Atari 2600 as a lesson to game designers ... and a foreshadowing of the Wii

[bardicverse]

As one of the "older" guys here, I'll explain from my own experience, as I've been around since the 2600

- 2600 One joystick, one button. Easy to pickup for anyone in the family (My mom was a pro at Centipede and Breakout)

- NES - No joystick, crosspad and 2 buttons. Only my dad would play with me here and there, the rest of the family not so much

SNES - Crosspad and 6 buttons. I was the only one in the family who played it

PS1 - Looked at the button layout, triangles, squares, circles, etc. Too much to absorb in a context that didn't make sense. ABXY made a lot more sense than a bunch of shapes, almost no one played in my family more than once.

N64 - Analog stick back, trigger underneath, lots of buttons. Only I played in the family.

PS2 - Sony still was going with the shapes buttons, still not working out so well.

GC - Comfy controller, but still too much going on for the older Atari players in the family to grasp well.

XB - Similar situation to the GC

XB360 - Similar to the GC/XB

PS3 - Sony still using the alien coding of shapes for buttons

Wii - 2 main buttons conveniently located on the controller, motion sensing, point and click. Easy enough for the older gamers to comprehend and get into. Nunchuck in separate hand for movement. Family started playing games again.

The basic moral of the story here is that its not the game that makes the big difference, its the ease of the controls and the short learning curve to get into the game. Sure, longer single player stories like Zelda and Metroid might not be enjoyed together with the family, but any multiplayer game can be enjoyed together, casual or "core" alike.