In Control

From the days of Pong's dial through to joysticks of various shapes and sizes, onto the days where the joypad reigned supreme: all generations of home console have needed some way of controlling the on-screen action. So now the 'next-gen' is the 'current-gen' how are the kids pushing their buttons?

{ Fri 15th February 2008 }

As an interactive medium video games are affected greatly by the manor in which you carry out that interaction. Control schemes can make or break titles, and underlying any control scheme is the physical hardware; no matter how good or well thought-out a control scheme is, it will ultimately fail if the controller is no good.

Controllers are crucial elements of a console, even able to draw interest or intrigue to a platform: one need only look at Nintendo's recent runaway success off the back of the Wii and DS, both of which utilise controls somewhat different from the norm, for proof. It certainly seems that everyone, their gran and their dog has had a go on a Wii at some point.

Why do I need to wave things around like a retard just to move two steps forward?

Similarly, bad controllers can put people off a platform. I know a few people who never gave in to the excellent N64 because they didn't like the feel of the pads. I also know a couple of small-handed friends who physically couldn't play on an original Xbox because of the original fatboy pads (or "Duke" pads, as they were known and as I've been informed by my reliable Canadian source). Whilst I could use those big-bastard controllers, they were rather uncomfortable and awkward to use; though problems in that department were largely rectified with the Controller S (a revised model and far better control pad all-round).

With the current generation of consoles each of the major players has its own angle and take on the controller thing, but the burning questions are: how well do they all work, and which is the best?

Free roaming

One feature all the current-gen controllers have in common is they've all gone wireless, and it's a praise-worthy move. I really hadn't quite imagined the difference it would make, but it's fantastic not having to worry about wires and being able to wander off controller still in hand. It also makes life a lot easier for people a little further away from their consoles, or who want to hide them away a little more (preferably in a sound-proof box where the 360 is concerned).

For example, the lounge in my flat is really rather large (being the living room for an old Georgian house) and wireless controllers have proven very handy for playing games in there. Being a sizeable lounge the sofas are a fair bit away from their parent consoles, and further than a regular controller wire makes comfortable, or practical. As such, playing any games in the lounge on old-school wired controllers involves either taut cables or furniture rearrangement, both being a bit of pain in the arse.

When all is said and done, it's a small change, but I couldn't go back to using wired controllers again. But enough about what's the same in each of the big three's controllers, it's in what makes them different that things get interesting.

Easy as A, B, X

First to the market with their 'next-gen' offering were Microsoft and the Xbox 360, which makes the 360's pad a logical starting point. Superficially similar to the Controller S, the 360 pad refines and improves upon that model considerably. Gone are the awkward black and white buttons, which were a complete pain to use on the Controller S, replaced by 'bumper' buttons on the shoulders of the pad (where you would expect to find L1 and R1 on a DualShock). The shape of the controller has also been updated so it feels even more comfortable in the hand.

The underside plays host to a battery bay for powering the pad, which fits either a little compartment for two AA batteries or a rechargeable pack. I have a couple of the little charge packs and a charger stand which works out rather well. Admittedly the 360's reporting of the remaining battery life isn't always up to scratch though, which can be annoying when the battery randomly dies on you mid-game (especially if that game happens to be whilst online).

There's always the option to buy the USB charge-and-play cable, but honestly I'd go with a spare battery pack or even spare AAs rather than have to bother with that hassle and wire-up again. Charging solutions that involve connecting a cable from the controller to the console seem a bit 'one step forward, two steps back' if you ask me.

In use the 360 pad is exactly what you expect: it's not big and it's not particularly clever, but the 360 pad does its job, and it does it well. It feels pleasantly weighty, though never enough to be a burden, and rests comfortably in the hands. In fact it's still comfortable after an extended gaming session, which can't be said for all controllers. It's a nice, functional pad, making it somewhat hard to fault on the whole.

It's a racket, a gun, no it's a Wiimote

Somewhat easier to fault, however, is the Wiimote. Now don't get me wrong, the Wiimote is a neat idea; it's a versatile little bugger that can do a whole lot of stuff, and some of its tricks are really rather funky. The problem is that it's very much a Jack of all trades, master of none. Take, for example, simple stick waving, such that found in the Wii Sports tennis game where it works well. Indeed the gesture control can be quite excellent, but it all depends on how precise the stick waving needs to be. The Wii Sports golf game can be quite good fun, but it can also be incredibly infuriating when you need to do a gentle hit and it refuses to recognise little or slow-paced swings, or in those moments when it just flat-out refuses to recognise your moves properly like a stubborn twat.

Then there's using it and the Nunchuck as a proper controller and that's where things get even more kludgy. Remote controls, the inspiration for the Wiimote, aren't exactly known for being used for long periods of time, or their general level of comfort. As a result the Wiimote can be a bit wearing if you play for any amount of time. Plus I find it really hard to get to all the buttons easily. Sure it's easy enough to hit most things, but the 1 and 2 buttons are placed rather awkwardly.

Perhaps worse than any issues with actually using the controller are the type of games that it has inspired and the new found obsession with motion controls. Not only do most games on the Wii fall into the category of 'mini game collection' (which aren't bad things per se, but eat too many apples, especially bad apples, and you begin to get a bit fucking sick of apples), but you then get games that needlessly crow-bar in horrid motion controls in place of perfectly good regular control schemes. Why do I need to wave things around like a retard just to move two steps forward? Yes, up and down is a motion a bit like I'd make with my legs to walk, but at what point did you think that made the stick waving intuitive, sensible or, I don't know, any fucking fun?

Take, for example, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz. I was round a mate's playing with a bunch of friends when someone stuck this on. I've always loved the Super Monkey Ball games so of course I was more than up for it; until we started playing it that was. Gone are the easily learnt and rather sensible controls of the GameCube versions and in their place pages (and pages) of random instructions and all sorts of nonsense controls. Trying to do a race by tilting the Wiimote side to side, one of the more sensible control schemes, well I don't think I've ever felt quite so disconnected from the character I'm supposed to be controlling. "Because we can" or "Ooo, look what we could do" should never be the driving force behind the design of anything, but there's more than a few Wii games where this feels exactly like that is the case.

Also, as a left hander I also find that the Wiimote/Nunchuck combo, on occasion, ends up working against me. Anything vaguely resembling the control setup of an FPS leads to trouble. See I'm better at aiming light-gun style with my left hand, but from years of practise and use my left hand is also best (and used) to navigating with a d-pad or analogue stick. My right hand is weaker on both counts, so it just doesn't work. I fear Geometry Wars: Galaxies would suffer from the same problem and that's a game that looks like a lot of fun.

Sometimes the Wiimote is truly excellent, pure genius in fact, and where the design is considered and clever it plays brilliantly. The trouble is that a lot of the time it feels like a clumsy gimmick, and one that is becoming over-used and too easy a target for the cheap cash-in crowd. I still like the Wii (one day soon I'll pick up my own), but the lack of killer titles, for now at least, means I can't take it entirely seriously; especially when the one must-have game coming up, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, will be best played with a classic controller.

Six of one, none of the other

Last, but not least, is the Sixaxis. After Sony's initial, rather misguided boomerang concept for the PlayStation 3 controller, what we actually got was yet another version of the tried and test DualShock pad. Except not quite, the Sixaxis is missing one crucial element, the shock.

Declared 'old-gen' technology, the rumble feature that helped establish the DualShock pads was ditched (nothing at all to do with a pesky lawsuit preventing Sony from using the tech, no no), and instead we got, oh yes, motion control. Not that that came across as an incredibly thinly veiled attempt to get in on the good buzz Nintendo was generating with its Wiimote, not at all.

So far the only interaction with the Sixaxis motion controls I've had was briefly in Warhawk, where it confused the buggery out me. My Warhark plane thingamajig went flying off backwards because I was holding the controller at a little bit of an angle (which just happened to be the way I hold the controller when playing). Needless to say the option for using motion control was prompted turned off. I'm sure there will be games where it's used well and integrated intelligently into the game design, but more so than on the Wii it seems like a horrible gimmick.

Ignoring the motion nonsense, as a regular controller the Sixaxis is very much like the DualShock pads, just minus the rumble (in fact for the five of us in the world that bought one, think Dual Analog controller). So if you've ever played on a DualShock of any sort you'll know what you're going to get, more or less, except L2 and R2 are more trigger like this time round, oh and the pad is lighter.

Actually the thing is too damned light for its own good. Sure, you don't want holding a control pad to feel like a chore, but I'd like to have some indication I am actually holding it in the first place. Fingers crossed this will be a feature the impending DualShock 3 pad (complete with rumble, 'next-gen' rumble that is, and nothing to do with that lawsuit being settled) will fix that problem and feel a little more substantial in the hand.

On the battery front Sony have built it into the controller, which means not replacing it, and it also means you can't swap in new batteries when it runs out. I guess they were going for no extra cost, a lack of hassle, etc, etc, and it's a nice enough idea, if a little naive and flawed. The battery needs charging somehow, and this leads to the main problem: in order to do so it requires the PS3 to be turned to provide the charge, and via an all-too-short cable. This effectively turns the Sixaxis pad into a wired controller again whilst it's being charged, but the included cable length means you can't sit further than a few feet away from your glossy black box; a giant oversight in the design if you ask me. OK so you can get USB extension cables to allow you to sit further away, but your shiny wireless controller becomes a dull old wired one again for the charge duration.

Rumble in the jungle

If you've actually read your way through the above paragraphs then it'll be no great surprise when I say that the 360 pad is by far my favourite controller for the current generation of consoles. Neither the Sixaxis or the Wiimote are terrible, not at all, but I've never had any issues with using the 360's pad; it's comfortable, intuitive and works well. Of course the DualShock 3 could come along and change all this, but somehow I doubt it since the only real change is the re-addition of rumble (sorry, addition of 'next-gen' rumble) and perhaps a bit more weight. The Wii is in a little world of its own and retains a huge amount of charm despite any issues I have with the Wiimote (and to be fair a lot of the problems are to be aimed squarely at unimaginative game designers, or as I like to call them "cheap cash-hungry gimp fuckers").

One thing that may concern Sony is that, given quite a few multi-platform titles are getting released these days, people with both a PS3 and 360 have to decide which console to get various titles on somehow. For me the pad is a big factor in that decision. True there's a few other factors that weight things in the 360's favour, but if I'm going to sit for a couple of hours at a time play a game I'd rather be using the better controller.

Finish him...

But that's just me. I'm sure there are people out there who don't get on with the 360 pad and would far prefer to use the Sixaxis (I can start a help group if you'd like). And as sales seem to be showing, plenty of people are enamoured with the Wiimote enough that Wiis are still bloody hard to get hold of.

Thankfully none of the current-gen controllers are bad at all, and I do like that people are trying different methods of interaction. In fact I'm all for pushing things forward and exploring the options, I just don't think innovation has to be at the expense of all the lessons we've learnt so far. The standard controller is a standard for a reason, and on current evidence gentle evolution would seem to be the way forward rather than grand revolution.