Comments on: 15 Classic Game Console Design Mistakes

Comment on 15 Classic Game Console Design Mistakes by: Jason

Tue, 28 Sep 2010 18:59:44 +0000

My friends and I always referred to the original Xbox controller as "the potato".

Comment on 15 Classic Game Console Design Mistakes by: guy

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 16:44:43 +0000

@Geoff: because making 2 different sizes of controllers means you have to order twice as many of certain parts. Also, one of the two designs will inevitably prove more popular than the other, which means that the manufacturer will probably sit on piles of controllers that aren't wanted, or have to sell them at discount. Finally, if someone buys a console, and they have a choice between a big and small controller, they will probably just get the one kind and make everyone else use it anyway.

Comment on 15 Classic Game Console Design Mistakes by: Geoff V.

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 18:01:15 +0000

Honestly,
I've always wondered why "the video games" manufacturers have not made at least 2 sizes of controlers. The demographics range from pint size kids to ham-fisted adults(like myself).

Third-party controllers sometimes come in different sizes, but quaility is questionable at best.

Comment on 15 Classic Game Console Design Mistakes by: JackSoar

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 06:10:48 +0000

Another good article.

What I like about your articles, Benj, is that even when I am well familiar with the subject matter, your excellent research unveils some nice tidbits of information of which I was not previously aware, such as some of the intricacies of the Virtual Boy's development.

Comment on 15 Classic Game Console Design Mistakes by: Zoyous

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 05:56:09 +0000

I always wondered about "the Duke" — the large original Xbox controller. I remembered reading an article from a Microsoft PR person who insisted that they'd received extremely positive feedback from playtesters during development, and I thought that perhaps these were people who were secretly trying to sabotage Microsoft.

Then again, it had the giant, nonfunctional Xbox logo circle in the center, which I wondered if, at one point early in development, it might have been intended to be a small display of some sort, kind of like the Dreamcast VMU.