Pop Chart Labs' Mind Boggling Videogame Controller Tree

(Via)

The fine folks over at Pop Chart Lab just released an extensive family tree chronicling the complete evolution of the videogame controller as we know it, with a massive chart (Click for fullsize) starring 179 species created over a total of seven decades worth of gaming, starting off with 1958's Tennis For Two, created on a Donner Model 30 analog computer with an oscilloscope display.



Now a fun fact about that Tennis For Two title was how incredibly advanced it was for it's time, featuring actual trajectory motion and collision for the ball when it hit the net, as well as simulated drag. This had to do with the fact that the inventor and physicist William Higinbotham used a device intended for calculating missile trajectories as his means of relieving boredom, assembling the microwave sized system over three weeks with the help of a friend. The game went on to inspire Pong, which ultimately kickstarted the game industry as we know it in 1972.