T.I.S.I. by The Blogists: 6 Gaming Devices that Have Made us Look Stupid

The Nintendo is expected to release a new game system named the Wii U later this year with a far from traditional controller. This being the case, I figured now would be a good time to review some awkward gaming devices and counsels, both past and present, that have made us look pretty stupid.

You hold the goggles with your hands
and use the controller with your chest.

#1 Virtual Boy: I would love to travel back in time to see what idiot thought this was a good idea. Who in their right mind wants to lay on the floor with their face shoved into what looks like an over sized View-Master sitting a foot off the ground. In all fairness Nintendo has never been a shining example of how to create a fun gaming experience without giving the player carpal tunnel. The first Nintendo had a rectangle controller which corners jammed into your palms. The N64 had one analogue stick in the center of the controller far out of reach from the controllers buttons. Gamecube had 2 triggers a bumper and buttons with varying sizes for who knows what reason. However these pale in comparison to the virtual boy and it's anorexic controller. Consider too this was far from a party friendly gaming console. Your friends couldn't even see what you were playing while you were playing it. Not that they'd even want to considering every game on the system was an obnoxious shade of red. It was a valiant effort that resulted in more back problems and prescriptions for coke bottle glasses then necessary.

This is far from actual size.

#2 Nintendo DS XL: How do you make the most uncomfortable and embarrassing hand-held system to play in public more embarrassing and uncomfortable? Make it bigger and more noticeable of course! With bigger screens and a bigger body Nintendo released yet another version of their DS system. Why they did this is unclear. It's possible that this was an attempt at creating the first portable billboard. Or maybe this was their way of making people look like XL nerds. If that was the goal, then congratulation Nintendo you succeeded!

#3 Wii: When you divide a traditional controller into two separate devices, one that looks like a TV remote and one that looks like the end of a golf club, and add a protective wrist strap, what do you get? A really stupid looking controller. But this was simply step one of Nintendo's plan to make people look like idiots. The second step was having people wave these devices in front of a sensor bar that's goal seems to be to do the complete opposite of what the user is doing. Step three consisted of releasing games that would fully realize these terrible tools. The end result is Wii Sports, Michael Jackson: the Experience and you, flailing your arms around your living room like a ward patient.

#4 Kinect: Take the same sensor bar technology from the Nintendo Wii, make it look like a camera, and make uncoordinated human bodies the controller and you have the Kinect. Activities such as basketball, bowling, dodge ball and so on look perfectly fine in their proper settings. However, something about doing similar activities without any equipment, in your home, in front of your TV, alone, makes you look kind of nuts.

If you took away the TV she would still look just as stupid.

#5 Playstation Move: Sigh...When you change a traditional controller into one that looks like a baby lightsaber and add a protective wrist strap, what do you get? Playstation's interpretation of Nintendo's bad idea. To understand why this gaming device makes you look stupid see above.

What you wont see in this picture is the final outcome, a broken TV.

#6 Duck Hunt Gun: If you have ever played the original Nintendo then you have seen this controller. Don't get me wrong, Duck Hunt is awesome but seriously why in the world did they make it neon orange? I cant look cool hunting virtual ducks with an orange pistol! Lets break this down for a second. 1.) Why am I hunting ducks with a pistol? 2.) If my goal is to get the jump on a group of ducks wouldn't a traffic cone orange colored gun kind of give me a way? 3.) This game was for kids right? So was a gun really a good idea for a controller anyway?