Hall of Shame
From the lame to the WTF was that, we take a look at some of the useless pieces of plastic ever assembled.
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Tony Hawk: Ride Skateboard
Jumping onto the interactive motion gaming line-up with a Tony Hawk game that required gamers to actually balance upon a skateboard peripheral, what was Activision thinking? Even if this controller was responsive, it was just laughable and uncalled for. Even experienced skaters found the controls in Tony Hawk: Ride to be glitchy and difficult to maneuver. The skateboard was strong and durable, but fun? No freakin' way.
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Guitar Hero: On Tour Controller
The contraption straps onto the DS Lite via the Game Boy Advance port, this also comes with a stylus for use with the touchscreen. The fact that this accessory is useless is thanks to the fact that it only's used for three games, and not only that, it also requires a port that isn't even on the current generation of DS systems.
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Jogcon
It took quite a long time before the developers to start to realized that simple D-pads weren't meant for 3D game worlds. Fortunately, the PlayStation Dual Shock controller eventually equipped themselves with analog control. Even so, Namco went on to reinvent the wheel, again.
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Wii Sport Kit
Seriously?
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Aura Interactor
Based on the commercials, it would let you "feel punches, explosions, kicks, uppercuts, slam-dunks, crashes, body blows, and more!". As it turned out, the Aura Interactor was nothing more than a backpack made out of subwoofers. Apart from giving gamers a sore back, it only turned in-game sounds into slight unnoticeable vibrations.
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Sega Activator
Even though the fact that fighting games were among the most heavily marketed for the Activator, pulling off even the simplest of combos in games was a disaster. The thought of throwing punches and having on-screen characters mimic the actions, the Activator clearly shows that the reality was far different.
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Resident Evil 4 Chainsaw Controller
This thing serves nothing more as an awkward piece of controller for any gamer to hold, with nothing special, the large size of the controller made it heavy and difficult to operate for long gaming sessions. Also adding to that, the button placement made it hard for gamers to control both analog sticks in the same way they would with a standard controller.
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The Power Glove
Finger motions were imprecise, gamers were better off using the traditional controllers. The bulky shape of the Glove and the need for three separate TV sensors made it even more troublesome to use.
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PlayStation Mouse
Lets face it, RTS title were mean for mouse and keyboard, and better suited for PCs than consoles. Sony attempted to bridge the gap when it released the PlayStation Mouse alongside the system itself. Poor build quality and the fact that most games it supported were also on PC.
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Nintendo e-Reader
Gamers will have to attach this piece via the Game Boy Advance cartridge slot, what this thing does is it reads data from paper cards that Nintendo sold at various retailers. One such use is to obtain in-game Mario items. However, note that the e-Reader utilized the cartridge slot, meaning that an extra GBA had to be connected with the e-Reader from the GBA you were playing the game on. Too much of a hustle.
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The Soul Controller
This kantana-looking controller comes with numerous setbacks. The long length of the blade made it unwieldable, forcing many gamers to detach the blade from the handle when playing. The controller's battery life guaranteed that gamers had to charge batteries every four hours or so. Build quality was very poor despite the price tag was around $150-$200.
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Nintendo Wii Zapper
The Wii Zapper abandons the traditional pistol shape for a design that requires both hands and allows both the Wiimote and the nunchuck to be attached. The intent is to allow gamers to make use of the analog stick on the nunchuck even as they aim and shoot the Wiimote. The combination proved fairly jarring for many light-gun fans, and many have found that games like Link's Crossbow Training control better with a standard Wiimote setup.
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FPS Gaming Vest
Getting shot is the least enjoyable part of the game. Why anyone would design and build an accessory that emphasizes a game’s negative aspects?
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The Power Pad
No one run like they were supposed to, everyone just got on the floor and hit the buttons as fast as they could with their hands. Thats just all there is to the Power Pad, really.
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Gameboy Printer
This accessory was released alongside yet another Game Boy accessory, the Game Boy Camera. Despite the camera software being moderately fun, its image quality was dubious at best.
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U-Force
The U-Force was essentially two infrared sensors that attempted to read your hand's motions. Like the Power Glove, the U-Force also tried (and failed) to mimic real-life punching motions.
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No surprises at all to why Nintendo got so many contenders, with the vast amount of accessories created, some just had to turn out bad, and this wraps up today's article, until next time, bye bye.
