The virtualization of videogames input devices

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to provide a framework for an application of Lévy’s theory of virtualization (Lévy 1998) to the evolution of videogames input devices. The evolution takes place thanks to processes of virtualization and subsequent actualization. The problematic knot of issues that generates the process of virtualization will be discussed and placed into the field of the Virtualization of the Body, with further examination concerning the concept of the tool, an actualization that is “fulcrum for the resolution of a class of problems”. The input device becomes in this regard a platform of collective work for hardware producers, software designers and end users.

Even if it follows an historical perspective, this paper is not intended as a detailed history of input devices. The framework will instead be applied to selected examples from different periods, such as William Higinbotham’s Tennis For Two (1958), the first videogame with a dedicated input device, the Atari VCS (1977), as one of the first cartridge-based machines, and Nintendo’s Wii (2006) and DS (2004) consoles.

One of the general outcomes of virtualization is the fragmentation and specialization of knowledge, positively regarded in Lévy’s theory. The conclusions connect it with the importance of new available input devices, highlighting their positive importance into the problematic dimension of the input device.