Get On the Ball With Your Video Games! spherical controllers |

As I?ve played video games over the years, I?ve seen a huge variety of unique controllers. From twisting knobs to joysticks. From gun controllers to gamepads and even wireless wands.? Some innovative controllers can offer an extra level of control for certain types of video games than the standard ones do.

When Missile Command came out in the arcades I was instantly hooked on landing my shots with a roller controller (AKA trackball).? For some reason spinning that pool ball to save those cities was very satisfying, and the precision it offered was a compelling reason to keep plunking quarters in the machine.

Atari Football (actually the first arcade trackball game), Centipede, Crystal Castles, Rampart, and Marble Madness sported roller controllers and?had great popularity?back in the day. ?Wico became the first manufacturer to make a trackball for a?home console (Atari 2600). ?When?Coleco released its Roller Controller with ?Slither? for the?Colecovision,?Atari soon followed suit?and gamers everywhere were spinning their pool balls to rack up even higher scores than they could with the short stubby joystick controllers.

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The Atari?5200 ?Trak-Ball??controller was only compatible with a few games, but it made playing Missile Command?quite close?to the arcade experience.? Atari also?manufactured a Pro-Line Trak-Ball 2600 controller which?can also be used to play Atari 7800 games (7800 Centipede really shines with this controller).? Since those days no first party video game console manufacturer has produced a roller controller, but there have been some pretty cool third party controllers involving a ball of some type or another.

Many joystick controllers have had a ball affixed to the top, and?a popular Atari 2600 controller add-on called??The Grabber???(by Push-A-Matic) was bought by many gamers back in the early 80s.? Though it really didn?t do anything special?to enhance?gameplay, it brought that arcade joystick?look?that made the arcade?gaming experience just a little more authentic.

No gaming console has ever been in the shape of a sphere, but if a company rolled one out someday, you can rest assured that gamers everywhere would probably try some interesting things with it. (Imagine the Youtube bowling videos for a moment?) For now, all we have are the controllers to mess around with.? So sit back and prepare yourself for a journey into the realm of various crazy orb video game peripherals/controllers that have captured our attention through the years.

Before we get into this, one must understand why we like spheres. It might have to do with the fact that spheres play an integral role in our everyday lives. Our eyeballs are close to being spherical (rotating around in a socket almost like a trackball does), our planet is spherical (spinning its way around the solar system), and the sun, moon,?and planets are spinning spheres.? Many organic and organically-produced?things in nature are spherical (pearls, peas, fish eggs, dandelion seedheads, blueberries, oranges, cherry tomatoes, cantelopes).? The ornaments on our lawns and Christmas trees are shiny ball ornaments and?our discos have mirror balls.? We blow soapy bubbles that are spheres and?we play sports with all sorts of spheres ranging from marbles to beach volleyballs to bowling balls.? Many of the numerous devices we use every day have ball bearings that enhance our lives. ?In our popular media we have spheres too.? We all know E.T. arrived in a spherical ship, and so did Superman (albeit a somewhat spikey sphere).? George Lucas?s movies had spherical bombs and armed droids that roll around (episode 1), an Episode 5 ion cannon sphere, an Episode 4 spherical lightsaber training device, and the all-imposing Death Star- which makes for a very cool exploding sphere.? You?ll find pretty awesome?spheres in the horror movie,?Phantasm, as well as in the movie- you guessed it-??Sphere?.? ?The spheres of our lives are pretty much super-cool (well, with the exception of those lawn ornaments?).? The universe itself finds the sphere ideal from the largest celestial bodies to the smallest of Atoms.? So, at this pivotal moment, we have to ask the inevitable question, ?Why not play video games with sphere-based controllers?? (You were about to ask that question, right?)

With the advent of the trackball in the 1950?s (and use in video games starting in the 1970s), it only became a matter of time for the roller-ball mouse (an inverted trackball) to take the world by storm.? And that?s what it did in 1984 when the Apple Macintosh computer was put into stores. Though there were earlier computers that used a mouse, most people became aware of the invention in the mid-80s thanks to Apple. ?The mouse became the joystick?s replacement for many computer gamers back then, and to this day many 1st person shooters are best played with a mouse and keyboard.

The trackball was pretty much put away by most people after getting the opportunity to try out a mouse in the mid-80s.? But in 1998, Nyko released a Playstation-compatible trackball controller which was well-received by classic gamers everywhere.? This trackball controller was made from the very same molds that Atari used to make its first home console trackball accessory, so it has a massive amount of retro-appeal.

In 1996 the Panther XL combination flightstick/trackball controller was released by Madcatz for the PC, and a couple years later the Panther DC was released for the Dreamcast. ?It?s offers some advantages for playing games like ?Starlancer, Deep Fighter, Aerowings, Quake III Arena,?and Air Force Delta.

Like the Panther trackball controllers, Xgaming?s PC and PS2-compatible X-Arcade Trackball (also compatible with the Xbox using a special adapter) is?also a?very high-end product that delivers on performance.? Xgaming trackballs?have been designed for?the Xbox 360 and PS3 as well.

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On the PC, there have been some unique trackball controllers through the years?including this?very small mouse replacement controller that goes by the name Rolee Polee

In the 90?s other unique roller controllers were released including the Playstation Tremor controller. On this controller the thumbsticks were replaced by rollerballs which had a springback recentering action. Though it was unique, the perception of gamers was that one?s thumbs might tend to slip off at inopportune times, so it never really caught on. ?The thumbspheres have a texturized plastic surface, but?a?high-grip rubber surface would have made it a more effective ball-based?controller.? It at least looks pretty cool.

Ever wanted to turn, push, pull, rotate a rubber ball to get every imaginable 3D motion in your games? ?Well, there is a controller for that. ?Agetec?s Ascii Sphere 360 for the Playstation was released in 1998 and was ahead of its time in some ways, but in others it was lacking.? Many gamers felt that??the?learning curve would not pay off in better performance over a regular controller, though, so they stayed away from it. It also didn?t help that the controller had no vibration feedback and only had analog?support in games that were specially made for it (as opposed to merely digital support in all other games).? It was designed by Spacetec and used the same technology that?s found in CAD 3D pointing devices which have had some success on the PC.? Certain games really benefitted from the Ascii Sphere (Descent and?Forsaken) if you could get acclimated, and the controller can still be utilized?by an ambitious 1st person shooter PC gamer who owns a PS1 to USB controller adapter.? Spacetec?s SpaceOrb 360 is similar to the Ascii Sphere PS1 controller, but is for the PC (uses a serial port connection, not usb).

One of the most interesting controllers with a ball handle is the Novint Falcon which was released in 2007.? This controller is a force feedback device that is really like no other controller you?ve ever played games with.? Using it?you?can ?feel? smooth and texturized surfaces that can be hard or soft, get smacked around, push through curtains,?and even get weapon kickback effects.? When it was released the cost was $189, so?the only people who experienced this ball-handled controller were?the diehard PC gamers and the rich and famous (some of whom were- I?m sure- diehard PC gamers).? If you are looking for?a dose of virtual-reality?this might be the controller for you. . . or you might just choose to buy a plastic Wii bowling ball accessory for your Wiimote (yes, these actually exist).

Another sphere-based controller which really is only a sphere to look cool is the Sony PS3 Move controller.??The top of the controller?could have just as easily been a?cube, a flame shape,?or a pyramid but Sony knows that?people need?spheres on their controllers.? Especially vivid color-changing spheres because we all need to buy?some great eye candy for $100!

Modding a standard controller to put the ball into play has become rather popular within the last four or five years.??Some innovative gamers have replaced the right thumbstick of their Xbox 360 controller with a small trackball to enhance their first person shooter experience.? One example of this can be seen here:

Some of the Xbox 360 controller trackball revisions?were even?better than that, but?most modders bring their limited number of products to Ebay and sell through (often never to be heard from again).? This may not be ideal when it comes to product support, so buyer beware.? If you like the idea of?owning one of these?thumbstick/trackball hybrid controllers you might want to try playing your computer?games wirelessly on your big screen lcd tv with the iGugu Gamecore.? It hasn?t received rave reviews but it is without question an interesting controller that might appeal to some trackball fans looking for a new twist on their PC?gaming or desktop controls.

Another controller?mod (actually involving?a?mouse)?that?might be the?most innovative idea ever conceived by mankind- well, womankind anyway- is this one (the video is a must-watch!):

you can see her Article on this awesome spherical controller here and Be sure to check out her website at KellBot.Com

I like how she makes it seem like it?s such a simple thing to put together. . .? Maybe someday she will rule the world with her keenly genius mind as she rolls everything up in a?mile-wide package of everything under the sun.

In closing, I believe the future is very bright for?sphere-based controllers.? Maybe the next?Sony?console will bring us innovative?Move 2?controllers which allows the ball to be turned/twisted/spun for a greater degree of control in certain games.? Or maybe we?ll see a next generation mouse with tactile sensors on its surface which wriggle around in certain ways to give us more feedback than?something that merely?buzzes in our hands.? We might be able to play a juggling game with color-changing?spherical juggling balls?that give you a strong jolt of electricity when you mess up?Well, scratch that last one, but I?m sure someone will put a new spin on the way we play our games.??All I can say is that we haven?t seen the last of well-rounded controllers- and that?s a good thing.

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Steve A.

NerdKO.com

5/24/2012

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