Peripherals Piling Up

By Bill Tangeman | May 11, 2008

Is it just me, or are all of these gimmicky, one-trick pony controllers starting to get annoying? My ever-growing pile includes the pictured toy guitar, a toy drum set, two sets of bongo drums, a plastic ray gun and a plastic steering wheel. Yours may include giant dance pads, force feedback wheels, flight sticks, and god knows what else.  And there is no end in sight. The Wii Fit board arrives this month. Guitar Hero IV promises to include multiple space-taking instruments. The Xbox waggle wand is just around the corner, and on and on. I suppose I should be happy that I live in a house with enough spare closet space to squirrel most of this stuff away. In places like New York, San Francisco, and Tokyo, extra space is much harder to come by. And what about all those college kids stuck in dorm rooms? Of course, the easiest solution is to just get rid of the stuff when you’re done with the game, but for anyone who’s into building a game collection, you may soon need to add a wing to your house.