Having recently seen an infographic for the evolution of the controller, this has now got us thinking once again on some of the ideas for the PS4 and Xbox 720 controller. The illustration, which you see below helps to show us the design patterns and how they have changed over the years, and what a change their has been.
You can see even see from the early days of the Atari with the joystick and one button, which was simple yet effective. The infographic also highlights the Power Glove for the Nintendo; it showed that the company was already ahead of the field, but it was imprecise. Following the flop, Nintendo never gave up and made way for the Wii with its motion controller.
Thanks to GNVR for the head sup.
Now Sony and Microsoft had to play catch-up and we now have the Move and the Kinect. However, it’s going to be some time before they can fully replace the controller, so what do the two companies have in store?
We have already learned that Sony could put a display in the PS4 controller, just like Nintendo plan to do with their Wii U. For now Sony has had an, if it’s not broke then don’t fix it approach to their controller. However, this will not cut it the next time round, so expect something radical. We would expect to see some Move technology brought into the new design, as well as Dual-shock 4.
As for the Xbox 720 controller, this again will have to change, as it has stayed almost the same for two-generations. It’s hard to know where to start with this one, yes Microsoft has always gone for a larger, bulky design, but this is a positive for some games. However, looking at this concept here, it’s hard not to get excited. There are some great designs doing the rounds on the net, but are they really that practical? We now feel it could be time for Microsoft to offer some touch controls, maybe getting rid of the buttons but still keeping the analog controls? We would also like to see them moved in line, as they are for the PS3.
These are just a few ideas, what would you suggest?
