Controller or Remotes? Lets do this.

[Xionraserei1]

It pisses me off, I heard young kids today at a retro game store call xbox controllers 'Remotes'. I wanted to correct them but it wasn't worth it. Why has the Wii destroyed people's vocabulary? What other controller is there that is referred to as a 'Remote' other than.... The Wii Remote? That is why I am leaving it up to you all. Controller or Remotes? What do you call your system input device. Thanks

[YoshiEgg25]

TVs and Wiis have remotes.

All consoles other than the Wii have controllers.

Remote: Hold with one hand.
Controller: Hold with two hands.

If I ever heard someone call a GameCube, etc. controller a "remote", I would yell at them until they ran away crying.

[CRTGAMER]

And I was confused when Controllers took over Gamepads and Joysticks.

Now where was that Pong Spinner and my cane?

[flamepanther]

A remote is a controller, considering it's short for "remote control"

[YoshiEgg25]

A remote is a controller, considering it's short for "remote control"

A remote may be a controller, but that doesn't necessarily mean a controller is a remote.

It's like saying that all gumballs are candy, but that doesn't mean all candy are gumballs.

[porygon]

I'd only actually count Wiimotes and the Playstation Move (among a few other more obscure controllers) as "remotes", but even then they're still controllers in my eyes.

[Breetai]

It's a gamepad. You kids need to get your vocabulary sorted out. A controller is something when a wife is always telling her husband what to do.

[Rurouni_Fencer]

What about Kinect?? I just blew your minds!

"You mean you actually play Call of Duty with a gamepad? n00b..."

[Betamax001]

Anything long and vertical is a remote, and anything horizontal is a controller/gamepad. I tend to think of gamepads as something more flat like a NES or Genesis controller. But to me controller/game pad is a bit like saying soda or pop, same thing but a different word. A synonym if you will. But a remote is not a synonym for a controller in this instance, because remotes are mainly used for non gaming purposes.

[Hobie-wan]

FWIW I remember clueless parents calling pads, sticks, and controllers remotes back in the 8 and 16 bit days.

remote control
 
–noun
1.
control of the operation or performance of an apparatus from a distance, as the control of a guided missile by radio signals.
2.
Also called remote. a device used to control the operation of an apparatus or machine, as a television set, from a distance.

remote control

— n
1. control of a system or activity by a person at a different place, usually by means of radio or ultrasonic signals or by electrical signals transmitted by wire
2. Also:: remote a hand-held device that enables remote control of a system or appliance

Seems that dictionaries generally agree it involves a wireless radio based control. But then that only excludes wired controllers unless we include them because they are more related to their wired antecedents than to a 'clicker'.