Does a Game Controller Need Gyroscope and Motion Sensor Features?

A game controller that features different kinds of feedback will always enhance your overall gaming experience. If you doubt that, just consider the fun you have when the controller vibrates in your hands at the precise moment something happens on the screen. Additionally, many of the most famous games enable you to experience tilting, bending, and other movements that mirror what you are doing with the controller throughout the game.

This is known as motion sensing, and the best video games build such functions into their overall designs. In a recent article from ScienceLine, experts said this of the evolution of motion-sensing video game controllers: “Seasoned video game players used to laugh when beginners waved the controller up in the air, urging Mario to jump a little further, but now these frantic motions have become part of the game.”

How It Works

At the most basic level, this elemental and essential function of a game controller operates using accelerometers, gyroscopes, and other gear that accurately measures every physical movement that the controller makes. Again, as that scientific study noted of the presence of the accelerometer, “As you wave the controller through the air at an attacking enemy, the [a component inside the accelerometer] presses onto the springs, just as you are pressed against the seat of a car when you stomp on the gas pedal. The faster the controller accelerates, the more the wafer moves relative to the rest of the chip.”

An accelerometer  then gauges the position of that component, using tiny measurements and electric charges. “Using capacitance to measure how far and in what direction the wafer moves, the system translates your real-life movements.”

Does this add to the enjoyment of a particular game? Of course it does, and the innovations in accelerometers, to the point that they are now smaller and thinner than a dime makes it easier than ever to find game controllers with advanced motion sensing capabilities.

Designers have also added sensor bars to gaming systems that also monitor movement and work in coordination with controllers synced to the system to further improve gaming experiences.

Do You Really Require These Features?

 Those involved in the gaming industry already know that many game controllers are now designed with specific games in mind. Thus, the ability to adjust sensitivity within the game’s native controls and to use a game controller with motion sensing technologies will automatically improve the overall experience.

As a different scientific report has explained, “Inertial sensors detect and measure acceleration, tilt, shock, vibration, rotation and multiple degrees-of-freedom (DoF) motion. Until recently, their primary use was in Inertial Navigation Systems (INS) as a navigation technique in which measurements provided by accelerometers and gyroscopes tracked the position and orientation of objects relative to a known starting point, orientation and velocity. They were — and are — used in such large applications as aircraft, tactical and strategic missiles, spacecraft, submarines, and ships..”

They have also used this for gesture recognition interfaces, where “taps, double-taps, or shakes, allow users to activate different features or adjust the mode of operation of a game controller.”

So, to answer that question we posed in the title: Yes, you absolutely do want these functions in your game controllers because they guarantee you get the most out of even a small movement or gesture.

At GControllers.com,

gamers can find 6 axis and advanced gyroscopic enhanced game controls that ensure the very best experiences in even the most advanced games.