Controller History Article

[Andred]

I just finished typing up an article that I'm going to be posting on my website soon about the evolution of the home console controller. I scoured the internet to figure out a rough timeline for everything but I can't be sure that I have it right. If anyone wants to take a look at it and point out any glaring mistakes, it can be found here:

http://www.gongradio.com/dev/index.php?module=articles&id=9

I bow to DP's supreme collective knowledge.

[Ze_ro]

Looks pretty good... although I didn't see any real mention of arcade controllers. I guess the whole point was the evolution of console controllers, but seeing as early consoles build their audiences on arcade conversions, it seems like it would merit inclusion.

--Zero

[Andred]

Looks pretty good... although I didn't see any real mention of arcade controllers. I guess the whole point was the evolution of console controllers, but seeing as early consoles build their audiences on arcade conversions, it seems like it would merit inclusion.

--Zero

Yeah, I was trying to stick with home consoles only. I might look into expanding it if I have the time.


Where you're talking about the Atari joysticks, you have a pic of the O2 (you also have "Atari:" in the upper-right corner of the pic).

As far as "worst" controllers go, there's a few I'd consider far worse than the Jag's (which was too big for small kids, but otherwise worked well), such as the 16-button Intellivision and 19-button (!) 5200 controllers (which did not work well). The Colecovision joysticks weren't well-designed either (and the Super Action controller had 16 buttons and an analog wheel! The standard Jag controller had 15. Your article shows a pic of the Jag Pro controller, which had to be bought separately).

Overall nice article :)

Ah, I see what you mean. I'll have to switch that pic. Also, I think you're right about the "worst" controllers. This isn't an opinion piece so I'll pull that comment about the jag controller out.

Thank you both for your feedback. I appreciate it.

[Andred]

This is WAY old school at this point but I was wondering if anyone has a copy of the article I linked to in the original post. I apparently lost it somewhere along the way and I'd really like to recover it. Just hoping maybe someone saved it or could point me to somewhere I can view it on the net. I know it's a LONG shot but thanks in advance for any help.

If it helps, the name of the article was "Making the Modern Controller".

[Purkeynator]

Have you tried the way back machine?

[Andred]

Have you tried the way back machine?

Yeah, I looked. It has the main page of my old site but due to the way my site was constructed, it didn't have any of my other pages. I can see the summary of the article but not the full text. Thanks for the suggestion though. Any others?