Sony should consider an alternate controller with asymmetrical analog sticks

[mmntech]

There's a good reason Sony never truly rocks the controller-design boat: They suck at it.

Lol. I remember the boomerang from the PS3's early days. It looked cool back then, but I bet it would have been awful in practice. They really dropped the ball with the PS3 conteollers. Especially with the SIXAXIS. Turns out people do like rumble.

You do have to give them credit though. The DualShock has been the defacto standard for controller design for almost two decades now. Even if it's just an evolution of the SNES gamepad.

I can see the advantages of the offset design but it's never been a big issue for me. The DualShock is a much better controller for games that use the d-pad. Which is why I use it a lot for emulation. Though IMO, the 360 controller is still the finest ever made.

 

[sze5003]

I really wish the dual shock 4 battery lasted longer. That is the only downside about that controller.

 

[TeknoBug]

I really wish the dual shock 4 battery lasted longer. That is the only downside about that controller.

Buying a higher mA (1800 or so) aftermarket PS3 battery to replace it with is the best option, or get one of those cell phone battery packs like this

 

[sze5003]

How hard is it to replace the internal battery? Don't want a dangling cell battery.

 

[Anteaus]

How hard is it to replace the internal battery? Don't want a dangling cell battery.

They probably figured you would have preferred a replaceable hard drive instead of a replaceable battery.

Seriously though, I never understood the desire for a sealed battery. The only PS3 controllers I've had to replace was due to batteries that wouldn't accept a charge. I could understand the smallish nature of the PS3 controller for resorting to a permanent battery, but they can hardly use that excuse for the PS4 controller.

 

[sze5003]

They probably figured you would have preferred a replaceable hard drive instead of a replaceable battery.

Seriously though, I never understood the desire for a sealed battery. The only PS3 controllers I've had to replace was due to batteries that wouldn't accept a charge. I could understand the smallish nature of the PS3 controller for resorting to a permanent battery, but they can hardly use that excuse for the PS4 controller.

Well the dual shock 4 battery is easy to replace I found out on ifixit. You just need to remove 4 screws, slowly take apart the controller casing and then remove the clip that holds the battery and replace it with a 1800mah 3.6 lithium ion battery. You can get them from Amazon for $9.

That will double the life to 14hrs. But I just read somewhere that Sony has a blueprint for a dual shock 4 redesign.

 

[TeknoBug]

How hard is it to replace the internal battery? Don't want a dangling cell battery.

First try is tricky, remove all 4 screws (tiny philips but tiny flathead is a bit safer so you don't strip the screws), and pull the palm parts apart firmly but not too much force, the end around the triggers will be very tight but once you get the palm pieces apart you pull forward away from the triggers (L2/R2 might fall out, so you can snap them back in later and watch for the springs). After that, getting it apart again later is a snap.

Get the 3.7v 1800mA, do not get those 4.3v ones as they can overheat the controller.

 

[zerocool84]

Other than battery life, the rubberized coating on the sticks seems to easily wear off. My left stick rubber coating is practically all gone.

 

[TeknoBug]

Other than battery life, the rubberized coating on the sticks seems to easily wear off. My left stick rubber coating is practically all gone.

That's why I bought Grip Itz and those stick caps from EBgames. It was an apparent problem with the XB360 controller, I went through 3 sets of sticks (thanks to eBay) with my 360.

 

[Ichinisan]

There's a good reason Sony never truly rocks the controller-design boat: They suck at it.

Lol. I remember the boomerang from the PS3's early days. It looked cool back then, but I bet it would have been awful in practice. ...

Wha-? Huh? How the-?

I'm speechless.

You really thought it looked "cool?"

 

[tential]

Wha-? Huh? How the-?

I'm speechless.

You really thought it looked "cool?"

Yes... seriously you didn't? You throw your controller at your TV when you're mad and it just comes back to your hand like a boomerang. That's pretty cool dude.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Other than battery life, the rubberized coating on the sticks seems to easily wear off. My left stick rubber coating is practically all gone.

New ones are supposed to be better. I never had it rub off like some have had though.

The design of the PlayStation controller is fine. That wall of text about how Sony is stupid and all that garbage is a load of horse shit. They tried many designs for the ps4 controller and always came back to something that looked like a PlayStation controller because it was iconic. When you see the controller you immediately know it is a PlayStation. It works fine and you can find numerous posts and reviews praising it for comfort and usability. Besides, i can pick up any controller and after a few minutes in the game forget which one I am using. I would hope most could say the same, blaming the controller is a cop-out. Its like saying you lost in a game because "the guy you were using sucks".

 

[smackababy]

Wha-? Huh? How the-?

I'm speechless.

You really thought it looked "cool?"

Yes. Once I was finished playing I could go and kill a wallaby with it.

Its like saying you lost in a game because "the guy you were using sucks".

No! It is because one guy is using Oddjob and he is OP!

 

[mmntech]

Wha-? Huh? How the-?

I'm speechless.

You really thought it looked "cool?"

I did. Big whoop. Wanna fight about it?

 

[CZroe]

I did. Big whoop. Wanna fight about it?

He's just expressing surprise that even a few of us here liked it considering that the reaction from the gaming press and community was almost universally negative back then. I still remember how Penny-Arcade made fun of it, though they weren't as hard on it as they were on the "Duke" XBOX controller.

 

[CZroe]

New ones are supposed to be better. I never had it rub off like some have had though.

The design of the PlayStation controller is fine. That wall of text about how Sony is stupid and all that garbage is a load of horse shit. They tried many designs for the ps4 controller and always came back to something that looked like a PlayStation controller because it was iconic. When you see the controller you immediately know it is a PlayStation. It works fine and you can find numerous posts and reviews praising it for comfort and usability. Besides, i can pick up any controller and after a few minutes in the game forget which one I am using. I would hope most could say the same, blaming the controller is a cop-out. Its like saying you lost in a game because "the guy you were using sucks".

"Iconic" is part of the problem. It was clear when Sony released the PSP that they were now held hostage by their fans expectations and that the D-pad would always take priority in their controller designs. Remember the flawed D-pad? The LCD frame covered part of the D-pad area on the PCB making it insensitive to one direction (right). They famously called this design flaw "art." I will reiterate: They have always sucked at controller design.

Saying that, the PS4 controller *IS* a big step forward. they are no longer scared of doing things like fully-implementing procedural analog triggers ("but it need to look/feel like 1995 L2 & R2!"). They are finally deviating from basic design elements held over from a controller designed for a 16-bit console from 1990. I still think Sony should offer one controller for those who prefer their classic design and one that is more in line with modern controllers from the competition. Why not? Nintendo has been making a standard and Classic/Pro controller for the last two generations. Don't want to play Super Smash Brothers with a Wii Remote & Nunchuk? Connect a Gamecube controller or buy a Classic Controller or Classic Controller Pro. Even the Wii U has a "Pro Controller" for those who don't want to use the tablet or Wii Remote. On Wii U, the Pro controller has a lot more support than PS Move ever did (near universal) because it was available from the start, but Sony shouldn't even have that problem with the PS4.

 

[Fulle]

There's nothing ergonomically superior about asymmetrical analog sticks. The DS4's analogs are actually closer to the thumbs natural position than the Xbox One controller, and after a user adjusts to it's use, it should be more comfortable to use.

That said, the battery life kinda sucks, and the angle to which you connect the microUSB connector isn't very ideal. Figure a lot of people will destroy the charge port over a couple years of regular use.

 

[Lil Frier]

He's just expressing surprise that even a few of us here liked it considering that the reaction from the gaming press and community was almost universally negative back then. I still remember how Penny-Arcade made fun of it, though they weren't as hard on it as they were on the "Duke" XBOX controller.

I find that funny, because as an 11-year-old, I loved the original Xbox controller, and I never moved from it until I got the AirFlo ones.

 

[reapergato]

omg the "duke" xbox controller LOLOL

 

[futurefields]

omg the "duke" xbox controller LOLOL

... what?

 

[Ichinisan]

... what?

 

[Rakehellion]

I thought this was an Anarchist420 thread at first.

Not enough pages of text.

 

[Rakehellion]

Buying a higher mA (1800 or so) aftermarket PS3 battery to replace it with is the best option, or get one of those cell phone battery packs like this

Ugh, those LEDs. I'm blind!

 

[futurefields]

There's nothing ergonomically superior about asymmetrical analog sticks.

The Xbox design is preferred 2-to-1 over the Sony design.

 

[Lil Frier]

The Xbox design is preferred 2-to-1 over the Sony design.

Is this another opinion stated as fact, or do you have a legitimate piece of research to back that up (meaning, not a sample of 20 people on a forum)?