Analog stick
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (May 2010) |
An analog stick, sometimes called a thumbstick or control stick, is an input device for a controller (often a game controller) that is used for two-dimensional input. An analog stick is a variation of a joystick. It consists of some sort of protrusion from the controller, and the input is based on the position of this protrusion. While a digital joystick relies on single electrical connections for movement (using internal digital electrical contacts for up, down, left and right), an analog stick uses continuous electrical activity running through potentiometers. The analog stick has greatly overtaken the D-pad in both prominence and usage in console video games.
Usage in video games
In a video game, an analog stick is often used to move some game object, usually the protagonist. It may also be used to rotate the camera, usually around the protagonist. The analog stick can serve a great variety of other functions, depending on the game. Today many analog sticks can also be pushed like other buttons on a controller.
Its use is prevalent in 3D games, where more than 8 directions are needed (which is all that was offered on the d-pad). Using a D-pad in a 3D game greatly limits the ability to move. For example, in a 3D platformer like Super Mario 64, using a D-pad would allow Mario to move forward, left, and forward-left, but nothing in between. Some early 3D games like Resident Evil overcame this limitation by assigning the Left and Right directions on the D-pad to spin the character instead of making the character move in that direction. However with the prevalence of analog sticks, the aforementioned limitation of the D-pad no longer became an issue.
Dual analog sticks
Two analog sticks offer greater functionality than a single stick. On some modern game controllers, the position of the first stick is where the left thumb usually rests, usually to the upper left of the D-pad while the right stick is usually to the lower left of the face buttons. Systems with this configuration on first-party controllers include the Nintendo GameCube, Xbox, and Xbox 360.
Some controllers instead have the two analog sticks in a symmetrical configuration with a D-pad on the left thumb position and face buttons at the right thumb position, with analog sticks below and closer to the center on both sides. Sony's PlayStation-series analog controllers -- the Dual Analog Controller, DualShock, DualShock 2, Sixaxis, and DualShock 3 -- all use this configuration, with the remainder of the controller layout closely resembling the original digital PlayStation controller. The Classic Controller for the Wii maintains a similar layout.
With genres such as action, adventure game, platforming, and shooting, the left stick normally controls the protagonist while the second stick controls the camera. The use of a second analog stick alleviated problems in many earlier platform games, in which the camera was notorious for bad positioning. The right stick not only allows for camera control in third-person platform games, but is almost essential for most modern first-person shooters such as Halo, where it controls where the player looks, as opposed to the left stick, which controls where the player moves. In Katamari Damacy and Beautiful Katamari, both by Namco, both analog sticks are used at once to control the player's character.
The PSP has been criticized for the lack of a second analog "nub" to accompany the left-hand one.[1]
History
In 1982 Atari released their first controller with a potentiometer-based analog stick for their Atari 5200 home console. However, the non-centering joystick design proved to be ungainly and unreliable, alienating many consumers at the time. During that same year, General Consumer Electronics introduced the Vectrex, a vector graphics based system which used a self-centering analog stick, a precursor to the modern design. For many years, consoles ignored analog technology, instead using the digital D-pad. It was not until the emergence of 3D gameplay that the analog stick was brought back for widespread use.
On 26 April, 1996[2], Sony released a potentiometer-based analog joystick for use in Flight-Simulation games. The Sony Dual Analog FlightStick featured twin analog sticks and was used in games such as "Descent" to provide a much greater degree of freedom than the typical digital joysticks of the day.
Initially announced for release on April 21, 1996, Nintendo released their Nintendo 64 controller on June 24, 1996[3]. The new controller included a thumb-operated control stick which, while a digital stick[4] (the stick operated on the same principles as a mechanical computer mouse), still allowed for a varying levels of movement and near-360-degree control, translating into far more precise movements than were possible with a D-pad.
On July 5, 1996, Sega released Nights into Dreams... for their Saturn console in Japan; bundled with it was the Saturn 3D control pad which featured an analog pad intended to give the player more fluid control over that game's flight-based gameplay. The controller would also serve as a basis for the Dreamcast controller.
On April 25, 1997[2], Sony released a similar analog stick, based on the same potentiometer technology that was used in the larger Dual Analog Flightstick. The Sony Dual Analog controller featured rumble, three modes of analog (Flightstick, Full Analog and Analog-Off), and dual plastic concave thumbsticks, while Nintendo and Sega's controllers only had a single stick.
On November 20, 1997[2], Sony released their third analog controller to the market: the DualShock. The controller featured similar twin analog sticks to the Dual Analog, although they featured convex rubber tips rather than concave plastic ones. Sony also removed the third analog (flightstick) mode and added two new buttons, L3 and R3, under the thumbsticks, which could be used by pressing down on the sticks.
In 1999, Sony's Ape Escape became the first major video game to require the use of two analog sticks.
In the console generations that followed, all major video game console controllers have included two analog sticks, with the exception of the Dreamcast and Nintendo's non-classic Wii controllers. Other exceptions to this dual-stick rule are Sony's PlayStation Portable and Nintendo's 3DS handheld game consoles, which both feature only a single analog "nub"/"slide pad" (small flat analog stick).
See also
References
- ^ "TGS 2004: Ape Escape Academics Hands-On". IGN. 2004-09-24. Retrieved 2007-12-14.
- ^ a b c "SCPH". maru-chang.org.
- ^ http://www.gamezero.com/team-0/articles/industry/shoshinkai_1995/nu64-1.html
- ^ http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=3&cId=3143627