History of the Button

Sign in Subscribe

Topic

Video games

A collection of 4 issues

Mr. Rogers learns about Donkey Kong

This video is beautiful. Mr. Rogers learns how to play Donkey Kong from a little kid. It gets even better when the vending machine guy comes to collect all the coins. He even opens up the machine to show how the buttons work. First aired in 1983. The golden quotes:

History of ABXY

Following up from my post on the LodgeNet game controller with the bizarro ABXY labeling, here is a history of the ABXY controller layout, from ABXY.org. From the article: For the origins of the ABXY button scheme we must look back to the very beginning of additional buttons. When

Slow down and think it through

How easy is it to overthink a design solution? Quite easy. Slow down and think it through. Just remember ABXY. As we’ve covered before with alarm clocks, technology found in hotel rooms is often poorly designed, likely purchased from the cheapest possible source. They buy cheap, they get cheap.

King Kong: A Fistful of Quarters

Last Friday, we went to see King of Kong, A Fistful of Quarters, a brilliant documentary about two guys battling for the world record at Donkey Kong. At the simplest, it’s a classic Good vs. Evil story. The characters are stunning. They’re real people. Determination. Hypocrisy. Persistence. Deception.