game-related web comics; it has even been nicknamed "Duke" and "Hamburger".) The result was the Type-S controller which Microsoft adopted and has since bundled with their system in all regions. Both of the original Xbox controllers had a breakaway point near the end of the cord, so it would break into two parts and the game would pause if it was pulled too far, preventing damage to the console itself.
Towards the original Xbox's decline, such was the console's popularity, several counterfeit manufacturers based in Hong Kong started to produce inferior copies of the Xbox S-type controller. On first impressions, the difference between the official endorsed controller and the bootlegged one is subtle. The average lifespan of an official Xbox controller became approximately 2 years. The Hong Kong controller, on average, lasted only 2 months. As a result, Microsoft began to issue silver authenticity stickers on their packaging. In addition to this, Microsoft’s packaging serial numbers would also match the controllers' serial numbers.
[edit] Nintendo GameCube
The Nintendo GameCube controller adopted a similar style to the PlayStation DualShock. It has two analog sticks, a smaller traditional D-pad, and four main face buttons. The Nintendo GameCube controller also has pressure sensitive analog shoulder buttons that click when pressed down completely (allowing, in theory, for each button to provide two buttons' functionality), a Z button located above the R button, and a built in rumble feature. Nintendo later introduced the Wavebird controller, a wireless pad that uses radio frequency technology refined from the Atari Wireless RF controllers, in order to operate without relying on infrared. The Wavebird overall has the same layout, but doesn't include force feedback (in order to save battery life) and is larger than a standard GameCube control. It operates using two AA batteries and ranges about 100 hours of gameplay.
[edit] PlayStation 2
The DualShock was subsequently used for the follow up system, the PlayStation 2, but was slightly altered to make the buttons pressure sensitive (except for L3, R3, Start and Select). Other minor modifications made include the change of cable (and end connector) color from grey to black, a slight squaring of the connector (compared to the original version - DualShocks provided with the smaller PSOne were even rounder), and "DUALSHOCK 2" printed in blue on the top of the controller next to where the cable enters. The new controller was dubbed the Dual Shock 2. While The original PlayStation controller was compatible with a few early PS2 games, almost all games now require the use of analog sticks, and many require the pressure sensitive buttons added by the DualShock 2. Due to it being the color of the standard console, the standard color of DualShock2s is black, although other colors are available, notably silver, included with the silver version of the console (both original and slimline versions). It should be noted that while the color of the controller supplied with silver consoles was changed to match, the color of the cable and connector remained black.
[edit] Dreamcast
The Sega Dreamcast controller has a similar design to the Saturn 3D Control Pad. It features an analog stick, a D-pad, four face buttons and a start button, and introduced pressure sensitive triggers on the left and right underside. The gamepad also featured two slots that could be used for a VMU (Visual Memory Unit, which incorporated a memory card) and allow the VMU screen to show animations while playing a game, or a vibration pack. The accessory slots, button positions, and analogue triggers would also be present in Microsoft's Xbox controller. Like the Saturn, the Dreamcast had additional controllers available at launch, including a unique fishing rod controller (for use with Get Bass/Sega Bass Fishing), a mouse and keyboard, and other more common peripherals such as a light gun, a steering wheel and an arcade stick. The Dreamcast controller is thought by many to have been copied by Microsoft for the Xbox, due to the striking similarity in shape, button layout and the use of top facing expansion slots, especially with the original American style controller.
[edit] Seventh Generation
[edit] Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 controller has wireless capabilities and removes the "black" and "white" buttons and in their place adds two "bumper" buttons, one above each trigger. When playing original Xbox games on the 360, the left and right bumpers are used in place of the white and black, respectively. The wireless version runs off two "AA" Batteries or a rechargeable battery pack. Microsoft has released a first-party "Play and Charge" kit which recharges the battery pack via a USB connection through the controller, though while connected the pad still communicates wirelessly. The wired version uses a USB cable to plug into the Xbox 360. The wired pad, or the wireless pad with the Xbox 360 Wireless Receiver for Windows are the standard gamepad for Games for Windows, and can be configured to work with most PC software that supports gamepad or joystick input.
[edit] Wii
The Wii Remote is an unconventional controller in comparison to others. In its basic form, it is shaped like a television remote control and includes a number of features. Most notably, it contains tilt sensors and three-dimensional pointing which allows the system to understand all directions of movement (up, down, left, right, in, and out, etc.) and rotation (back and forth around the pitch, roll, and yaw axes). The controller is also multifunctional and expandable, including an expansion port which can be used with different types of peripherals. An analog stick peripheral called "Nunchuk" features two trigger buttons to be used by the other hand. Like the Wii Remote, the Nunchuk contains an accelerometer[2] but unlike the Wii Remote, it lacks any pointer functionality. For NES Virtual Console games, the Wii Remote can be used on its side or the classic controller can be used.
The Classic Controller is also available for use with the Wii's Virtual Console as well as some Wii titles. It resembles a Super NES controller and contains two analog sticks placed similarly to Sony's Dual Shock. Instead of having start and select buttons, it has the -, home, and + buttons from the Wii Remote. However, there are text labels below each button, reading "Select", "Home" and "Start" respectively[1]. The console also supports use of the Nintendo GameCube controller for Nintendo GameCube Game Discs compatibility and limited Virtual Console play.
At E3 2007 the Wii Zapper was unveiled for the first time to the public. It purpose is to make first person shooters feel more real and make the player feel like they are actually holding a gun. The attachment lists for $19.99 in the United States and simply uses the regular Wii Remote and Nunchuk to form the shape of a gun.
[edit] PlayStation 3
Initially, the conceptual controller for the PlayStation 3 was similar to its Dual Shock and Dual Analog predecessors; however, it was much more curved in shape than these controllers, with an appearance similar to that of a banana or boomerang. This odd shape has often been the subject of much ridicule, often being called a banana, a boomerang, or a "bananarang".
During the E3 2006 conference, Sony abandoned the boomerang-shaped controller, in favor of a controller dubbed Sixaxis. Sixaxis is cosmetically nearly identical to the Dual Shock; however, the wireless controller features the addition of tilt-sensor and linear accelerometer technology, as well as larger 'trigger-like' L2 and R2 buttons. A new "PS" button was added to expedite usage of the Cross Media Bar System. However, Sixaxis lacks the rumble capability featured in the preceding Dual Shock controller; the omission of which has proved a controversial issue. Sony stated that the rumble would interfere with the motion sensor; however, the omission of rumble capability can be traced to Immersion Corporation suing both Sony and Microsoft for patent infringing on Immersion's force-feedback technology. Although Microsoft settled out of court, Sony decided to fight back and lost the resultant case. In contrast to the Sixaxis lacking rumble capability, the rival Wii and its Wii Remote has tilt sensors, linear accelerometer and IR positioning technology, with built in rumble capability. Having settled the issue with Immersion, Sony launched the Dual Shock 3 in late 2007.
