17.7.07

Tuesday Gizmodo & Red Hook

My designer friend, Lisa, brought me on to write copy for a pamphlet she was whipping together. A community in southern Brooklyn called Red Hook wants a guide of sorts for people getting off the cruiseliners there. Not that Red Hook is a bad place or anything, but it has a very narrow strip of rather incredible things to eat and see, surrounded by a residential area that could be confusing to newcomers. We've since sent the final draft to the printers, and when Lisa gets back from vacation I'll see if it's OK to post a sample of the pamphlet here.

Until then, some more Gizmodo:
Very short bit about leaked Playstation 3 controllers
A rather cool looking iPod dock
Finally a computer my dad would love
I really dig this light, personally

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's an interesting piece on the PS3 controllers. I'm not ashamed to admit it: when Sony unveiled the Batarang controllers at E3 last year, I felt a change was welcome. I've long believed that the PlayStation controller design is "just fine"; it was a nice change of pace from the flat pads of the 16-bit era, though enough of a departure from the hand-hopping approach Nintendo had us using for the N64. Additionally, as the design rolled over into the PS2 in 2000, I saw no reason to change a good thing, especially with the hand-destroying, claw-inducing ergonomics employed on the Dreamcast controller.

That being the case, in my mind the PlayStation controller ergonomics and aesthetics were challenged by the Xbox controller (original, not "S") and ultimately bested altogether by the Xbox 360s design. As my brother will attest and I admit openly: my hands hardly classify as large, and yet I had no issues using the original Xbox controller. The Xbox 360, along those lines, superbly executed what I feel is the most comfortable controller to date. SixaxiS, for me, was ultimately a major disappointment.

Back on topic, though, the faux PS3 mockup on the LucasArts combines DualShock with the Xbox/Dreamcast d-pad/left analog stick layout, with laughable results. Forgetting for a moment that SixaxiS takes a major step backwards by excluding rumble, swapping the direction pad and the left analog stick hardly constitutes a worthy design change, let alone a worthy competitor to the Xbox 360's throne.

The Average Joe said...

Chris is a nerd for leaving a big long comment...