The Sony news and discussion thread

[FemalePheromones]

That controller will become so filthy so quickly.

Has anyone seen a side by side with the Dualshock 4? It would be interesting to be able to really see the differences.

[Suits]

I think it's cool.

I like the colour, the new shape and the features it's brought with it.

Also the additions that Sony are adding to the pad. They seem to be focused on gaming, with the haptic feedback on the face buttons and the L2 & R2 and the mic in the pad.

They mention in the blog that they had a lot of trouble fitting the trigger mechanisms and the haptic feedback into the shell which meant that there was a re-design of the form slightly - very interesting.

Can't wait to see how it all goes together.

[Stanshall]

There's a black one, as well. I hope the D-pad has a nice texture to it.

[ColinAlonso]

Was that confirmed? There will be colour variations eventually of course. There are plenty of mock ups going around. I've seen ones with coloured buttons in both the white/black and in full black that I liked. The splash of colour stops it looking so clinical.

[Suits]

I hope the D-pad has a nice texture to it.

It looks smooth and translucent to me, with the little grey arrows set behind/underneath the the buttons.

[Stanshall]

Yeah, D-pad looks like it's made of glass. Form over function but very few people use the D-pad to actually play games so I get it.

I thought the black version I saw was legit but could have been a mock-up.

[Flabyo]

It’ll change before launch a little, these things always do.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the launch console was white though, and probably quite different in shape to the XboxSX ‘chimney’ look.

[Sinclair Gregstrum]

From a basic visual design standpoint I actually really like it!

The two-tone with the accent of the new light bar looks great, and there's some nice subtle curves and angles going on in the shape of the pad.

Surprised they've scrapped the actual colour palette of the face buttons though, making them just shapes now. That's been a feature since the PS1 and is really part of the brand at this point.

From an actual playing videogames standpoint though I do have some worries.

The d-pad looks like glossy, smooth, translucent plastic, and if that's the case it will have zero grip.

The triggers also look very shallow and as though they won't have much travel to them, so might not be great for games that need more subtle analogue trigger control (e.g. racing games).

I'll always prefer the Xbox pads as offset analogue sticks are just far more comfortable to me, but I'm glad Sony is trying something a little different here. I think the standard Playstation controller design was frankly getting long in the tooth and way behind the Xbox and Switch Pro pads in terms of layout and build quality.

[James]

There was a big deal made about the haptic triggers on Xbox One's pad, but I'd be hard pushed to think of a game that made particularly good use of them. Perhaps it's the sort of improvement that I would only notice if it went away?

Built-in microphone is a nice addition, I think. It at least gives a nice distinction between the 'needs must' mic and getting a headset for voice communication in longer sessions. The little chat earphone/mic that came with PS4 struck me as a poor solution, given it blocks one ear, was very flimsy, and you still had to go and find it in a rush if someone hopped on unexpectedly.

In addition to the touchpad, mic and haptic buttons/triggers, I assumed the DualSense moniker was referring to the heart rate and sweat detection stuff that Sony patented this year (and originally trialled for the DS4).

[James]

Main things I want from the DualSense are discrete actuators for the d-pad and about three times the battery life of the DS4.

[ColinAlonso]

The d-pad looks like glossy, smooth, translucent plastic, and if that's the case it will have zero grip.

The Vita d-pad was similar and I quite liked that. Although I accept it had a different form and size.

James, would it be safe to assume that it's chunkier form allows for more battery?

[Sinclair Gregstrum]

There was a big deal made about the haptic triggers on Xbox One's pad, but I'd be hard pushed to think of a game that made particularly good use of them. Perhaps it's the sort of improvement that I would only notice if it went away?

Yeah the feature is actually utilised more than people think, but you get used to it very quickly and it becomes just part of the overall pad rumble experience rather than something you notice in isolation. Certainly for me personally anyway. It's really well done in the Forza games and a lot of shooters.

I'm surprised Sony is making a big deal out of it unless they feel they've got something much better than what Xbox has currently.

[James]

Remember when Sony revolutionised gaming with motion control? And then Microsoft did too? At least Kinect was actually a bit different, I suppose.
It never ceases to amuse me when companies pretend that because something's new to their products it must be new and revolutionary to all.
Cynical, moi?

[Stanshall]

XB pad triggers are absolutely fantastic for FH3/4, way ahead of the DS4 with GT Sport. You do get accustomed, though.

[James]

Yeah, I'm sure that's it. Still does feel a bit weird for Sony to shout about catching up on a 7 year-old idea.

[Flabyo]

Yeah, was going to mention that the Forza games use the haptic well. Little things like the brake ‘pedal’ feeling different when you’re on dirt as opposed to tarmac etc...

[Suits]

The triggers on the Xbox One controller aren’t haptic - as far as I know.

They just have their own, independent, rumble motors.

[James]

"Haptic feedback" was absolutely one of the terms used to describe the Xbox One controller's triggers. It sounds, from the PlayStation blog post, like Sony are also introducing adaptive tension, but otherwise, the variable rumble is exactly what Xbox One controllers have, unless I missed something.

[James]

Looking into it further, the Xbox One triggers can vary the level of rumble, so I guess that's what makes it haptic feedback, over and above regular rumble motors. Similar to the HD rumble in JoyCon, I suppose?

[chase210]

Interesting Sony recommitted to a 2020 launch in that article about the Dualsense .