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After Sony basically stoked the rumour fire with a teaser and event on February 20th, the speculation of what, when, and how has been flowing faster than the river Nile. But one thing remains as clear as mud, what the controller will actually look like. Do any of these photoshops take your fancy?
Produced by Photoshoppers much more skilled than I, from NeoGAF, these mock-ups picture what the PS4′s controller could look like. Who knows if it really will look like any of these, but apparently it’ll have some sort of touch-sensitive surface somewhere, similar to the PS Vita. Hell, for all we know the PS4′s controller could actually be a Vita. We’ll hopefully find out on the 20th. [NeoGAF via Kotaku]
Is that some sort of touch screen on the first pad?
I think you are supposed to put your penis on it, you know to control the games and such.
Amazing! I’ve always dreamt of using my penis in a constructive way!
Ah, when I replied, there were only images, no written article!
I dread to think in what way you are using it? Destroying fannies I’m guessing?
I assumed, when the leaks were outed, the “touch pad” was referring to a Wii U style controller/tablet hybrid. Maybe it was just me who jumped to that conclusion.
These look ok though, the first one is especially nice. Not sure how the touch pad would work though, the rear touch pad is very unconvincing on the Vita, so much so it has ruined a few games for me.
No, none of them take my fancy.
It’ll be on the back, I think.
God I hope so. Utilise the little and ring fingers, and then by 2030 children will have super duper dexterity to the point where gang signs will include a brief history of their foundation.
That or give the outer shoulders a larger, flatter surface so you can use your pointer finger.
Yeah, that’s what they did with the Vita.
Dear god no! That left analogue stick needs to move for a start.
Can you please explain to me why, when we have symmetrical hands and arms, we should need a non-symmetrical controller?
It makes no sense to me whatsoever.
Because most games use the left stick and the buttons so your hands would be in an almost symmetrical position. Plus consider the way you hold it too. This is the reason why xbox 360 controllers are so much more comfortable to use. This is just my opinion, nothing more.
Hello fan boy!
Hello judgemental one. As I have both consoles I know which pad I prefer. Some folk here obviously don’t understand the concept of an OPINION yet again.
its ok, I was only teasing…
no its just his left thumb is shorter than his right, everyone I know who owns a playstation has this problem.
If they move the analogue stick, I’ll find a way to use my PS3 controllers with the PS4. I adore the current controller, the XBox’s current position is daft. (Not commenting on the consoles as a whole! Just what I find comfortable)
We all have personal preferences and one pad can’t suit everyone. That’s why it’s good that things like the cronus device exist. Personally I start to get sore hands and cramp after an hour or two with the PS3 pad, yet can play all day with an xbox pad. It obviously just suits me better.
All I hope for the PS4 pad is that they actually bother to make some decent real changes, not just reuse the tired old design with minimal changes yet again.
Yeah, I feel the same way about the XBox as you do about the PS3, gave up on it because the controller was unnecessarily heavy, and tried to force its way into being ergonomic, which just made it uncomfortable for me.
I passionately want them to keep the same shape! But I think agreeing to disagree would be safe right now
In my opinion, I agree that they need to change the design but I think that it should stay symmetrical. They need to start thinking outside of the box (but not into the gimmicky area).
The first one wins by a mile, although the dpad + buttons would be a little bigger if i had my way. It reminds me of a SNES controller for some reason.
i think the far right will be the one they use. the others are too chunky, quite ugly, and the 2nd one in is practally the same as every other. think they will want to go for a new-ish shape without totally changing it !
I’m not sure if we need a D-Pad anymore. If you’re thinking touchpad it may be better to have that in place of the D-Pad. A touch pad in the center may be awkward to reach. Whereas a touchpad in the D-Pad location could do a lot to make the left analogue stick redundant as well…
the d pad is used in loads of games to add 4 additional buttons.
Have you tried pulling off fighting game combos with a DS3 analogue stick? If you haven’t got a fightpad or arcade stick, the d-pad is the best way to fight.
PS4 has taken the lead
well they are all pretty bad, but at least no.1 has inverted thumb pads on the sticks.. so this time i wont have to buy the mini grips to stop my thumbs sliding off the dome shaped ones..
This divides opinion a lot – personally, I buy PS3 shaped tops to put on my XBox, but it’s an opinion.
fair enough, i do have massive hands and i find the dip easier to keep my thumbs in where as i find when playing fifa (its one of my PS3 titles) i slip off all the time.. this might be cos i am rubbish at fifa and under stress sweat a lot also!! lol
It definitely does depend on the game
The last one’s the best!
Yeah, I thought the same actually. I think it loks the most comfortable of the four of them to have to hold for any period of time, too.
I think #2 is the closest to what we’ll actually get (seeing as it’s the most conservative change) but I hope they don’t mess with the d-pad this much.
There planning touchscreens on controllers. I wouldnt be suprised if there was a function to just straight use a PSVita as a controller. Probably like the WiiU but less WiiU(ish)
This is an almost certainty.
I wouldn’t mind the second one, the one that’s basically the same that we have now but with the touch bit
I prefer it looks like the 2nd picture but without that touch screen thing, and make it look like the PS3 one, actually just keep it the same don’t fix it if it an’t broken!
With that logic, why even make a new console at all?
well, the controller has been technically the same since 1994 on the PS1, 19 years later they decide to change it, it is not limiting gaming ability which the console is. the console needs a newer graphics card with a more cloud based OS. but the controller is in my opinion the perfect controller. not too heavy or too light…balanced, not too big or too small…balanced all the buttons and axis sticks are well placed and any one can hold it and from the first time it will seem natural and not weird. the console needs upgrading to allow improved graphics on games but this upgrade if it was up to me would arrive in 2014 or 15 as the PS3 is still capable of doing what it’s suppose to with no issues. but because of the Wii U, Xbox WhatEver and the steam box, sony has to reproduce its home entertainment gaming system. My logic is meant for the controller only
I think you need to start thinking a bit further into what gaming CAN be and not what gaming IS right now.
The gaming controller is your indirect connection to another world. The screen is the portal into that world. I want a much much more visceral connection with games than we have now. The few buttons we have now allow us very little connection with these amazing worlds game designers create.
As soon as technology like the Oculus Rift move into the consumer market people will realise how restrictive a controller really is. Currently ALL controllers only provide directional movement (relatively basic) and a small set of predetermined action buttons and some feedback through vibrations. That’s it. There must be an almost endless amount of improvements that can be made on this setup.
can you provide an example? the Wii controller was terrible and in my opinion it failed. the kinect is interesting but I can’t see it replacing the controller, e.g. for COD or fifa or crysis on any console.
100 million people would disagree with your wii controller opinion. It’s far from perfect I’ll admit but it was the first console to at least try another format. Sony and Microsoft might never have got the balls to try out there Kinect and Playstaton move technology without the Wii.
To be honest there is no perfect example right now and I’m not a tech engineer so my ideas aren’t going to be very specific. I think technology like the Kinect and Leap motion will be playing a big role in gaming in the future though. But it will be considerably better implemented than it is currently (no more waving your arms around like an idiot).
Your right that First Person Shooters and Football games are difficult to combine with this sort of technology and the obvious reason for that is because the actions your “character” is taking are extremely complicated and have been simplied down to simple movements of your fingers. This is in contrast to driving games for example, where the movement of your body is relatively simple (arms and feet). Also people have been training this movement in their fingers for many years now, something that is difficult to get past when introducing new forms of interaction.
I’d say none of the above, or maybe either 1 or 3 but with a small screen (none touch) with battery charge percentage, player ID, Time etc.
Although that would be obvious and useful and Sony will probably go for something gimmicky and useless
I’ll pass.
As long as they’ve redesigned the R2 and L2 buttons, so that your finger doesn’t slip off, I’ll be happy.
THIS!! Buckets of this!
I really like the PS pad, which may be partly because I’ve been using Dualshocks for a decade or so, but I find it more comfy than the 360 controller. If they put trigger-shaped triggers on it I’d be very happy indeed
I’ve superglued these on. They’re bob on. They make a huge difference.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gioteck-RT2PS3-23-M0–old-Real-Triggers/dp/B001AW156U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1359991675&sr=8-1
And these.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/ORB-Analogue-Thumb-Grips-PS3/dp/B003QHY0HI/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1359991675&sr=8-5
you know you can get stick on trigger extenders? that might help you.
i never have had this issue. i do find that the left stick can get sticky, which can lead to death. also, the rubber can wear off so its slippy
I have tried those giotek trigger things but they always crack and fall off. I know they’re cheap but not still ideal.
Went ahead and changed some stuff on the first one, because it was irritating me. Not overly sure I like what I’ve done though…
http://i.imgur.com/gWnkGAv.png
Putting the PS button in the middle of the touchscreen seems like a bit of a stupid idea. And, I don’t really like the look of the Start and Select (and Share if we’re using mine) buttons being like the 3DS buttons.
i much prefer sticks with dimples in like that. i would also go with less height on the sticks as they can be fiddly to do small increments on.
Never liked the PS controller for how small and light it feels in my hands, maybe I’d get used to that though if I played one for an extended period. The current xbox controller has always felt great, nicely weighted and is a nice size for my hands.
I always liked the very original and huge xbox controller though.
Why does the last one have the iOS “Share” button in the middle?
Apparently the PS4 will incorporate a lot more social aspects such as recording the 15 minute blocks of gameplay and sharing it.
I’d take the first one with the old d-pad and buttons (the X, circle, square, and triangle look to be closer together and I’d like more separation between the directions too), physical start and select buttons (near the top left and right corners of the touch pad perhaps), easily replaceable thumb sticks without disassembly (I like domed on the left and concave on the right), and add a bit more clearance on the inside edges of the R1 and L1 (I press them with the middle section of my fingers and wouldn’t want the tips to hit the top edge of the controller).