Video game accessories include controllers, memory units, audio/video cables, cases, and software. Controllers have evolved from simple directional controls to include analog sticks and motion controls. Memory units store saved game data and began as memory cards before consoles incorporated internal hard drives. Audio/video cables transmit video and audio signals from consoles to TVs and have progressed from RF to composite cables to HDMI. Cases protect consoles and games. Software accessories include both licensed games and homemade content through modchips or alternate operating systems.

1. video game accessory types
A video game accessory is a distinct piece of hardware that is required to use a video game
console, or one that enriches the video game's play experience. Essentially, video game
accessories are everything except the console itself, such as controllers, memory, power adapters
(AC), and audio/visual cables. Most video game consoles come with the accessories required to
play games out of the box (minus software): one A/V cable, one AC cable, and a controller.
Memory is usually the most required accessory outside of these, as game data cannot be saved
to compact discs. The companies that manufacture video game consoles also make these
accessories for replacement purposes (AC cords and A/V cables) as well as improving the overall
experience (extra controllers for more players, or unique devices like light guns and dance pads).
There is an entire industry of companies that create accessories for consoles as well, called
third-party companies. The prices are often lower than those made by the maker of the console
(first-party). This is usually achieved by avoiding licensing or using cheaper materials. For the
mobile systems like the PlayStation Portable and Game Boy iterations, there are many accessories
to make them more usable in mobile environments, such as mobile chargers, lighting to improve
visibility, and cases to both protect and help organize the collection of system peripherals to.
Newer accessories include many home-made things like mod chips to bypass manufacturing
protection or homemade software.
Accessory types
Game controllers
The most common accessory for video game consoles are the controllers used to play the games.
The controllers have evolved since the day of Pong and the spinner. Now there are direction
controls as well as many types of other inputs.
One type of directional control is the directional pad or D-Pad. The D-Pad is designed to look like
an addition sign with each branch being one of the four cardinal directions; left, right, up, and
down. It has been around since the original Nintendo Entertainment System, and has been in
every Nintendo systems since. It is also present in all of Sony's PlayStation consoles including
their portable system. Another feature in the recent console controllers are the analog sticks,
used for 360 directional control. Often used for camera angle control, the idea is to give the
player full control by allowing any direction to be used. The analog controls made their first
appearance in the 1970s consoles under the name joystick; they made a reappearance in console
systems with the Nintendo 64.[1] Analog sticks have been used in every modern console since.
There is no analog stick on the Wii Remote, but it is present on the Nunchuk attachment bundled
with the Wii console. The most recent development in directional controls is free motion control.
Using accelerometers in the Wii Remote and Nunchuk, acceleration in any direction can be
detected and measured.[2] This is still a new type of control scheme and is fully taken advantage
of in the Wii as well as the PlayStation 3's SIXAXIS controller, and Playstation MOVE controller
that has tilt detection.

2. While directional controls are one important part of controllers there are also general inputs,
usually in the form of buttons either on the front or on the tope edges (shoulders) of the
controller.[4] These buttons are simply designed usually labeled either by some color, shape, or
letter identification. The buttons can be used for simplistic one action ideas like jumping or
performing some kind of generic mêlée attack, but they can also be used to string together
combinations of maneuvers like a martial artist's attacks. In systems beginning with the Super
Nintendo, buttons on the shoulders of the controller have become commonplace. In the case of
the Xbox series of systems (and Sega Dreamcast), the shoulder buttons are shaped and used
more like a gun trigger.
Memory units
Originally console games had no additional storage memory for saving game related data. During
the Nintendo Entertainment System's time on the market, battery backed cartridge games that
could retain a limited number of game files were introduced. When the original PlayStation was
released it included support for an external memory source, called a memory card. Its purpose

3. was to store important information about the games, such as game states or scoring info. That
memory card used a memory of type EEPROM.[5] To support the growing use of these cards in
normal game play and the different amounts of data to be saved, larger memory cards were
created. Other consoles also adopted the use of memory cards, such as the Sega Dreamcast,
whose memory card was called the Visual Memory Unit or VMU. The Dreamcast’s memory unit
was unique in that it had a monochrome LCD display, a D-pad, and two buttons. A large third
party memory card market also sprung up, offering cards that were often much cheaper and
larger than the official released memory cards. Some unique third party cards required extra
software to access the cards, or possibly increase the data capacity by compressing the contained
data.
The Xbox system was sold with a new type of data storage for consoles: an internal hard drive to
store information.[6] The hard drive was 8 GB and was used as more than just a memory device.
It was used in conjunction with the games to buffer some of the game data so that loading times
were decreased. The hard drive also stored downloadable content from the Xbox Live service.
Since the Xbox precedent, the PlayStation 2 had a hard drive accessory used with the Final
Fantasy XI game to store character data. In the new generation of game consoles the PlayStation
3 is included with one of many different sized hard drives, depending on which model of the
console is purchased, the 20 GB, 40 GB, 60 GB, and 80 GB models, or 120 or 250 GB for the PS3
Slim. The Xbox 360 launched with a 20 GB hard drive. After users started to complain of lack of
space due to HD content, Microsoft released a 120 GB drive bundled with their Elite model, and
available for individual sale.
Audio/Video cables
Console systems are played on a television. As such the systems need a way for the information
they process to show up on the screen, and for the audio to be played through a sound system.
Originally this was done through an antenna switch box.[7] Later this was changed to a coaxial
cable setup called a RF connector.[8] It transmitted both the audio and video through one cable.
Modern day systems are quite different though. All of the newer systems use industry standards
now. One of those standards is RCA composite cables of single video and left and right audio. The
video connector is usually colored yellow while the left and right audios are colored white and
red respectively. Now that the newer systems are focusing on HD content and displaying in HD
newer types of cable connections are needed. The basic are component cables with the RGB
format. RGB stands for the three colors, red, green, and blue. This is the simplest form of HD
cables. It uses three cables for video and the two for audio still. The newest form of HD
transmittance cables are the High-Definition Multimedia Interface or HDMI cables.[9] The HDMI
cables transmit both the video and audio signals over a single cable. More importantly the
information transmitted is a digital signal. Other cables utilize analog signals so that modern
systems must convert to analog and then back to digital for use. Information is often lost in these
conversions so that HDMI keeps the signal as digital so that less information is lost, keeping the
signal truer to its source. These cables and signals are too new to be fully utilized, and are really
only necessary for 1080p signal.

4. Cases
Due to the modern video gaming market, an abundance of cases are available for both home and
hand held game systems. Because portables often come in contact with the elements and are
more prone to accidents, most owners use a case to protect their systems.
Many such cases include soft padding to cradle the system while an outside shell provides
protection from falls or environmental debris. Some trade off padding to make a thinner, more
compact case. While the larger such cases usually provide better protection and more room for
games and accessories, they can be rather bulky and difficult to carry in pockets or small bags.
To a lesser degree, cases for home consoles also exist. Home console cases are usually designed
as a backpack or briefcase and have enough room for the system, cables, controllers, and often, a
few games. This allows gamers to easily transport traditionally stationary systems, making them
more mobile and sharable.
Home console video games come packaged inside of a DVD-style case. Portables use a smaller
format, but both are usually larger than the actual game media. Therefore, one may find cases
made to hold only the game media, thus saving space and protecting the disks or cartridges from
the open environment or improper storage. They can hold one or several games. Larger cases and
folders can hold a gamer's entire collection.
Software accessories
Most software accessories for a video game system are simply the games designed by
professional game companies. With some of the recent systems, homemade games called
homebrew are being designed and released publicly. The Xbox 360 system has official released
tools called the XNA so that users can design and proliferate their own content.[10] It was
announce by Microsoft after their announcement of the Xbox Live Marketplace. Another type of
homebrew is popular on the Nintendo DS portable gaming system.[11] Through an outside
hardware device, the internal software that is used to run games, the BIOS, is overwritten.
Replacing the default BIOS with an unofficial BIOS allows for user generated content to be
playable. These games are anything from simple ports of older games to truly new ideas and
games. Sony also allowed for homebrew content on their new PlayStation 3 by allowing for Linux
to be installed.[12] Linux allows for many different types of content to be playable. Because of
Linux’s open source methods of utilizing the hardware as long as users write the necessary
software, anything can be playable on the PS3.
There is more than just software that allows different software to be playable. Hardware called
modchips allow for many different changes to the system.[13] Because the chips require that you
open the case to the system and attach them to the circuits, the chips void any warranty and are
even considered illegal by some companies. Most modchips are designed to allow illegal copies
of games to be played. They can also allow for access to hardware not normally contained in the
system. Overall modchips can add interesting effects but can cause many complications from the

5. possibility of breaking the system, from improper installation, and causing legal problems.