We just reviewed the evolution of the game controller in general. Now let’s dip in the very interesting story of the creation of the PlayStation Controller. The facts reported here mainly come from Kevin Gifford who wrote the "PlayStation 1 Design" article and from Reiji Asakura who wrote the book "Revolutionaries at Sony – The Making of the Sony PlayStation and the Visionaries Who Conquered the World of Video Games."...

This study is about a device which is probably the best joypad of all times: the Dual Shock. It has many variants and we can expect it to keep evolving in the coming years, however, we will focus here on the current version, the Dual Shock 3. In this article, we will go through the history of the game controller in general and then focus on the history of the Dual Shock itself, so that we understand in which context and how it was built. In a next part, we will then analyse the controller by studying its specifications and comparing it to its most direct competitor, the Xbox 360 controller. Basics There are many categories of game controllers, among which we will retain the most popular one, the gamepad, as that’s exactly what the Dual Shock is. Gamepads, also known as joypads, can have many action buttons combined with one or more omnidirectional control sticks or buttons. They are held using both hands with fingers (typically thumbs) used to provide input; as mentioned on Wikipedia, most modern game controllers are a variation of a standard gamepad. Common additions include shoulder buttons placed along the edges of the pad, joysticks, centrally placed buttons and internal motors that provide haptic feedback (as in, they typically vibrate). Some history In his article intituled “History of the game controller”, Catalin Ivan stated “Ever since the very beginning of video gaming, the controller has been the best (and usually the only) way of man-machine interaction.” That’s actually an interesting fact, and it would be good to follow the evolution from that “very beginning” to see how we reached the current gamepad technologies. There had actually been many, many gamepads released throughout the history, we are not going to study all of them, we are just going to review those who appear like important milestones that we observed from a study by John Honnibal and that we are summing up in the following table:...

A few years ago, I could easily spend hours sitting in front of the computer, watching photos on Facebook or on Hi5. That's right, if people publish their photos, the whole point is that we can watch those indeed. Sometimes I went on profiles of people I didn't even know! When I was asked what I was doing, I used to answer: I look at people's prosperity! Actually, I was a little envious! I have so many projects running through my mind, so many dreams still unrealised, that sometimes I have these "down" periods, when I feel that everyone is happier than me and that I am running late! Not specifically late with regard to others, but mostly late on the vision that I have for myself! I envied those who were able to reach some of my dreams and who don't always realise that they are privileged! I also envied these people who enjoyed their youth in the fast lane because, stuck in my perpetual "school-house-sleep" routine, I might not have had any interesting story to share with my children! But at least, it's fortunate that I happen to be the prime confidant among my connexions. Therefore, for lack of better insight, I would still have the experience of others as a reference point! And then one day I realised that no one ever photographs their bad times!...

This is the last part of the series on Bavardica. Apart from a user friendly and colourful user interface, the other features include the edition of the character outlook in real time (while on the scene). Here again, hair style, skin, clothes and shoes can be changed. Additionally, colours of all those garments can also be changed. The way it works is pretty similar to the way a character is created. In the meanwhile, some other functions had been added:...

How I draw the 2D characters Due to the nature of the drawing art, which is not really computer science related, I thought it was best to describe this process in another part right after the progress description. This work had been a full part of the project and even though it does not directly concern programming (before we get into animation), it is also a computer work involving a pen tablet and some image processing software (Adobe Photoshop). The following screenshots describe the steps in the drawing of one character (out of four)...

We are living a terrific OS wars with the rise of Linux over the last two decades. The big Google is also launching its Google Chrome OS. Microsoft and Apple are far away from giving up the party with the Windows 7 and Mac OS X respectively. Well, as a wannabe game programmer, I feel it is getting difficult to choose a side. The will to reach the maximum audience could lead to code mainly for windows gamers. But then, there is still a trouble. Let’s talk about a very exciting field of gaming: Multiplayer online gaming. Suppose you build your game client using any Microsoft .net language, say C#. Are you compelled to code your server application in C# as well?...