Some controllers offer features like motion and position tracking, giving you access to very complex information. A simple shake of the controller would result in the creation of a set of vectors that track the speed, direction, and acceleration of the movement in all three axes as well as (for more advanced, camera-enabled systems) the starting and ending position in 3D space.
Designing motion controls can be a very complex process that requires close cooperation with a highly-skilled programmer. Compound motion controls (such as doing a figure of 8) are very hard to implement in a way that works reliably for most players and devices. Unless you're working on a motion controlled or virtual reality game and have a team ...
