Paddle - A paddle is a game controller with a round wheel and 1 - 2 firing buttons. As you can tell the wheel is mainly for movement, the paddle controller rotates through a fixed arc, this arc is around 330 degrees, this is because it has stoppers at each end of the rotation.
Joystick - A Joystick is a controller which is basically a stick connected to a base to keep it stable, the Joystick has the ability to be pushed in all directions to input into the game. This controller was used in older times for things like arcade games but has more recently only been used for controlling air crafts in a select few games. Keyboard - A Keyboard is like a set of typewriter keys. but this is electronic and allows you to enter data into a computer or other device. The keys that are normally found on a keyboard are as follows:
Gamepad - A Gamepad can also be called a Joypad, it is a type of controller which it normally held by two hands, you typically use your fingers to provide input to the device. One of the first gamepads that were created was developed by Nintendo for their SNES console, this invention popularized the gamepad. Gamepads normally feature a set of buttons handled by the right thumb and a direction controller handled by the left. Mouse - A Computer mouse is a pointing device that detects two dimensional motion relative to a surface, a typical mouse consists of an object that is held in one hand and has one or more buttons, in come cases the mouse will also feature a wheel which can scroll up and down the pages that you're on. Wheel - The wheel is a method mainly used for controlling driving games. Wheels are normally packaged with a large paddle styled as a steering wheel, some wheels also come with compatible accelerator, brake and clutch pedals, it can also feature a shifter feature to enable you to change gears. The most popular companies that make some of the best wheels are Logitech and Thrustmaster and one of their good wheels can cost up to £300. Eye toy - The eye toy is a device which Sony created for the PlayStation 2, this is very similar to a webcam and allowed players to interact with the console in a whole new way, this was was through motion which the camera picked up, this little device was released in 2003. The eye toy is compatible with the PlayStation 3 and can be used for other purposes like video chatting. As of 2008 the eye toy sold over 10 Million copies. Ports/Controller ports - For all these devices to even start working they need to either be plugged into the console that you're using, unless they are wireless, then they will need regular charging. The most common of ports that we see in the present day is USB, this is a general port which most of out devices work from now. Having consoles that have USB ports for their controllers means that the controller can also be used on the PC, this is because the PC has support for a variety of controllers allowing you to be able to play games using them instead of using the keyboard. Wired/Wireless - There are 2 types of controller, these are wired and wireless. They both have their advantages and disadvantages. for example the wired controller will never run out of battery but you are limited to where you can be when playing due to the wire restricting you. Having a wireless controller will spare you some of your USB ports in your computer unless the controller needs charging. But the one downside is that the controller will need to be charged frequently. another factor about wireless controllers is that you can easily lose unlike wired controllers which you use close to the console and then you wind the wire up and place it where you keep it making it less likely to get lost. Analogue/Digital - There are 2 main types of signals used when transmitting information, these are Analogue and Digital signals. These 2 signals are different based on their wavelength, with analogue its a continuous wave of signals but with digital it is turning on and off all the time. Both signals have been used for many things such as Radio and TV. Analogue is the older signal as all TV used to be analogue but now they have all changed to digital getting them better TV. |