Comments on: Sony Releases Info on Game Controller

SonyStyle Hong Kong now lists some of the first information available on the PEGA-GC10, a game controller. The GC10 clips to the front of the handheld and a cable connects to the HotSync port. It will comes with a copy of Columns from Sega, a game that appears quite similar to Tetris. The GC10 is not yet available and Sony didn't even list an estimated release date. A price is also not yet available.
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excelente

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/13/2002 3:11:24 PM #
Now my games can be played in style :)
Awesome
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/13/2002 6:31:18 PM #
This is just awesome, Sony rocks :)
RE: excelente, if its $20
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/13/2002 9:20:58 PM #
Ill buy it if it costs $20 or less. If more then forgetaboutit.

D-Pad

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/13/2002 3:15:33 PM #
looks really nice, but that d-pad worries me... it looks like four recessed buttons instead of one solid piece (which is what it should be; see: any video game console thumbpad).
D-pad?
sandbuck @ 8/13/2002 3:39:24 PM #
This is great news, but the four buttons on the left should be replaced with a d-pad or four-way rocker.

RE: D-Pad
Palm_Otaku @ 8/13/2002 3:42:55 PM #
Looks fairly cool - but more buttons would be cooler!

For the *next* generation controller, how about a PS2 DualShock controller that you could dock the Clie into? :-)

(to the previous poster) Nintendo uses one-piece Dpads, but check the Sony PlayStation controllers - they use separate buttons on the Dpad.

RE: D-Pad
jjsoh @ 8/13/2002 3:52:20 PM #
: see: any video game console thumbpad

Except Playstation 1 or 2. ;)


Jim

RE: D-Pad
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/13/2002 6:31:22 PM #
Actually, the PS and PS2 thumbpads ARE 1 piece... the anchor is merely recessed into the controller. If you nudge one direction, all ends move with it.

So, back to the first poster, yes- it is worrisome that those directional pads look like totally separated buttons...

RE: D-Pad
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/13/2002 7:08:45 PM #
You guys haven't played enough controllers. This is the exact reason I hate PC gamepads. The d-pads are just 1 giant piece. When done properly and recessed where need like on console pads, it works great, but all those giant-circle-with-a-cross-sticking-up-in-the-middle pads have a lot more misreadings than you would get with a seperated one. This is just the ultimate solution and limits moving parts as well.(Ultimate, in this case, is the other extreme end of the spectrum, which I prefer to any PC pad.)
RE: D-Pad
jjsoh @ 8/13/2002 10:54:43 PM #
: Actually, the PS and PS2 thumbpads ARE 1 piece... the
: anchor is merely recessed into the controller. If you
: nudge one direction, all ends move with it.

Come on, now. Can't you give me a little more credit than that? Surely if I mentioned PS controllers, then I've at least touched one in person! Let's not get too technical. :P

Besides, how do you know that this one isn't set up the same way? The original poster did say "it _looks_ like four recessed buttons instead of one solid piece." But for all we know, it could very well be 1 piece; just like the PS controller. I'm not saying that it is or isn't. I'm just saying that it's possible.

Am I getting too technical here? Heh. ;)


Jim

Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes !!!

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/13/2002 3:22:31 PM #
Yes, Awesome...

Thank you Sony.

For my next request -

Everything the T-665 has, but black colour option & virtual grafitti & built in bluetooth (or at least release the bluetooth memory stick {in the USA})

Replacement thin (like they come with) flip covers. e.g. colors.

Why not give me the Memory Stick GPS too.

GO Sega!!! Way to make games for PDAs... More, More, More!!!


RE: Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes !!!
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/13/2002 3:37:51 PM #
YES! Now _THIS_ is progress!!! Now all we need is virtual grafitti and for someone (Sega?) to release an SD/MS filled to capacity with a bunch of quality titles.

At any rate, I agree about having worries about the D-pad on the unit. Also, I doubt the stability of this unit can be as good as the Widget Works Palm III gamepad due to having the connecing cable.

One of these Sony controllers teamed up with a 66 mhz Dragonball should make for a nice (interim) gaming solution. Sega has a huge back library of titles that they could mine for porting over. Alex Kidd, Alien Syndrome, and Hang-On are just a few of the titles that would port over nicely to Palm OS. ARM processors should be able to do games like Shinobi and Sonic with aplomb. Kudos to both Sega and Sony for finally waking up! Now just sit back and wait til the 2nd gen of this controller is out and we'll really be riding high. Take THAT, Nintendo and your crappy dim screen! You think Palm is a lazy company content to sit on their laurels and not innovate? Look at how Nintendo has been milking the same lame Gameboy technology for upwards of 13 years now. I'd rather have a nicely backlit B&W Game Boy Pocket (circa 1996) than a dim GB Advance color screen any day (and yes, I know there was a backlit GB Pocket release in Japan only a few years ago)!


RE: Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes !!!
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/13/2002 10:01:36 PM #
dude you need to calm down a little. Game Boy might not have been very innovative but it sold very very well for Nintendo. You call Nintendo lazy just because they're not "innovative" enough for YOU. That's fine because they DID NOT make the game boy for YOU. They made the gameboy for the general public who care about durability, battery life, size, compatibility, and most importantly the price. When innovation could be made without detriment to any of the above traits, Nintendo did it i.e. Gameboy pocket, gameboy color, gameboy advance.

Remember, "innovation" without much thought = PocketPC.

RE: Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes !!!
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/14/2002 1:01:12 AM #
Look, there's no reason Nintendo could not continue to crank out the candy-coated blindness-inducing regular $70 GBA for the kiddies while releasing a nicely colored, backlit "serious gamer" version costing $150-200, with the caveat,of course, that it WILL be less durable, WILL be more expensive, and WILL have a shorter battery life. It still beats a 7lb laptop for portability purposes.

If consumers are too stupid to pick a model to suit their needs, then that's not Nintendo's problem. A Geforce 4TI can peacefully coexist on a retail shelf next to a TNT2 m64 card, even if the GF4 costs 10x what the TNT card does. Nvidia has different products to suit different segments of the market. All I am saying is that there is a legion of educated, mature, "grown-up" avid gamers out there like me to whom spending an extra $100 is not a big deal if it means being able to have a backlit screen to play in dark airplanes, waiting rooms etc. By "backlit Gameboy" I do not mean a jerry-rigged retrofit light, a practically useless "snakelight" device or lugging a P4 laptop around everywhere--I mean a GBA sold by Nintendo with an integrated back/side light. I will refuse to spend another penny on a Nintendo product until they release something that the market is clamoring for. Otherwise, Sony/Palm is going to eventually going to get their act together and start nipping at Nintendo's heels. This Sony gamepad is (along with the Oslo) just the feeble first attempt at getting this stuff figured out.

The NEC Turboexpress (remember that one?) was a truly elegant and sophisticated handheld even by 2002 standards....and unimaginably so for the 1989/90 timeframe when it was released. I'm still waiting on someone to one-up that unit. The technology certainly exists...


RE: Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes !!!
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/14/2002 3:51:39 AM #
Although it's a mod for the GBA, you could install a frontlight into your GBA from www.tritonlabs.com for about 40 bucks. I agree that Nintendo should have done this themselves, but this does seem like a pretty good solution...
RE: Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes !!!
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/14/2002 11:18:16 AM #
<<<>>>


Sigh.....

RE: Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes !!!
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/14/2002 10:38:24 PM #
They did make gaming systems that were relatively powerful ie Sega GameGear, Atari Lynx, WonderSwan(?), NEC TurboExpress. None of them sold very well. I'm not confident a souped up version of the GBA would sell that well either. I'd be just as interested as you in this new system. Although, I'm not sure if there's enough of us to support a completely new platform for Nintendo.

"Sony/Palm is going to eventually going to get their act together and start nipping at Nintendo's heels."

Yeah sure, kinda like how the Handspring is going to _eventually_ be nipping at Nokia/Motorola/etc's heels. Anyone have the statistics for how many PalmOS PDAs have been sold and how many Gameboys have been sold?

RE: Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes !!!
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/15/2002 1:31:03 AM #
In May of 01 there was a celebration held during the sale of the 100,000,000th game boy.(over 10 year years mind you) and this May it was past 110,000,000.
Gameboys and Palms
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/15/2002 1:54:10 AM #
110M+ GameBoys over 10 years and 25M+ PalmOS devices over 6 years.

Considering how inexpensive GameBoys are, that's not as big a difference as I would have guessed.

- Palm_Otaku (posting from his brother's G4 this evening)

RE: D-pad?
Palm_Otaku @ 8/13/2002 3:57:01 PM #
Heh, how about replacing the two buttons on the right with the four standard PlayStation ones: [] X O ^

Sony amazes me..

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/13/2002 3:40:47 PM #
These guys keep pushing and pushing the envelope of innovation. I can't wait to see what they do with OS5/ARM.

RE: Sony amazes me..
LarryGarfield @ 8/13/2002 3:49:45 PM #
"Pushing the envelope"? Dude, there's nothing new about this. Remember Word Wide Wigets?

http://www.palminfocenter.com/view_Story.asp?ID=1734

Clip-in gamepads are nothing new, all that's new is that Sony is catching up to the idea that maybe people think the T-series buttons suck for gaming. :-)

--
This post is ROT26 encrypted. Reading it is a violation of the DMCA

RE: Sony amazes me..
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/13/2002 4:27:19 PM #
Maybe if the reason that you brought a clie is for "gaming", you should just get a game-BOY instead and leave the grown-up gadgets to grown-ups.
RE: Sony amazes me..
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/13/2002 4:55:08 PM #
Making up for having crappy buttons in the first place and charging you for it is innovation?
RE: Sony amazes me..
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/13/2002 6:18:50 PM #
"Making up for having crappy buttons in the first place and charging you for it is innovation?"

Uh...how were the buttons crappy? For everyday use, the buttons are as functional as any other Palm OS devise.

Oh wait, maybe you are talking about using the buttons to play games. Hate to break it to ya...but there are a lot of adults that do not buy a Clie just to paly games on it.

RE: Sony amazes me..
atrizzah @ 8/13/2002 8:56:03 PM #
Hate to break it to you, but Sony markets their units not as PDA's, but more as entertainment devices. On that basis, the least they could do is provide decent buttons for gaming. It's not like there's a good reason not to.

Peace Out
Alan
RE: Sony amazes me..
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/13/2002 11:22:21 PM #
> For everyday use, the buttons are as functional as
> any other Palm OS devise. Oh wait, maybe you are
> talking about using the buttons to play games.
> Hate to break it to ya...but there are a lot of adults
> that do not buy a Clie just to paly games on it.

I don't play games with my PDA. Are you even an adult, your poor language/spelling skills and lack of knowledge about non-Sony Palm OS devices are obvious. The Sony buttons are just plain crappy in comparison to other Palm OS devices. They are poorly designed for any use. It has nothing to do with games.

RE: Sony amazes me..
TDS Computer @ 8/14/2002 9:12:02 AM #
This is not a "Sony innovation". Handspring has had a joystick adapter for the Visor line since early 2000. This is a nice add on, but it is not an original idea from Sony.


Visit us at www.tdscomputer.com

RE: Sony amazes me..
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/14/2002 11:57:49 AM #
"The Sony buttons are just plain crappy in comparison to other Palm OS devices. They are poorly designed for any use. It has nothing to do with games."

To the all knowing, all seeing Palm guru...

Exactly how are the buttons "poorly designed for any use"? Do you even have a Clie? Just hanging around at BestBuy's PDA counter does not make you an expert in the functionality of the buttons.

Yes the up/down rocker in the T-series may not be as good as the other Palm PDA's, but who needs the up/down rocker when you have the jog-dial?

Again, that's something that you wouldn't understand unless you actually owned a Clie. Stop hanging around the PDA counter at BestBuy and get back to work.

RE: Sony amazes me..
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/15/2002 2:10:24 AM #
I'm not the original poster, but I'd like to respond. I've owned lots of Palm devices including a number of Clies (S300; N760C; T615C) and the buttons have been getting progressively worse. The JogDial is not a complete substitute for the up/down either. Moreover, the positioning of the JogDial isn't always that great either (particularly the N760C!)

So as much as I like the Clies, I'm leaning more toward the "plain crappy in comparison" opinion.

(and I can voice my opinion without juvenile badmouthing other posters too... ;-)

Sega Mobile

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/13/2002 3:47:50 PM #
While nothing listed specifically for PalmOS yet; they do make mention of future games for both Palm and PocketPC at:

http://www.sega.com/mobile/help/getting_started.jhtml

RE: Sega Mobile
mad212 @ 8/13/2002 4:02:37 PM #
Sega already has a palm game called Trimagic. I believe you can find it on palmgear.com

I can't wait till will see the arm powered games!

RE: Sega Mobile
markgm @ 8/13/2002 10:04:06 PM #
I thought there would be more "buy a gameboy if you want to play games on your PDA" arguments (I remember the same arguments when I used to program games for TI calculators) but when I got my clie, the thing that set it apart from the other PDA's were all the extra's that it included, such as the remote control ptogram. As the future PDA's get closer together in feature sets, I think it will be little things like this that set them apart from each other. I know that the Trimagic game that Sega came out with was pretty cool, and I still wish they had more levels!

RE: Sega Mobile
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/14/2002 9:21:28 AM #
You cannot imagine how sick I am of people saying "if you want games, then get a Gameboy". That is like telling somone not to buy a Swiss Army Knife because it's not as effective as lugging a full-size toolbox around.

If everyone clung to this idea of using a dedicated platform for each task, we'd never reach the ballyhooed "convergence" nirvana that all the scribes were talking about in the early/mid 90s. I am eagerly awaiting the day when I can whip out a Kyocera-style Palm phone and download my mail in the background while playing a game of reasonable quality. For what it's worth, most Gameboy titles are so poorly coded nowadays that they are not worth the $30 that NOA wants you to pay for them. At least with Palm games you can download a trail version and download updates to the game. For example, my 2+ year old rgistration for Zap 2000 has brought me to the 16-bit color enabled version with far better stability, memory management and speed than the initial release. Yet a recently bought the Midway Arcade Hits collection on Gameboy Advance and it was so poorly done that it made the Palm ports look arcade-perfect in comparison(really!). Astraware should be proud! Now we need a Sega collection on MMC!

I've had ENOUGH!!

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/13/2002 4:00:26 PM #
All of these Sony announcements are bad for your health :(
RE: I've had ENOUGH!!
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/13/2002 4:08:02 PM #
Wow your a ***** ***** *** Sorry, ED remove this post ;)

GameBoy emulator

Palm_Otaku @ 8/13/2002 4:02:27 PM #
This is *such* a natural!

Waiting for a post from Aaron about Liberty....

RE: GameBoy emulator
maven @ 8/13/2002 5:37:21 PM #
Oh yes! Liberty would be great with this gamepad on a 66MHz Sony - full speed, and decent control! Now if I can just get myself one of these. :)

btw: Why does Aaron need to post? I can blatently (get Liberty) self-promote (get Liberty) Liberty too. Oh yes, and (get Liberty), Liberty will actually be updated (get Liberty) sometime soon (get Liberty). ;)

RE: GameBoy emulator
Palm_Otaku @ 8/13/2002 7:20:03 PM #
Heh, sorry maven, no disrespect intended. Aaron seems to post to PIC fairly frequently, so that's what first jumped to mind.

Updated Liberty? Cool :-) Bring it on!

RE: GameBoy emulator
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/13/2002 7:21:58 PM #
>"btw: Why does Aaron need to post? I can blatently (get Liberty) self-promote (get Liberty) Liberty too. Oh yes, and (get Liberty), Liberty will actually be updated (get Liberty) sometime soon (get Liberty). ;)
"

If you weren't such an a*s, you think before you flame. The poster wants aaron to comment on whether THEY WILL SUPPORT THIS GAMEPAD. Was that so hard to figure out???

RE: GameBoy emulator
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/13/2002 8:32:41 PM #
Hmmm, I guess you aren't a total Palm insider like a lot of people who read this site so maybe Maven's comments went over your head. Maven's real name is Michael Ethetton and he's the other developer of Liberty. I'm not sure about the breakdown but he might even be the primary developer.
RE: GameBoy emulator
maven @ 8/14/2002 10:57:07 AM #
Yes, I was not flaming Otaku, and he knew it :)

And I see no reason in the world why this controller won't work with Liberty, just in case you are wondering. When I pick one up, I'll make sure for myself.

As far as the development of Liberty goes, Aaron wrote the GUI, I wrote the emulator, and he pushed me to get it done.

(Now I just need all you PIC regulars to push Aaron to finish the SRAM support for the next version... ;)

Now I know

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/13/2002 4:15:22 PM #
Now I know why buttons on T-series suck, especially for game playing....

Business schools should really study Sony's marketing and product development strategy!

I also suspect that if Sony makes a T665 with VG, nice button, long battery life, X-scale processor and built-in bluetooth, then that device will be a smashing hit, but sales will go downhill for quite a while after that, because this dream-device will satisfy almost all users' needs.
(people still using Win95 with P-II to surf web, which is more than enough)

Maybe Sony people are readin PIC and say "Gee, I'm not going to fulfill their wish lists all at once, so that they will keep upgrading their PDA."

NR series

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/13/2002 4:35:56 PM #
There should be any reason why this doesn't work on the NR series.

But here's something else to think about. On the NR series, there's still room left for a gad pad in the keyboard area. Maybe the next OS5 NR will have these built-in?

Frankly, with the Clies, MagicGate (DRM MS becasue sony loves encrypting their stuff), and game pads, Sony can really jump into the handheld gaming market. So far Nintendo is getting all the sweet $$$. Who knows, this could become a reality in the coming year.

RE: NR series
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/13/2002 4:50:41 PM #
While I don't KNOW, I BELIEVE that it should work fine for the NR series due to the connectors.

HOWEVER, I think they don't list it as compatible because the shapes are probably different. If you look at the mini-keyboard, it clips all the way aruond the T-series. Perhaps this does something similar and the NR's general thickness and shape just don't work together.

But that's just my opinion.

RE: NR series
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/13/2002 5:09:02 PM #
It would be cool if it could clamp onto the NR series in tablet mode
RE: NR series
Ed @ 8/13/2002 5:45:33 PM #
> I think they don't list it as compatible because the shapes are probably different.

You could be onto something here. I looked up the dimensions for the T665C and NR series and the NR series is slightly wider, 2.9" vs. 2.83". While this doesn't seem like much, it could be just enough to keep the GC10 from clamping properly to the NR70 or NR70V. I should have thought of this myself.

---
News Editor

RE: NR series
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/13/2002 7:01:54 PM #
I've tried one on an NR70, and it fits fine. The only thing is that it requires special gamepad software to be installed. This might not be compatible with the NR70. I didn't get a chance to try that when Sony showed me one. The one I saw had a different fascia as well as different colours.
RE: NR series
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/13/2002 7:46:31 PM #
>>I've tried one on an NR70, and it fits fine. The only thing is that it requires special gamepad
>>software to be installed. This might not be compatible with the NR70. I didn't get a chance to
>> try that when Sony showed me one.

Hmmm - if it has the same OS and the same connector, how could the software not be compatible?

Sony's usability think-tank

Scott R @ 8/14/2002 9:28:28 AM #
Once again, Sony's usability engineering amazes me. What an awful design! A four-distinct-button directional pad?

Aside from the pad issue, this has the same issue that most of these snap-on game pads do: The device ends up being too top-heavy and there's no where to rest your palms. This would be very uncomfortable to play on (mind you, not any more uncomfortable than trying to play games on a stock PDA). The snap-on game pads that feature an extended palm-rest area are much better designs.

Oh well. One day, someone will figure this all out.

Scott

RE: Sony's usability think-tank
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/14/2002 9:44:56 AM #
seems like you already have! you should work for one of these companies. i'm sure that they would benefit from your vast wealth of knowledge. my god, why hasn't anyone thought of this before? Scott, you're simply amazing. sony should retain your services for surely their engineers and designers don't hold a candle to your technical and gaming expertise!
RE: Sony's usability think-tank
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/14/2002 11:24:58 AM #
Shut up lamer. Scott obviously has a point. Have you ever USED any of the add-on Palm gamepads? The Widget Works one is still the best from a comfort (and aesthetic) standpoint. Yeah, it has a few shortcomings, but it's far better to the Frankenstein monstrosity that was the Viror Gameface. The Widge Works gamepad had a nice contoured back (similar to a Gameboy Color) where you could rest your hands. Of course, it was very unwieldy on my old IIIc and even worse on my Vx with the Palm III adaptor on it, but still....you've gotta give them credit for trying, and that was 2+ years ago. Sony could have done a better job but why bother trying? if the thing doesn't sell, then they'll drop it. If it does sell despite its flaws, then they will release another unit with minor tweaks and then replace that one 6 months later ad infinitum. What many people fail to realize is that engineers are usually not gamers...and when something is produced by a committee, then the cost and style take precedence over usability (in most cases). Sony are notoriously bad about this in their US consumer electronics lines. Features disappear from one model year to the next w/ no explanation, only to mysteriously reappear two years later (S-link, Smartfile, etc).

MAME emulation?

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/14/2002 2:20:22 PM #
With the Palm OS 5 simulator, has anyone attempted to port MAME to the Palm? This is one emulator I would love to see on the Palm. Of course, there are others such as SNES and the like, but one couldn't get too greedy...yet.
RE: MAME emulation?
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/15/2002 2:15:06 AM #
You can do this today on a PocketPC.
RE: MAME emulation?
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/15/2002 5:42:00 AM #
Uh, kinda. I've tried it on my Toshiba e570. Oughta be called LAME emulation cause it's almost unplayable.
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