INSPIRATION SURROUNDS US

Inspiration surrounds us in everyday objects. I have chosen two hardware interfaces to look at and examine. These two objects have found their way into my hands on a lot recently… if you know what I mean.

1. Xbox 360 Wireless Control Pad

On first impressions this current game pad from Microsoft looks very similar to the first Xbox pad before it, but with some slight alterations. Most game pads seem to have evolved into this sort of boomerang shape, smoothing out over the years from boxy hard edge devices that kind of hurt your hands over long periods of gaming, to smooth polished devices that are a pleasure to hold in comparison.

This pad is divided up into two main sections, the right hand side and the left hand side. On the right your thumb, index finger and middle finger have the X,Y,A,B buttons, Right Stick, RB Right Trigger and Start button all in range. On the left you have the D-Pad, Left Stick, LB, Left Trigger and Select buttons all with-in scope.

Having owned many different console’s in the past thus using a wide range of diverse game pads it didn’t take me long to get familiar with the 360’s pad layout. I use it on daily basis now and I find it feels very natural to interact with. The wireless feature works great and it’s a first for video games.

2. Nintendo DS Lite

Nintendo’s DS had been out for 12 months or so and had gone un-noticed by myself… that was until Nintendo re-designed the whole system and re-launched it as the ‘DS Lite’… put it this way… I certainly noticed it then!

On first impressions I was amazed at how small and slim it felt in my hands.

The whole system is smoothed off and is very neat. It reminded me more of an I-Pod instead of a next generation Game Boy. Personal I’d prefer the ‘power button’ and the ‘volume controller’ to swap positions on the device.
My reasons are that the volume slider would be in a more ideal position to alter when playing games and that the power button would be tucked out of the way, making it less likely for the user to switch it off accidentally, which has happened a few times with myself.

Also I noticed that there are minimal icons on the system itself, e.g. – One of the DS’s big selling points and major game play factors for most of its titles is the touch screen (bottom screen) that is operated by the stylus pen. If I had been totally oblivious to the DS and had just picked one up for the first time, I’d be clueless about the fact that the bottom screen is different to the top screen… maybe a ‘touch screen’ icon would help?