Wednesday, March 4, 2015

EXP Podcast #318: In Control

Tenya Wanya Teens' controller features sixteen buttons.
You probably have a box of them in your house. Some of them might be broken or worn down through use. Others you may have broken throwing against a wall. They are video game controllers, and we love to hate them and argue which are better than others. But how do controllers express their own meaning?

This week on the EXP Podcast, Scott and I are inspired David Shimomura's recent piece on "The semiotics of controllers." With so many buttons, we'll have plenty to discuss. Join us by leaving your comments below and share your personal favorites as well!


- Here's the show's stand-alone feed
- Listen to the podcast in your browser by left-clicking here, right-click and select "save as link" to download the show in MP3 format, or click play below.




Show Notes:

- Runtime: 32 mins 28 secs
- "The semiotics of controllers," by David Shimomura, via Kill Screen.
- Music by Brad Sucks
at

3 comments:

  1. Craig KeebleMarch 5, 2015 at 2:55 AM

    Great podcast as always. You got me thinking about Dying Light and people's very negative reaction to jump being on a bumper, even though it made more sense as you needed your right thumb to look where you're jumping to. It's funny how ingrained the relationship between certain buttons and actions in games is now. I remember almost being put off playing mgs2 because I could barely work the menu with the X closing and O opening things.

    Surprised you didn't mention the N64 controller at all, that thing was a hot mess. I never owned an N64 so when I went round friends and played goldeneye or smash bros I never had a goddamn clue what I was doing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Benjamin R.March 5, 2015 at 6:35 AM

    Your link to "semiotics of controllers" is incorrect; I think you want http://killscreendaily.com/articles/semiotics-controller-design/

    ReplyDelete
  3. Scott JusterMarch 5, 2015 at 7:41 PM

    Fixed! Thanks!

    ReplyDelete