With the announcement of PlayStation 4 came the unveiling of a new controller, and while leaked images of a prototype controller were not that far off, the DualShock4 is now a reality.
Bearing a striking resemblance to the DualShock3, the controller also seems to have pulled a few design elements from the more rounded and full Xbox 360 controller. Back are all the usual parts, the thumb stick, directional pad, shape and shoulder buttons are all here, although the Start and Select buttons have been combined into an “Options” button. But gamers will enter the next generation of consoles with a few additions as well: a touch pad, a share button, a headphone jack, and a light bar.
The touch pad wasn’t given a full overview, but the general assumption is it will engage gamers in yet another way. Whether it’s manipulating a map, drawing lines, solving puzzles, this touch pad will be used in a variety of ways in the next generation of games. The pad is also “clickable”, adding another dimension to the function.
The share button received most of the attention through the press conference, and seems to have an important role in the “Social” pillar that Sony believes strongly in. Whether it is grabbing some video from your last few minutes of gameplay and uploading it directly to your Facebook account, or instantly connecting to Ustream to share with the world your current gaming session, it promises to make showing off your gameplay simple. Sony values this feature as they noted the increased amount of content people are uploading to YouTube and other video sites of their gameplay.
Leaked image a few days ago
The headphone jack should speak for itself, but needless to say, it will make connecting with friends through voice chat simple on the PS4.
The light bar, while it didn’t receive a ton of coverage, coupled with a very Kinect-looking stereo camera with a 1280×800 pixel sensor, will help identify and login players, as well as detect the environment around the player for motion-enabled games.
The controller was the only piece of hardware that was shown during the event, and there will still be more information shared about it in the coming months. Stay tuned to the Quest Gaming Network for all the latest information.
[author] [author_image timthumb='on']http://mymiddleearth.com/wp-content/uploads/avatars/2330/209800074bd5c82316e83f77e0d73de4-bpfull.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]Brian covers The ElderScrolls and PlayStation news for The Quest Gaming Network. You can see all his work for QGN @SilentFury007 and follow him on Twitter at silentfury007.[/author_info] [/author]
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[...] Sony also unveiled the new DualShock4 controller. While it looks similar to the DualShock3, several key design features have been added, including a share button and touch pad. You can read more about Sony’s new controller here. [...]