week 9

If you look at some of the older games systems such as the Brown Box there was a lot of use of wood within the design of the console. I think using this material died out as games consoles are supposed to look like a piece of futuristic equipment and wood as a feel of old to it. Using plastic allows this feeling also making the console feel more expensive, yet with games consoles such as the ps3 they have used shiny metal that further still makes the user feel like the console is superior and full of technology. This also creates a bond between the user and his console, when you first get a shiny new console you constantly want it to be clean and free of scratches but as that console becomes more dated the care for the console decreases. To me the best looking console so far would be the Sega Megadrive as for its day it looked the most futuristic piece of kit, it was far better looking than the SNES and even the PS1 as these consoles looked big and bulky rather than sleek. Yet to me the best controller for a console has to be the playstation 1 and 2 controller the saying “if something’s not broken why fix it” comes to mind. This is also the same the playstation’s interface, although different in appearance, the playstation 1 and 2 have very similar bios screens, where you can check what is on your memory card etc. The playstation was also the first console to utilize memory cards which allowed you to take your saved games anywhere where there was another ps1. yet its interesting now that the ps3 has decided to create a controller that is not to different from the shape of the Megadrive controller.