From ECDL.web

A gamepad (also called joypad or control pad), is a type of game controller held in the hand, where the digits (especially thumbs) are used to provide input. Gamepads generally feature a set of action buttons handled with the right thumb and a direction controller handled with the left. Some common additions to the standard pad include shoulder buttons placed along the edges of the pad, centrally placed start, select, and mode buttons, and an internal motor to provide force feedback.

Gamepads are the primary means of input on most modern video game consoles. Gamepads are also available for personal computers.

[edit] History

Nintendo launched the NES controller, and was followed soon later by Sega's Master System controller in 1986. Gamepads offered gamers a new and more universal way to play games, and their dominance continued throughout later generations as they eventually became the only significant kind of game controller. The NES (known as the Family Computer, or "Famicom" in South-East Asia) controller used Nintendo's patented cross-shaped joypad and featured a brick-like design with a simple, four button layout: two action buttons labeled "A" and "B", a "start" button and a "select" button.

The Sega Mega Drive/Genesis control pad introduced in the late 1980s has an eight-direction d-pad (referred to by Sega as the D Button, short for directional button), a start button and three action buttons. The three buttons were enough for early arcade ports but as fighting games evolved, a six-button pad was released.

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System controller had a more rounded design and added two more face buttons, "X" and "Y", arranging the four in a diamond formation. Another addition was the "L" and "R" shoulder buttons, which have been imitated by most controllers since.

Sony's original Playstation controller featured a four direction D-pad, four action buttons (referred not by color or letter/number like most pads until then, but by four colored shapes. The controller was subsequently used for the follow up system, the PlayStation 2, but was slightly altered to make the buttons pressure sensitive (except for L3, R3, Start and Select) and dubber DualShock 2.

Microsoft's Xbox controller includes two expansion slots, six analog buttons, two analog triggers, and two analog sticks, a total of eight digital buttons (four of which make up the D-pad), as well as built in rumble support. The Xbox 360 controller has wireless capabilities and removes the "black" and "white" buttons of its predecessor and in their place adds two "bumper" buttons, one above each trigger.

[edit] Wii

The Wii Remote is an unconventional controller in comparison to others. In its basic form, it is shaped like a television remote control and includes a number of features. Most notably, it contains tilt sensors and three-dimensional pointing which allows the system to understand all directions of movement (up, down, left, right, in, and out, etc.) and rotation (back and forth around the pitch, roll, and yaw axes). The Wii Remote has four buttons, labeled A, B (on the back), 1 and 2, plus the start (+), select (-) and home button (a house). The controller is also multifunctional and expandable, including an expansion bay which can be used with different types of peripherals. An analog stick peripheral called "Nunchuk" features two trigger buttons (C and Z) to be used by the other hand. Like the Wii Remote, the Nunchuk contains an accelerometer but lacks any pointer functionality.