Wave Bird deserves an honorable mention. That thing kicked ass!!

What Sony and Microsoft are both great at is stealing and one-upping.

The reason the PS3 controller was so much like the PS2 was because the GC genuinely had nothing new to copy. If anything, the GameCube was a copy of the Dual Shock. Just with the D-Pad and Left Analog switched around. The Xbox original controller was a slightly more awful version of the GC one (seriously, those black and white buttons are the stupidest idea I have ever seen).

But then Microsoft one-upped the Dual Shock, in a way. It got rid of those god awful black and white buttons, put the start and select buttons somewhere that was reachable, to make it like the Dual Shock, and then made the triggers and analog sticks concave.

DITTO

Innovation is VITAL

but being able to refine something is imo also important

N64 controller may have a rumble pack that you can buy & 1 analog stick

but its SONY that "stole the idea" & then refined it by adding another analog stick & rumble into the controller that made the controller many people love & recogize.

They refined the innovation nintendo did & were more successful

______

With SONY Motion lets see how they do this time, except now 10 years in the future, the tables have turned.

You've got it the wrong way around.  True, the Gamecube controller (as I said earlier) didn't have Nintendo's usual revolutionary effect, but it was NOT an adaptation of the Dual Shock.  

Rather, it was an evolution of the N64 controller (which the Dual Shock also copied, explaining the resemblance).  

That's why the C-stick is different from the other analog -- because it evolved separately from the C buttons.
That's why the X and Y buttons are looped around the big A button instead of the old diamond shape -- because the N64 controller didn't even HAVE them, and they got added on to the A/B matrix.  
That's why the shoulder trigger/buttons are COMPLETELY different -- a big trigger with a second "button" at the bottom of it after you pull the trigger. 

1) Playstation controllers (original without dual shock) Ds2 Ds3 and sixaxis

2) Game cube controller

3) Xbox 360 controller

playstation definitely gave the best for gaming , the worst for gaming looks like the dreamcast controller, but i only ever used it a few times so i can hardly judge on that

Xbox 360 is the best controller to me, followed by the Dreamcast (since i see the 360 as the "new DC" especially in terms of the controller). Then the Gamecube, followed by the N64. The Playstation controller has always felt too "smooth" for me, and results in me not having much control, i like a bit of resistance in the analog stick, also the awkward way my thumb has to be positioned for both analog sticks doesn't help.

Perfection.

The dualshock 2 was perfect. perfect amount of buttons, it felt great in the hand, and all of the sticks were easy to reach.

^^^Beautiful!

And for people who think the Dreamcast controller was horrible, it was actually very good. It's only flaw was a lack of a consistent way to control the camera.

my favorite is playstations then xbox360

i like how ps is symmetrical, but i like the feel of the xbox more (if only it has symmetrical joystic positions)