Whether you prefer the D-pad or the Dual Shock, your favourite game controller is the result of many years of experimentation and development. In the first of a two-part feature, we take a look at the way these peripherals have developed.
Rob Wilson

In 20 years, the games industry has transformed from two lines bouncing a small white square to each other, played in the bedrooms of a select few, classed as geeks by society, to publishers with multi-million dollar projects and multi-million polygon 3D-powered graphics cards capable of producing incredible graphical environments, sounds and AIs. This industry, once so unpopular, is now even bigger than the film industry, generating over £1 billion due to the introduction of "fashionable" games, attracting mainstream appeal.

The games industry is driven by speculation and future developments. When will the next generation machines be released? When will games like Perfect Dark appear? Machines and their games have evolved through time, demanding more complex algorithms and processing power. However, one area that's overlooked by consumers, despite its presence probably being the most important aspect of any machine, is the input device or controller.

Pong was such a simple game that it required a simple paddle control to move your player. Today, games such as GoldenEye and Ape Escape require analogue control sticks (two in the case of Ape Escape), with eight action buttons performing various actions. The most complex PC games ask you to press multiple buttons and use virtually every finger to operate the game, as well as using two different controls, such as the mouse/keyboard combination. For example, Mech Warrior 3 has a whopping 99 different action buttons. So how did the earliest Atari 2600 joystick develop into the latest Dual Shock Analogue pad? Read on...

In 1977, Pong was released as a home version. It was a simple game where you deflected a white dot off paddles that defended your side of the screen. To control this paddle, a simple control method was introduced - a lever that moved the paddle. This controller was designed solely for the purpose of Pong and so no other game could really use this system. A universal controller that could play multiple games needed to be produced.