by David O’Grady
about David O’Grady
David O’Grady is a doctoral candidate in the Cinema and Media Studies program at the University of California, Los Angeles. He has written about visual media for the Encyclopedia of Video Games: The Culture, Technology, and Art of Gaming; The Game Culture Reader; and the New Review of Film and Television Studies. He is also a researcher at the UCLA Game Lab and an instructor at California State University, Long Beach.
NES D-pad
Abstract: Video game controllers shape, enhance, and constrain the relationship between the virtuality of digital games and the physical agency and meaningful actions of the player. David O’Grady’s examination of perhaps the most significant video game controller ever developed—the Nintendo Entertainment System Directional Pad (D-pad)—traces the material history of a game interface, and analyzes how controller design and use profoundly influence the aesthetic experience of video games as played, interactive art forms.