Checkout this article on the military use of videogame controllers to help control their air and ground units. I think it's brilliant. To sum up the article, game controllers used to be highly influenced by military control interfaces spawning gamepads like the Atari game stick and the arcade controller, however, after years of evolution the military is learning a lesson or two from the videogame industry.
However, the real issue I want to talk about here is the difference between using a PC keyboard/mouse interface versus the use of thumbsticks which are widely used by almost all modern gaming consoles. More praise to console systems like XBox 360 and Playstation used outside of their original domain was surely to prompt a fanboy war between hardcore PC gamers (who thinks a mouse/keyboard configuration kicks everyone's ass) and console gamers (who argue that the thumbsticks are actually a better choice in some situations).
Here's my take on it (which I also posted to the website comments section). I'm in favor of thumbsticks (specifically the XBox 360 configuration)and here's why?
1) As stated by others, in real-life you won't be turning 180 degrees in one sec in the air or via a ground controlled vehicle. Less stress on your wrist. I can go for hours using thumbs.
2) If you have a keyboard and mouse (or just mouse) and you're in an airplane, what happens when you FLY UPSIDE DOWN???? How much control will you have then? With a gamepad, you can be upside down, on your side, whatever and still have full control! Ziiinnngg!
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