Okay guys, I know it’s been quite some time since the release of the Playstation 3, but does anyone remember that awful boomerang controller design that was unveiled at e3 2005? Granted Sony has had their problems as of late, but can you even phantom the potential disaster that would have ensued if Sony would have went ahead with said design? Now, don’t get me wrong, Sony officially came out and said that this design was purely a mockup for e3, but that very well just may have been a way for them to gracefully escape the negative feedback of the design.
In hind sight, maybe Sony was thinking more about the SIXAXIS technology with this mockup, rather than the look and feel that so many fanboys have become accustomed to. After all, SIXAXIS technology was not announced when the boomerang controller was initially unveiled, but was later announced the following year when the controller was redesigned. If you really think about it, the boomerang probably wouldn’t be all that bad for SIXAXIS intensive games. Which begs the question, “are there many SIXAXIS intensive ps3 games?”
Turns out Sony was able to dodge this bullet, but would soon have another headache with the official SIXAXIS controller that was unveiled at e3 2006, the lack of rumble capability. Surely, Sony knew they would have these problems. I know more than a fair share of their own employees would have been pissed off about this one.
Certainly Sony is not the first to have people look at their controller in confusion. Take the Microsoft Xbox “fatboy” for example. If you have never had a chance to grace your hands on this piece of hardware, consider yourself lucky. Microsoft definitely made a huge mistake here. This thing was so huge and so uncomfortable, that there was an immediate outcry. Not to mention the fact that this wasn’t helping the Xbox as a new and upcoming console. I can remember having Halo battles at a friends house. If you got stuck with the fatboy controller, you were the odd man out. Oh, and I won’t even start on the N64 controller.
Bottom line is, great controller design is a must, and being able to listen to your user base is even greater. A company should not be bashful about trying something new, but they should be more than willing to make changes to appease the masses. What are your worst or best controllers of all time? Do you prefer one for sports games versus shooters? Are you a Wiimote fanatic? Let us know!
Yeah, there was much hate for that boomerang at e3 ‘05.
The N64 controller was awesome. I also praise nintendo for making new controllers with each new system. Sony has used the same stolen Super Nintendo design for the entire existence of the playstation. Microsoft also did not make any big changes to Xbox small controller in its transition to 360 also. I like to have a different way to interact with my new system. If you gonna use the same controller design at least have the decency to make the system backward compatible with the controllers.
I think that the 360 controller is the greatest controller ever made. The N64 was good but fragile, the playstation controller has the worst analog sticks ever. I liked the xbox controller and I still own a phat one. One of the worst controllers was the Dreamcast, after about hour blisters would start popping up everywhere.
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