A Question of Control (Video Games & Computer Entertainment - August 1989)

Here's an article from Video Games & Computer Entertainment all about game controllers in 1989. Back then there were a large variety of of joysticks being released, especially for home computers. Today most games play best with a gamepad and PC gamers can be found using the latest PC compatible Xbox and PlayStation gamepads. There are a lot less third-party controller manufacturers these days too, resulting in the most popular gamepads being from Microsoft and Sony. The one drawback of this article is that it does not have enough photographs. More than 20 companies/controllers are mentioned but only six images are included. I've used a few of these and that first image of a joystick from Wico is one of them. While I didn't own any Wico products, my neighbor had some for his Commodore 64 (C64). I did own a couple wireless Freedom Sticks from Camerica for my C64 but I think they both broke from the rapid back-and-forth movements needed to run fast in Epyx sports titles.

Gaming Ads: ASCII Entertainment Software

ASCII Corporation was founded in Japan in 1977 and opened the U.S. branch ASCII Entertainment Software in 1991. The publisher didn't release a lot of games in North America but it did publish some versions of well known titles, such as Wizardry, King's Field, and Armored Core. ASCII also released a variety of gaming accessories with the majority of them being gamepads and joysticks for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Genesis, though they also made Game Boy gear and PlayStation controllers. In 1991 it was merged with another ASCII Corporation subsidiary, Nexoft, to form ASCII Consumer Products, though the ASCII Entertainment name continued to appear on game and hardware packaging. As mentioned back in February when I posted Agetec ads, the American branch of ASCII became the independent publisher Agetec in 1998.

If you're wondering what ASCII is short for it is American Standard Code for Information Interchange. It might seem like an odd name for a Japanese video game company but ASCII started as the publisher of a microcomputer magazine.

ASCII Entertainment Software albums: Facebook - Google Photos