IGN Disses Intellivision Controller

I take issue with this:

Look, we understand that many system designers were shooting in the dark during the early days of videogames. I'm sure that a handheld controller that looked like a touch-tone phone appeared "Space Age Technology," and the design even preceded the Nintendo D-pad by more than a half-decade…even offering more directional points than an 8-way controller could dream of having. But good luck figuring out if you're pressing left or just slight up and left. And controller overlays? Work of the devil.

-- Top 10 Tuesday: Worst Game Controllers

I think the Intellivision disc was an excellent predecessor to the analog control many of us enjoy today. No, it wasn't the best ergonomic design and definately took a little practice before gettting really adept ... but mostly that was because our hands were already used to the Atari "brick and stick" approach ... which was an even most egregious ergonomic disaster.

And overlays? Definately a mixed blessing. Yes, it created a need for organization unseeen previously and hereafter in video games. However, it also offered up a variable control scheme for developers, allowing for games like Sea Battle (impossible to do without it) to exist. Games like Treasure of Tarmin would have been a total menu hunt without such a controller.

So meh to you IGN.



tagged: games, gaming