Goodbye D-pad

General and high profile video game topics.
Atarifever1
Posts: 3892
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Goodbye D-pad

Postby Atarifever1 » July 10th, 2012, 1:18 pm

I'm sure someone else here said this before, probably during my time away from here, but I saw a DS commercial last night for one of the Pokemon games that made me sad for the loss of the d-pad.  You could clearly see the buttons on the console in the commercial, and it reminded me that, as soon as the DS stops being supported with big name titles and easy to find hardware, the average gamer will begin growing up without any system where d-pad is the default option. 

Right now the local Wal-Mart has as many DSi systems in the display case as 3DS systems.  As well, their prices are still fairly close between the two systems.  Also, we have just seen a new Pokemon spin-off from Nintendo launched still on the DS, and the Pokemon Black and White 2 games are also DS games.  As well, about half of the display space for Nintendo handhelds in most stores is still DS space.  This probably explains why I still see way, way more kids in public playing DS than playing 3DS.  That means right now, but not for much longer, a whole lot of kids will spend much or all of their game playing time using a d-pad. 

That's about to change forever.  As soon as the DS dies out, the d-pad is going to be the weird, secondary option on all systems, or won't even exist possibly.  Most kids will grow up with a circle pad, touchpad,  or analogue stick as their first videogame input method for the first time since the mid 1980s.  I just felt I should note this transition.  The d-pad had a good run.   


Greisha1
Posts: 707
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Goodbye D-pad

Postby Greisha1 » July 13th, 2012, 8:44 pm

One could argue that the D-Pad was on the way out with the N64 controller. What self-respecting console didn't have an analog stick after that 3-pronged "why is there a D-pad on this thing" was released?


N64Dude1
Posts: 1242
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Goodbye D-pad

Postby N64Dude1 » July 14th, 2012, 3:22 pm

And yet Sony still puts the D Pad at the center left in the most comfortable place,not only that but it's the nearly worst D-Pad imaginable

JWK1
Posts: 904
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Goodbye D-pad

Postby JWK1 » July 16th, 2012, 11:34 am

@N64Dude - I actually think the PS3's d-pad is pretty great for a modern console.  Sure, the wiimote d-pad is slightly better, but it's a mile better than the stock 360 controller.  At least on PS3, I don't have to pull out a completely different controller every time I want to play a 2D game.  I tried playing Symphony of the Night on the Konami Classics Vol 1 collection (360) and using the 360 controller is simply not an option.  It feels horrible.  A Mad Catz fightpad is basically a necessity.

But yes, as time goes on, less and less focus will be put on the d-pad.  I always figured everyone else would screw it up, but Nintendo would always make a solid d-pad.  The GBA and DS have great d-pads.  The 3DS?  Not so much.  And I don't have a lot of hope for the WiiU, either.  Sad for the retrogamers.

darkrage61
Posts: 1678
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Goodbye D-pad

Postby darkrage61 » July 16th, 2012, 1:21 pm

I like the 360's D-pad, it's got just the right amount of heft to it, the one on the 3DS's isn't the the best, but it wasn't bad enough that I felt like it was worth spending money on the Circle Pad Pro, it gets the job done well enough for me.


N64Dude1
Posts: 1242
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Goodbye D-pad

Postby N64Dude1 » July 16th, 2012, 3:13 pm

What? The 360 pad isn't remarkable in anyway,it's just kinda there but at least it's kinda loose like a Sega D-Pad before the Dreamcast

The Sony D-Pad has always been excessively tight and thumb pinching because of the broken arrow design,that kind of thing must it not be changed should be away from the middle and more towards the easy to miss close end of the controller. Nintendo got that right with the Cube,..so why,why is it still on the left?

 

 


Oltobaz1
Posts: 1605
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Goodbye D-pad

Postby Oltobaz1 » July 16th, 2012, 5:19 pm

The DPad is still found on the left because that's
what most people are used to, that's what most people
would expect.

ActRaiser1
Posts: 2726
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Goodbye D-pad

Postby ActRaiser1 » July 16th, 2012, 5:26 pm

Has anyone else ever considered that the 360 D-pad sucking so much is due to Nintendo's patent?

They held a patent on the cross-shaped directional pad until 2005.  Now, that their patent has expired, I'm hoping the next 360 will have a viable directional pad.

It seems like most companies came up with a circular style pad instead of a cross-shaped one to avoid Nintendo's patent.  The circular style pad always made it too easy to hit the diagonals instead of up or down or left and right.  It feels like you're always hitting left/down instead of left or left/down instead of down.  Yuck.



a1
Posts: 3032
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Goodbye D-pad

Postby a1 » July 16th, 2012, 6:56 pm

[QUOTE=ActRaiser]Has anyone else ever considered that the 360 D-pad sucking so much is due to Nintendo's patent?

They held a patent on the cross-shaped directional pad until 2005.  Now, that their patent has expired, I'm hoping the next 360 will have a viable directional pad.

It seems like most companies came up with a circular style pad instead of a cross-shaped one to avoid Nintendo's patent.  The circular style pad always made it too easy to hit the diagonals instead of up or down or left and right.  It feels like you're always hitting left/down instead of left or left/down instead of down.  Yuck.


[/QUOTE]

The Sega Genesis 6-button controller has the best d-pad in gaming and it had to conform to that patent. I would think someone else would be able to figure it out, too.

N64Dude1
Posts: 1242
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Goodbye D-pad

Postby N64Dude1 » July 16th, 2012, 7:09 pm

Wait until 2005? Then why does the Dreamcast have a cross shaped D-Pad?


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