What's What! Video Game Facts (52/365)

The history of the joysticks dates back to the early 20th century and is closely linked to aviation and missile control, the first two-axis electric joystick it was a German invention in 1944 WWII. It was developed to control the Henschel Hs 293 guided bomb, launched from a bomber aircraft. The joystick was used by the operator of the weapon, sitting on the bomber plane to direct the missile to its target by radio control.

Ralph H. Baer, inventor of television video games and the Magnavox Odyssey console, released in 1972, created the first video game joysticks in 1967. The limited peripheral were able to control the horizontal and vertical position of a spot displayed on a screen, the next step was given by Sega to include a trigger button for his new arcade game missile, a shooter simulation game. One of of those who saw the true potential to use this type of control was the Atari 2600, which included a digital joystick with a button and whose 9-pin connection what would become a standard for the industry.

During the 1990s, joysticks were in demand with PC gamers. I remember that at that time the first games with relatively realistic graphics began to develop, and the flight simulators appeared, the truth is that a joystick could immerse you in the flight experience. My dad was a big fan of simulator games especially microsoft flight , I think it's still a bit and I remember when he bought a joystick and it was his toy, nobody could touch it: D it seemed more a tool than a peripheral.

Nowadays, joysticks are used, mostly, only in computers for simulation games, while in consoles it is more strange to find them, although some peripheral manufacturers still distribute models for both the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3, although we have already seen that companies like Nintendo are moving more to the fusion of consoles with touch screens