2. William Higinbotham
• used an oscilloscope
to produce a system
to display the audio
modulation of a radio
station's high
frequency radio
output
• general-purpose
technician
• worked on cathode-
ray tube displays in
MIT Radiation
Laboratory
3. 1st controller
• Tennis for Two
• Located in Brookhaven
National Laboratory,
Georgia
• Released to the public in
1958
• Inventor: William
Higinbotham
4. Ralph H. Baer
• Born in Germany Served in
U.S. army
• Fought during WWII
• Built M.I. snooping
equipment for use in Berlin
to monitor Soviet
transmissions
• Became first Engineering
Fellow at Sanders
• Invented the brown box
5. 1st Home Controller & Home Console
• Magnavox Odyssey
• Dial controller
• Invented 1972
• Patent # 3,728,480
(US) issued April 17,
1973
• Inventor: Ralph H.
Baer
• Powered by
batteries
7. JoyStick
• The inventor is
unknown
• Atari is the company
that made the
joystick famous in
household video
game controllers
A thumbstick is an evolutionized
joystick
8. Gunpei Yokoi
• 1941 – 1997
• Inventor of Gameboy
• Inventor of the DPad
• So Many Inventions!
• http://www.virtual-
boy.org/gunpei%20yok
oi.htm
9. DPad
• Engineered by Gunpei
Yokoi in 1982
• NINTENDO
• Created for games
like Donkey Kong
11. ABXY BUTTONS
• A and B buttons first
shown on Nintendo
controllers
• Buttons have always
been used since the
first video game
controller
12. Wireless
• Atari created the first wireless controllers in
the 1980s
• It created more mobility for the player
• The problem of tangled game controller
wires was solved
13. Todays Controllers
• YOU!
• The XBOX kinect has sensors, lasors, and
cameras that follow your movement therefore
the only controller is your body