General Gaming Gamepads: Difference between revisions

*** [http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-mice/razer-naga Razer Naga] series—mildly Sci-Fi design with thumb keypad; 5 or 7 buttons + 6 or 12 thumb-buttons.

*** [http://wayback.archive.org/web/20121030131022/warmouse.com/ WarMouse Meta] (aka "OpenOfficeMouse") -- has keypad (8 buttons) instead of main buttons on both sides of the wheel/middle button, mini-joystick on the thumb side; 18 buttons total; its software is Open Source and has ready settings for lots of games and applications, including [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|OpenOffice]]. [[Crazy Awesome]], but sadly discontinued.

** '''Motion Controller''' First well known attempt for home consoles was the infamous Power Glove. Brought the gift of '''Mouse''' to the impoverished wastes of consoledom. Used successfully so far with the Wiimote/Nunchuck, the Sixaxis, Dual Shock 3, and iPod/iPhone. The [[Play Station 3]] now also has the Move controller.

* '''Touch Screen''' (or stylus): Similar to a touch pad on a laptop, this allows greater precision than an analog stick for pointing, but can be cumbersome for movement. Can also function as a '''Keypad'''. Used with PDAs, the [[Nintendo DS]], and the iPod/iPhone. Comes in multiple varieties:

** The '''[[PlayStation]] Move''' is a peripheral controller for the [[Play Station 3]] that works much like a Wiimote in reverse; while the Wii uses an IR emitter near the TV screen and a sensor in each controller for position tracking (in addition to the attendant gaggle of gyroscopes and tilt sensors), the Move uses a camera near the screen and lighted, colored orbs at the end of the controller. This does give the advantage of more precise position tracking, as the Move does not need to be pointed at the camera for it to determine the position. Unfortunately, due to this, the Move is unable to emulate some of the Wiimote's modes, and it has earned the derisive [[Fan Nickname]] "The Lollipop" thanks to Penny Arcade's lampooning of the controller, and statements made by Sony executives about the Wiimote.

* '''3D Mouse/Motion Controller''': Covers devices like the Spacetec IMC SpaceBall and SpaceOrb 360 (which has a [[PlayStation]] variant known as the ASCII Sphere), Logitech CyberMan 2, and 3Dconnexion's various "3D mice". (Incidentally, Spacetec IMC was bought by Labtec, who was then bought by Logitech and then spun off as 3Dconnexion, which may explain the similarities.) The distinguishing feature is a ball/puck that senses motion/force on all six degrees of freedom, allowing for intuitive multi-axis control. The SpaceOrb 360 was even packaged with a demo of ''[[Descent]] 2'', and for good reason-it soon found itself as a must-have controller for ''[[Descent]]'' fans due to the controller matching up well with the nature of the ship's movement. Most of them are designed as professional 3D CAD/modeling input devices with little game support, but software exists to work around that.

* '''Air Keyboard Conqueror''' / '''Mimi Wireless Gaming Keyboard''': In case you thought "101-button mouse" mentioned above was only a joke, [http://www.cideko.com/pro_con.php?id=15 this] weird [http://www.gizmodir.com/2011/03/3-1-mimi-wireless-gaming-keyboard-mouse-keyboard-gamepad/ gadget] by Veho / Cideko is a close call. It's a gamepad and laptop keyboard melded into one, with built-in gyro mouse.

* '''Motion Capture''': Uses a camera and specialized image recognition software to track selected parts of a player's body, eliminating the need for ''any'' controller and theoretically allowing better interaction. In practice, however, more calibration is required than for other motion sensing systems and a certain type of environment is required for optimal function. Earlier implementations were one-off gimmicks or neat little distractions but the technology arguably caught on (though not in a terribly big way) with Sony's [[wikipedia:EyeToy|Eye Toy]], which had it as one of the device's capabilities. Microsoft's Kinect uses this system in lieu of a handheld motion sensor.