Games - Gamepad

	Games - Gamepad

A gamepad, also called joypad, is a type of game controller held with both hands where the 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 Emerson Arcadia controller, but did not reach popularity until the Nintendo 64, Sony Playstation, and Sega Saturn.

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. 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.

Microsoft

Sidewinder range

The Microsoft Sidewinder range was presented in 1996, and grew from a simple joystick to include all kinds of gaming devices, from gamepads to the innovative Sidewinder Strategic Commander, aimed to real-time strategy players. Until the first gamepads based on the popular Dual Shock design by Sony appeared for personal computers, the Sidewinder Gamepad, with its 10 buttons (six buttons plus two triggers, mode and start) and pass-through connection which allowed up to four controllers connected with only one game port was the premier gamepad for sports games on the platform, and most games between 1998 and 2002 were developed with the Sidewinder in mind.

Xbox

Similar in design to the Dreamcast controller, the Microsoft 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 three buttons, 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 result was the Type-S controller which Microsoft adopted and has since bundled with their system in all regions.

The Xbox 360 controller has wireless capabilities and removes the "black" and "white" buttons and in their place adds two shoulder buttons. Image:xboxoriginalc.jpg|Original Xbox controller Image:xboxtypes.jpg|Xbox Type-S controller Image:360controller.jpg|Xbox 360 controller

Nintendo

The NES controller used the patented + shaped D-pad first introduced by their "Game and Watch" series of games as the standard for their home console controllers. Additionally, the NES and Famicom controller featured a brick-like design with a simple, four button layout: two buttons labelled "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 SNES controller had a more rounded 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.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Gamepad ]

Games - Gamepad

Microsoft

Sidewinder range

Xbox

Nintendo

Searches on eBay

Related searches on eBay