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General discussion

Still Waiting For a 80's Style Controller

Nov 22, 2005 10:06PM PST

Sorry, but I've never liked the miniscule controllers of the Nintendo variety and I never will. I could understand why 5 year olds enjoyed the tiny little buttons, but for my large hands they are just fatiguing.

THAT'S THE PRIMARY REASON why I still prefer PC games. The keyboard is 18" across, my hands can sit naturally on the keys, and if a joystick is needed, I can use the LARGE flightstick in one hand and tap on the keyboard with the other.

IF I HAD THE TIME AND RESOURCES, I'd get to work on an ADULT SIZED CONTROLLER for all these game units. I'll bet it would sell a LOT MORE than people think.

Back in the Atari days, everyone griped about the crappy controllers that came with the unit. SO OTHER COMPANIES made pinball-machine quality controllers, with joysticks that you could put 200 lbs of pressure on and they wouldn't break, large buttons like you have on arcade machines (and could also be smashed with fury and still work great), and they were BULKIER than the cheezy standard controllers, because bulk equalled stability.

When Nintendo announced they redesigned their controller, I was excited. But no, they only made it even MORE MINISCULE!!! Pretty soon you're going to need a magnifying glass to tell which buttons are L/R and A/B.

I'm convinced that in the mid-2000's we're going to have MILLIONS of people with severely arthritic hand problems. Today's game controllers with their mousy little buttons CANNOT be healthy in the long run.

The key-combination sequence things that game designers are so fond of are also annoying. "How do you get this guy to kick like that?" I'll ask my nephew. "Oh it's easy. Just press L-L-A-A-B-R-L-B."

Forget it. I'll wait for the PC version.

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