Described herein are hand-held controller, system, and method for providing real-time programmable sensations of texture, hardness-softness, and temperature (thermal) to the hand-held controller. The hand-held controller comprises a first region configured to be touched by a user and to provide a real-time programmable hardness-softness sensation to the user in response to a first trigger signal generated by an interactive program; a second region to be touched by the user and to provide real-time programmable hardness-softness sensations to the user in response to a second trigger signal generated by the interactive program; and a third region to be touched by the user and to provide real-time programmable thermal sensations to the user in response to a third trigger signal generated by the interactive program.