Nintendo's console (or more specifically it's unconventional controller) caused much of a 'hoo ha' at its unveiling back at the Tokyo Game Show in 2005. Promising to shake up a stagnated gaming environment and boasting new and innovative ways to play, the secretive Japanese videogaming giant's home console future now potentially lies in the success or failure of a remote-alike. Sony's big wigs also caused a fuss over their next-generation controller by ditching an initial 'boomerang' design for the in favour of its established Dual Shock joypad with the added addition of motion sensitivity. head honcho Bill Gates has already scorned both and Sony's design ideas by proclaiming that the PS3 and Wii's controller designs don't make for 'mainstream' gaming, alluding to the minimal success of the company's tilt-sensitive Sidewinder Freestyle Pro joypad released in 2000.

With that clearly in mind, only the coming months and years will reveal whether Big Willy's prophetic lines unfold into a reality. Until then, feast your eyes on this lovely lot of weird, wonderful (and mostly motion-controlled) peripherals released over the past fifteen years - those the world were just not ready for, or were never really destined to 'disrupt' the way we play.

Name: Power Glove
Company: Mattel (USA), PAX (Japan)
Console: NES
Year: 1989
Price: $100 approx.

The Power Glove was based on the technology used in a device called the VPL Data Glove, a piece of used in the late 1980s in the enormously ambitious creation of virtual reality environments. The VPL could detect yaw, pitch and roll and used fibre optic sensors to recognise finger movements. However, due to cost the gauntlet-like accessory was downgraded for the NES and could only track motion in three-space and the player's finger positioning on its release.

The Power Glove was compatible with over 50 NES games including Super Bros., Double Dragon and Bubble Bobble, allowing control of onscreen characters via arm movements. A numeric keypad on the side of the glove also allowed for limited gameplay enhancements such as increasing and decreasing fire power. Promotional material at the time described using the Power Glove as being able to be 'in' the of the game you were playing. 'You actually knock Mike out, Mike Tyson... fire your P-38 in 1943' it said. Another proclaimed 'Combine the hottest video game with a $10,000 computer peripheral, shape it into an inexpensive yet futuristic 'glove', and you've got this year's smash toy.'

Despite the hype, the Power Glove's novelty value and futuristic look was not enough to secure it global success. The device used cheap microphones to relay ultrasonic waves in order for the glove and console to work together, but positioning the microphones without any outside interference was difficult, resulted in inconsistent results.

Name: NES Hands Free Controller
Company: Nintendo
Console: NES
Year: 1989
Price: $120 standalone kit or $179 including the console and a game.

Nintendo's philosophy has always been that its games should be available to everyone, not just children and spotty teenagers - or as the case was in 1989, not just to able bodied individuals either.

The NES Hands Free Controller consisted of a back-to-front backpack-type device that strapped onto the front of the player and was compatible with all of the console's games (multiplayer an' all) except those that required the NES' light gun or zapper. The directional pad was replaced by a chunky joystick that could be manipulated by the player's chin whilst the functions of the 'A' and 'B' buttons were carried out by softly 'sipping' or 'puffing' from and into a bendy tube that stuck out from the top of the chunky piece of kit. Meanwhile, the 'Select' and 'Start' buttons could be activated by sipping or puffing more forcefully. In addition, two dials on the front of the unit enabled the sensitivity of the breath inputs to be tinkered as well as switching around the sipping or puffing functions.

The Hands Free Controller was a non-profit device sold directly through Nintendo's Customer Care line and made available in three sizes. Due to its target audience it was distributed in limited numbers, but the idea behind it was certainly both heartfelt and novel.

Name: CD-I Thumbstick
Company: Philips
Console: Philips CD-I (bundled with various versions)
Year: 1991
Price: $400 approx. for the console.

Many journalists and gamers alike have sourced Philips' CD-i and Thumbstick control that it was bundled with, as suspiciously similar to Nintendo's 'Wiimote.' Nintendo and Philips have history together, in that the two companies struck a deal in the early 1990s - Philips were to develop a CD-ROM attachment for the Super Nintendo and in return Nintendo would license games and its characters for use in Philips' multimedia console, the CD-i. had previously signed the same deal with Nintendo, but wranglings over profits made from a cartridge and CD-based Super Nintendo console meant that the contract was written off. In the end, Nintendo cancelled plans for a CD-ROM attachment for the SNES altogether.

The Thumbstick controller's unconventional design didn't really aid a console, which, despite Philips' megabucks investments was destined to fail. Numerous multimedia titles were made for the CD-i including Titanic: An Interactive Exploration and, erm, The Joy of Sex. For these simple point and click titles the Thumbstick worked adequately, but for more complex games where more than one button needed pressing quickly after another, the controller was completely inept. Users had to hold the clunky peripheral in two hands for easy access to every button which was awkward in itself, defeating the object of its one-handed design completely. Adding further injury to insult was the fact that the TV-remote-alike was easily breakable and that the console only had one controller port, meaning any potential action could not commence before the purchase of a multi-tap device.

Name: Sega Genesis Activator Ring
Company: Sega
Console: Genesis/Mega Drive
Year: 1993
Price: $79.99

The Sega Genesis Activator Ring was an octagonal ring in which the player stood and each one of the device's eight sides corresponded to a button on the console's ordinary joy pad. The Activator Ring emitted invisible infrared beams upwards, surrounding the player; when these lines were broken by the player's movement, the location was supposed to correspond with the onscreen action.

Although the device was compatible with most Sega Genesis games, it was built specifically for a set of games that included Streets of 3, and Eternal Champions, the latter of which was bundled with the controller. After calibrating the ring before each use, players were expected to punch and kick their way to victory in what was more likely to be an exhausting physical work out rather than a tension-releasing leisure time activity. For this reason and the fact that the signals that the Activator sent to the Sega Genesis were wildly inaccurate, the peculiar add-on never caught on.