All a question of control

Being more of a pc orientated good ol' keyboard and mouse kinda chap there weren't many console pads I thought I had sampled but giving it a few mins thought made me realise how many I’ve come into contact with over the years and they all seemed to leave some kind of lasting impression on me, I still maintain the best pad ever was the original megadrive pad, it followed the D-pad on the left, face buttons on the right mantra originally devised by Nintendo's NES controller something of a missing link to past controllers which before it were simply a mish-mash of buttons crammed onto a pcb squezzing buttons in wherever there was space, ergonomics being a Swedish armchair manufacturer or something then.

I think as games became generally longer and people began investing more and more time into them, the design and functionality of the controllers became more important would the original super Mario be quite as good if it wouldn’t on the NES' standard setting controller? If making the fat plumber jump over Piranha Pete was too hard, would the game be as popular as it was and still is? A console pad links the player to the onscreen protagonist be it a soldier in ww2 or a high speed dragster if the game controls difficultly because of a poorly designed console pad the game will ultimately suffer, a controller has always been about making a design so streamlined and unrestrictive to a players thoughts and reactions to any given situation that his or her reactions and decisions are displayed instantly without them having to look down and remember the controls.

That’s why I think Nintendo's Wii is trying a more adventurous route, forget the fact there trying to target a wider audience by making it look less like a scary console, a console pad has always been translating a players thoughts and reactions to the screen. Pressing a button is far too mechanical for emulating the swinging of a sword, having the player actually physically swing his/her 'sword' makes it far more real and visceral than merely pressing a button. it should be a real test for more bizarre methods of control to see it the wii and its unique style of control will succeed, judging by the ridiculous levels of preorders worldwide I think merely having a new way of playing games is increasing the hype more than anything else.