video game controller
The input device used to control a video game. Controllers have evolved from a single joy stick with one button to devices with joy sticks, pedals and dozens of buttons. See
video game console,
joy stick and
Kinect.
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| Full Cockpit Controls |
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| Capcom's Steel Battalion controller for the Xbox puts the gamer inside a futuristic robotic war machine. It uses joy sticks, levers, dials and more than 40 buttons to simulate the cockpit of the "Vertical Tank." (Image courtesy of Capcom Entertainment.) |
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| The Gamepad |
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| Also called "joypads" and "control pads," a gamepad is held in the hands and operated with both thumbs such as this wireless unit from Sony for its PlayStation3. Direction buttons, or a directional paddle, are typically on the left side with the action buttons on the right. (Image courtesy of Sony Corporation.) |