I find it amazing that there are so many legal issues with using controllers on different systems. I don't have a lot of background on all of the various reasons behind many of the issues, but I still find it amazing. Why do I need six guitar controllers? Why do non-Sony controllers need a dongle when bluetooth is available?
There are so many controllers these days. Specialty controllers are large in number and are rarely portable between various consoles. I understand that Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft want their own controller to come with the system, and many companies are going to design their control scheme around the hardware design of the controller. Companies can bank on selling more controllers (look at Nintendo's "scheme" for people to own 4 wiimotes and 2 nunchucks. Thank you, Wii Sports)
That said, people are buying steering wheels, flight yokes (do those still exist?), dance mats, arcade stick controllers, guitars, drums, microphones, and many other things. If you are investing money in these controllers, it would be nice if they were a bit more universal. A company cannot future-proof something - they have no idea what the interface will be on the next gen consoles, however it seems like in this era of standardized wireless communication and USB plugs for controllers (as opposed to the numerous variants of pinouts and encoders for controllers of old), that universal controllers would be a bit more realistic.
This is most likely *quite* possible from a technical standpoint, however the potential money made for the company will seem to always supersede the convenience of the consumer. This goes for both the console manufacturers as well as the controller manufacturers. They want people to continue to buy controllers for the various consoles of each generation. It fits with my conspiracy theory regarding computers and operating systems. Is it time to push some new hardware? Better release a new OS that won't run on old hardware and will force people to upgrade. Ha - That's another topic, and I didn't mean to sound like I was ranting on your post, Matt.
I find it amazing that there are so many legal issues with using controllers on different systems. I don't have a lot of background on all of the various reasons behind many of the issues, but I still find it amazing. Why do I need six guitar controllers? Why do non-Sony controllers need a dongle when bluetooth is available?
There are so many controllers these days. Specialty controllers are large in number and are rarely portable between various consoles. I understand that Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft want their own controller to come with the system, and many companies are going to design their control scheme around the hardware design of the controller. Companies can bank on selling more controllers (look at Nintendo's "scheme" for people to own 4 wiimotes and 2 nunchucks. Thank you, Wii Sports)
That said, people are buying steering wheels, flight yokes (do those still exist?), dance mats, arcade stick controllers, guitars, drums, microphones, and many other things. If you are investing money in these controllers, it would be nice if they were a bit more universal. A company cannot future-proof something - they have no idea what the interface will be on the next gen consoles, however it seems like in this era of standardized wireless communication and USB plugs for controllers (as opposed to the numerous variants of pinouts and encoders for controllers of old), that universal controllers would be a bit more realistic.
This is most likely *quite* possible from a technical standpoint, however the potential money made for the company will seem to always supersede the convenience of the consumer. This goes for both the console manufacturers as well as the controller manufacturers. They want people to continue to buy controllers for the various consoles of each generation. It fits with my conspiracy theory regarding computers and operating systems. Is it time to push some new hardware? Better release a new OS that won't run on old hardware and will force people to upgrade. Ha - That's another topic, and I didn't mean to sound like I was ranting on your post, Matt.
Good news for X-Arcade users.
Chris Kennedy, Editor
Location: Houston, Texas, USA
Email: chris@armchairarcade.com