Zdnet has an interesting article about peripheral devices and how they have progressed as games become more immersive. It's funny to remember how games used to be enjoyed with just a joystick and one button, or paddles. The gamepad as we know it, however, may have reached it's height of development.. well, regarding to Andrew Carter, vice president of development at Infogrames Melbourne House.
"Maybe the form is almost perfect," Carter says. "Sony didn't change the controller on the PlayStation 2, and the GameCube controller isn't a million miles away from the Sony controller. The shape is good and people are used to it so I don't believe it will change all that much."
They also go through some of the many different types of other devices out there in the market. It's a shame VR helmets never took off. Remember Nintendo's powerglove? That seemed like a good idea, until you actually played with it. After an hour of play, your hand weighed like a tonne! Anyway, read the article here at Zdnet. Oh yeh, I also hated that eXistenZ movie. ;)