Thursday, August 26, 2010

Recycling Old Devices - Understanding PlayStation Controller

I have always tried to find a new home or another use for my many devices, as they are replaced with later updates or models.  Some of these items end up in the guest rooms of my home for use.

One such device was the Playstation One player that has long been replaced with a newer model.  At first I thought guests might play games on the old TV, that has also found a home upstairs in the guest room.  But it has been used more as a DVD player for children's movies at bedtime, than as a gaming device.  When the  granddaughters visit, one of the treats at my home is to allow them to watch some Madeline movies.  We have the original movie, as well as a series of animated stories.  The stories are one's that they enjoy seeing over and over again and they are always thrilled to pick which ones they will watch each night.  The stories have great moral lessons.


As Granny gets older,  it is often hard to remember which buttons on the PS controller do what to operate in the DVD mode and it often takes me a while to remember which of the symbols on the controller will get that the movie to play.

I just love the internet, I just read a snippet of what the symbols on the controller stand for and maybe now I will be able to remember logically which one operates the device properly.  Here is what the designer had intended when he used the symbols:  pink square, red circle, green triangle and blue X on the controller:   Article referencing the following quote located on technologizer.com:
"We wanted something simple to remember, which is why we went with icons or symbols … I gave each symbol a meaning and a color. The triangle refers to viewpoint; I had it represent one’s head or direction and made it green. Square refers to a piece of paper; I had it represent menus or documents and made it pink. The circle and X represent ‘yes’ or ‘no’ decision-making and I made them red and blue respectively."
So next time the granddaughters request a movie, I will try to remember this unique description for the controls and see if I can get that Madeline movie rolling.

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