How everybody got game
DC
"A Casual Revolution: Reinventing Video Games and Their Players" by
Jesper Juul (Amazon.com: http://xrl.us/CasRev )
Even today, performing the Contra Code sequence (Wikipedia:
http://xrl.us/Ccode ) unlocks secrets in scores of games that have
nothing to do with Contra. The Contra Code is part of the syntax of
videogames. And it's a perfect example of why, over the years,
videogames became mysterious and inexplicable to nongamers.
The game controllers likewise became incredibly complicated. Mr. Juul
tracks their evolution from the single joystick with a single button
to the Xbox 360 controller: This monstrosity features two joysticks, a
D-pad, six buttons, two option shifters and two shoulder triggers. By
2006, the controllers were incomprehensible to a person unfamiliar
with the physical lingua franca of such devices.
Today, however, the trend is moving in the other direction...
More: http://xrl.us/CasuRevo