1) Form follows function
2) Do you really want to have a totally different controller for each console. Imagine if every computer manufacturer decide to re-arrange all of the keys on the keyboard and switch the left and right mouse buttons to differnt places on the mouse just to be "original". Ugh. I mean look at the game cube\'s controller what is that crappy button cluster on the right? Well, at least it\'s different, even if it gives you carpal tunnel and makes it hard to play games.
3) If it works, don\'t fix it.
Getting on MS\'s case for this is just silly. I mean look down at your hand (unless you\'ve got a hook one or something). It has a palm, and fingers and they are a certian distance from eachother.
If you want to make a control device that doesnt sit on a table you have to design it to be held. Lo and behold, all these controller have rounded palm shaped handle areas on the left and right. Go figure! And if you want to add a joy stick to it, well heck. Damn if it doesnt end up going just about where your\'re thumb will be when you hold the controller. Hey and buttons and triggers are pretty much the same. Whaddya know about that? And the buttons and joysticks are all kinda rounded and not hard edged so they dont hurt your hands.
Imagine what a razzing MS would get if they decided to get all original on us and make a hard edged sharp and pointy controller with sharp edgy buttons that you access through an ass mounted brass knuckle head clamp. You\'d be like "HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO PLAY WITH THAT?????"
/rant
A good example of this actually is that gamecube controller. They wanted to be a little different so they stranded the d-pad and the right stick on these little pedastal things. If you look at the other controllers you can see that these are placed so that the force of your button press is distributed to your palm which is holding the controller. On the gamecube controller it is too far away from the center of the stress point. You\'ll most likely end up getting sore hands from the controller rocking around in your hands whenever you use the d-pad. It is also a more difficult downward reach from your thumbs. Not good. My hands hurt just looking at that thing.
The best controller of the bunch is the PS2 one. It was designed to be comfortable and accomodate finger reach for both little kids and adults. Ever see a little kid struggle with getting their thumb to reach the high sitck on the dreamcast controller? Sad. And forget about them actually being able to use the triggers at the same time.
The PS2 controller also has the least distance between controls and places the high stress buttons like the d-pad and the right cluster right on the area that has the bulk of your hand support under it, this way the pressure from those button presses are best absorbed. The sticks are placed lower as they require less force to manipulate and are higher up off the pad making the reach correct when you switch from one to the other. Sony has good Human Factors Engineers, Smart. It looks like the x-box one might not be bad to me, although I wonder about little kids being able to use it easily and the right button cluster being stretched out like that may cause some switching problems for legacy DC and PS2 users.
