Saturday, May 29, 2010

Video Game Controllers

There are many different types of video game controllers.



Gamepad

Gamepads are the most popular game controllers.







Paddle

A paddle is a game controller with a round wheel and one or more fire buttons.

They are very old-fashioned.



Trackball

A trackball uses a ball and sensors.




Joystick

Joysticks are often used for controlling machines such as cranes, trucks and wheelchairs.



Racing Wheel

A racing wheel is the preferred method of control for use in driving simulators.



Light Gun

You point the gun at the screen to control the game.






Balance board

You stand on this board to play the game. 






musical instruments

These are used for music games.
Nowadays, these controllers are becoming so realistic that people can learn to play real instruments by playing the game!


Crazy video game controllers

Wii Bowling Ball


Steel Battalion Cockpit

One game, two sticks, 40 buttons! It costs $200!!!






Nintendo's Robotic Operating Buddy.



Tony Hawk Ride Skateboard





Bongos!




Power Glove




Samba de Amigo Maracas







Dance Dance game controller










Gamepad

Do you like video games?


I like them very much.


To play a video game you need a video game controller.


There are many kinds of video game controllers but the most common on is a "Gamepad"

The first game pad was made by Nintendo.

It was the "Famicom" .

It was very simple.

It had only a joypad and 2 buttons.






In time games became more and more complex.

Players needed more buttons.
The Genesis/Mega Drive system had 3 and then 6 buttons.


The Nintendo Super Famicom had 6 buttons.

2 of the buttons were on the gamepad`s shoulders.





Apple made a very advanced gamepad.

It had a trackball in the center.

But it was not popular.


Atari made the Jaguar.
Few people liked it.
It was too complex.


The first analogue controller was made by Sega in 1996.




The most famous gamepad is made by Sony for the PlayStation.



It has four action buttons.

Square, Triangle, Circle and Cross


it has four shoulder buttons (R1, R2, L1, and L2)



Next Sony introduced the Dual Analog controller in 1996. This controller was useful in FPS games.

In 1997, Sony intorduced the Dualshock controller.
It had a "Rumble" function. It could shake.
Also Sony added "L3 and R3" buttons. You must press the analog sticks to use the "L3 and R3" buttons.
Many gamepads have a joypad and an analog stick.
Nintendo 64
Dreamcast
GameCube
Xbox
the Xbox controller includes six analog buttons, two analog triggers, and two analog sticks, and eight digital buttons.
Many people did not like this. It was too big! In America, it was called the "Hamburger".
In Japan, many people were not happy.
They made a new smaller version of the controller.



The new Xbox 360 controller is smaller than the Xbox controller.




The Wii is the most popular now. It can understand all kinds of movement: up, down, left, right, in, and out, etc

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

These fish do not swim!!

These fish walk on the bottom of the sea. They can not swim!

They are called "Hand Fish".

They live near Austrailia.


Pink Handfish


The Spotted Handfish


The Red Handfish


The Zeibell's handfish



But the are Endangered!
They don`t like pollution or climate change.
Maybe they will be gone forever soon.

That is so sad!



Saturday, May 22, 2010

Crazy Weather!!!

A hailstorm hit Oklahoma city on May 16, 2010.

In a hailstorm ice falls in big balls.

This is a hailstone. It is about 6 cm wide.



A lot of hailstones fall at one time.


Hail is very dangerous.


After a hailstorm people discover a lot of damage!



Cars are damaged.





Houses are damaged.


Thursday, May 20, 2010