Odd-looking gaming devices (pictures)
Thought the Nintendo 2DS was weird? Join us as we gawk at some of the weirder game devices made since the year 2000 by Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony.
Nintendo 2DS
With the introduction of the Nintendo 2DS, it's the perfect time to reminisce about peculiar-looking hardware released by the three major video game console manufacturers -- Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo -- since the year 2000.
Nintendo shocked the gaming world Wednesday with the Nintendo 2DS -- a budget-friendly, non-3D alternative to its popular Nintendo 3DS handheld -- by abandoning the hinged-design used in every portable Nintendo gaming device since the Game Boy Micro. The radical 2DS redesign inspired CNET commenters to call the device names such as "hideous," "atrocious monstrosity," and well, other colorful adjectives.
Xbox
PlayStation Move
Nintendo 3DS Circle Pad Pro
Microsoft Kinect
Those keypads
Pokewalker
PlayStation 3
When it came time to create the PlayStation 3, Sony's design gurus felt it was "vital that the case be able to outshine plain, boxy computers and AV equipment." While the PlayStation 3 certainly differed from any gaming console ever released prior, it inspired a range of criticism over its original, curvy design -- such as comments referring to it having a similar appearance to a George Foreman grill. In an attempt to sell a cheaper console, Sony's redesigned PS3 Slim completely abandoned the glossy, sophisticated look the company originally went for, but sadly, it looks quite boring. The PS3 Super Slim sort of serves as a strangely decent-looking mix of its predecessors, but some people aren't too keen on that sliding disc tray.
Nintendo GameCube
DK Bongos
Forget joysticks and buttons and just palm-slap your way to the top with the Donkey Konga Bongos by Nintendo.
Feel free to leave us a comment with your favorite oddest gaming device made after the year 2000, including some of those countless third-party accessories.