A video game system is described which includes a wireless game controller which stores information about the user of the controller. The controller includes a memory for storing the information. The information is communicated through wireless transmissions to a processor which can operate a video game. The personalized information can include, for example, the user's name, skill level, preferred characters, handicaps, limitations, and/or historical game scores. The game controllers can include a wireless receiver for receiving communications from the processor to update information stored in the controller. Several different communication operations and protocols are described, including storing a user identification code in the controller with corresponding detailed information stored in the processor, or storing detailed information in the hand held controller and down loading the information to the processor.