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PlayStation 3 Controller On Android Devices
An anonymous reader writes "You can now use the PS3 Sixaxis Controller on Android phones and devices. This requires your phone to be rooted, however it is incompatible with most HTC devices and some newer Samsung devices due to the need of specific Bluetooth protocol. It can sync four controllers at once with buttons completely configurable."
Does it steal your identity too?
It would definitely be simpler than hauling around a Wii controller + a Wii Classic Controller Plus for every game I can't control with A B Start Select, but no HTC? There goes 90% of all the phones...
HTC devices are supported, you just need to be running an AOSP based ROM. In the stock sense-based ROMs, HTC uses a different (incompatible) bluetooth driver.
When it comes to old 2D games the Playstation 3 controller is pretty much the best on the market, thanks to its solid dpad. Also there really aren't many alternatives to begin with. The Xbox360 controller doesn't talk Bluetooth and the Wiimote lacks a lot of buttons. A Wiimote and a ClassicController together would work, but would be rather bulky. And as far as normal PC controller go: There aren't many Bluetooth controller either, most wireless ones talk their own proprietary protocol.
Why is that "retarded?" Why add an extra device to the equation when the whole point is portability? I think this idea is actually pretty "retarded" and backwards. The controller is as the the device.
Oh come on. What about the Nintendo Powerglove? Or the Sega Activator? There are plenty of amazingly bad controller designs out there.
Glad to see developers have solved the PS3 support problem, as my touch interface didn't give me enough analog options or virtual buttons. You still have to install all sorts of crappy 3rd party BT drivers and jump through various flaming hoops to get a BT keyboard to work on android.
moox. for a new generation.
I know some "normal" people that rooted simply to install adblock, and to delete bundled apps, and have no interest in not running stock.
All of the above was encrypted with a Quad ROT-13 method. Unauthorized decryption is in violation of the DMCA.
http://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/ja2au/now_you_can_use_ps3_controllers_on_your_phone/
Probably more useful on tablets anyways....
I've had the wiimote working with mine for a while. sixaxis may be even better...
If you're a guy who wants to develop for the Play Station Phone, maybe your aps will be easily portable to people who use an Android + PS3 controller.
Some Aps just need a real controller feel to them, even if you're missing out on a majority of the market share(people with Android/iPhones and no PS3 controller).
God spoke to me
Good thing you bought a Google Experience phone. I hear they're very open. :)
The revolution will be mocked
Be more useful for me if I could use my Android phone AS a Sixaxis controller. Or at least a lot cooler.
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is kinky.
Not as open as Apple's
Can anybody explain for me why the state of BT, even on devices that amount to general purpose computers, is so fucked compared to other common interconnects?
I understand that, when one or both devices communicating are likely to be embedded ones for which driver update is impractical or impossible, the specification of assorted "Protocols" is desireable(and extremely convenient, as in the case of USB's "Classes"). What I don't understand, though, is why the various BT protocols seem to be so device/driver dependent. Some dongles support protocol X, others don't, others do with a cracked copy of BlueSoliel Y or higher...
Why is it up to the bluetooth device, or to its driver, to support high-level protocols(even on PCs) rather than just handling the low-level link stuff and letting the OS or userspace handle the clever stuff? It seems vaguely like discovering that your NIC is handling SIP in-driver, and if you happen to buy the wrong one, VOIP just won't work. I can understand why a maker of embedded chipsets might produce an IC combining a NIC with some VOIP-centered DSP stuff and an application processor, for the convenience of people building VOIP handsets and such; but encountering such a thing in a PC would be a bit of a shock.
Why is BT so weird?
For some phones, the game gripper is a good option http://www.game-gripper.com/Default.asp
Does not require root, as it physically pushes the keyboard buttons.
Have you tried holding an N64 controller? Those things were ridiculous.
The PS controllers were the first controller that actually felt good in my hands, due to the crude attempt they made at shaping it to fit human hands. The large XBox controllers were the first to first my rather-large hands properly.
"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
... why people just accept that in order to do anything cool with an Android phone you have to jailbreak it first.
Among my friends there's about a 25/75 split between Android users and iPhone users (disclaimer: I've got an iPhone). Honestly, I don't really get the fanboy fuelled 'hate-dom' that seems to flare up whenever we get into a debate about the respective merits of our devices, especially because we're arguing about the superior brand of telephone. Really...?
I do find it strange, though, that despite Android phones having superior cameras, consumer-friendly features including the ability to replace your battery, better and faster processors, more ram and physical keyboards (in all ways, physically, superior to iPhones), whenever a debate comes... it's inevitable that one of the main arguments (usually the first one) that's bought out by the Android users is "It's open and it's free as in freedom", usually said with this smug grin, as though the iPhone is not. They're right, of course, but...
But then I ask something like, "Can I replace the 'telephone' app freely then?" and they nod eagerly and say, "Yep, you totally can, you just jailbreak it like this and-" ...
I can accept that Android has a great deal many superior features to the iPhone, but I eventually went with iPhone because it had the best user interface, painless upgrade process, everything about it 'just works' (unless it doesn't, such as 3GS wifi-access-point-mode), and the app-store is by far the best. Some people say, "If you're not willing to tinker with your devices you're not a real geek", at which point I tell them that it's just a telephone and I expect it, and its apps, to just work, all the time. It should not need to be tinkered with.
I just don't understand why when the inevitable fanboy war comes, that the very first feature that seems to be produced is "It's open if you jailbreak!". I mean, isn't that the very definition of jailbreaking? Making something closed open? (and yes, iPhones can do it to...)
My second question is...
Awesome! Is there an iPhone port of this?
Check out my sci-fi book "Lacuna" at http://goo.gl/MVxX8
So how's that working out for you on up-to-date versions of iOS? Or any other untethered jailbreak, for that matter?
I rooted and used a Virtuous ROM, I really liked the sense dialer and miss it still, but the bluetooth issue eventually annoyed me (I couldn't use my phone as a bluetooth keyboard and mouse).
Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
I don't really know/care.
Posted from my Nexus S
The Xbox 360 D-pad has endemic design issues with diagonals.
The Sega Master System also had atrocious diagonals, as did Game.com.
The 5200, while technically a stick design, featured a non-re-centering joystick. Which meant you needed to estimate where neutral was, and hope you were right.
The CDi's gamepad felt like / was a bad PC 3rd party knockoff of a Gravis PC Gamepad. It felt sloppy and loose.
The PS1 gamepad had far less of the "rocker" design to the d-pad, resulting in lots of precise presses needed for any action.
If we're talking terrible peripherals, the U-Force has to top the list for least-likely-to-ever-respond-to-input-correctly. The NES Max worked fine, if you completely ignored the disk in the middle of the D-pad (the whole point of the Max). And in the early days of Street Fighter, a lot of the arcade owners converted older machines into SF machines, including ones with fixed 4 directional inputs that couldn't do diagonals.
The ______ Agenda
... had it running more than a year ago already (http://tomasz.sterna.tv/2010/02/play-games-on-nokia-n900-with-ps3-sixaxis-controller/). I used to run C64 games on it using Vice - my own portable C64 game console for hotels, when used in combination with the N900 video cable. Only issue was mainly that you had to configure the keys correctly, and that some games would need some patience in that configuration.
Slashdot: stuff for news, nerds that matter, matter for news, stuff that nerd
If we're talking terrible peripherals, the U-Force has to top the list for least-likely-to-ever-respond-to-input-correctly.
The U-Force sure does make that list, but hardly at the top.
I'm pretty sure the Power Glove still holds #1 place.
The rolling rocker is way up there too, as is the Atari 5300 controllers.
Ironically, the U-force responds surprisingly well for a horrible terrible peripheral, in that it works a good 10% of the time compared to the rest of the list that can't even manage that.
that would require something other than a 20+ year old concept in a new package, though I will consent that having cheap cellular Internet had a major 1 up in the evolution of the newton/palm/and all the other mips and arm pocket pc's
And would you have the PS3 in your other pocket? Sorry, but that's a dumb idea (plus it would make for a poor controller I'm sure)
>"You can now use the PS3 Sixaxis Controller on Android phones and devices."!
Except not unless you are rooted. Throw away 90% of devices out there.
Or if it is an HTC. So throw out another 50% of devices out there.
Or a newer Samsung. So throw out another 15% of devices out there.
And there is no point if it is not a higher-end device capable of playing good games. So throw out about 70% of devices out there.
Not much left!
I'd actually found the Dreamcast controller quite comfortable as a child. Then again, I spent more time on a Wildcat controller with broader grips on the bottom, but it was the same basic design...
The PSP Go! supports PS3 controllers, due to having Bluetooth. Works pretty well, though you can't remap anything (ie, map the face buttons to the right stick so Peace Walker is even remotely playable). Stupidly, though, you can't have the thing plugged into power AND component out at the same time (unless there's a third party cable that does that). Anyway, I don't see the the Slim getting support because I think (don't quote me on it) the PSP and the controller are both Slave devices.
I think it's considered a big deal because PS3 controllers aren't bluetooth HID devices like the wiimotes, they have a custom protocol.
Or if it is an HTC. So throw out another 50% of devices out there.
I'm on a HTC Hero... rooted, and running aospCMod (AOSP 2.3.4 / CM7+ (Gingerbread)). I don't have a Sixaxis to test the actual hardware, but the compatibility checker indicates that my phone is compatible.
So maybe not completely "throw out another 50% of devices out there." Mod'ed HTC's may be good to go, and a mod'ded phone is guaranteed to be rooted.
'cos it's pretty cool, if you're travelling, to plug your phone into the hotel tv and run your genesis/SNES/MAME/whatever emulators, and have a neat little wireless controller, too.
Or at least it is on my N900 which has had thuis feature for over a year now.
And no "rooting" necessary on the N900, just power up and install.
But now the most open phones on the market all have to be rooted. Progress!
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
That's true if you are using a sense based rom, however if you are rooted, there's a good chance you are using an AOSP (android open source project) ROM, such as Cyanogenmod 7 that does have the bluetooth support needed.
Also wanted to note that controller support for android isn't exactly a new concept. The wiimote has been able to be used for quite a while. However support for a playstation controller is new to me :)
When it comes to old 2D games the Playstation 3 controller is pretty much the best on the market, thanks to its solid dpad
Are you kidding? The Sony style disconnected arrow buttons have been the bane of 2d gamers for 3 generations of Playstation. Anyone who seriously wants to play 2d games on the PS3 (shmups or vs. fighters mostly) will go get a USB Sega Saturn pad. This is the finest digital game pad ever produced bar none. Make sure you get an original, because the clones will break with light use.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
I think the Wii Classic Controller Plus may be the best controller ever made... It's only problem may be that it lacks rumble.
The 360 controller is pretty good, and I didn't mind the old x-box one. The sony duoshock is just ok... The Gamecube controller is great, although you look at it and go 'WTF?'
If it's running Sense, it's not supported. If it's running an AOSP-derived build (such as Cyanogenmod), it should be supported.
Similarly, "newer" Samsung devices isn't correct.
If it came with TouchWiz, it's not supported. If it came with AOSP (basically, the Nexus S and no other Samsung device), it's supported. If it's a Samsung device with a Cyanogenmod port, it's supported under Cyanogenmod.
This is because HTC and Samsung broke their Bluetooth stacks.
Exception: Non-Touchwiz Galaxy Tab 10.1s work well. Don't know about the new Touchwiz update, whether it introduced Bluetooth regressions that seem to accompany Touchwiz.
Also, PS3 controllers have been supported as wired controllers for devices with USB Host functionality for a while (sometimes requires a custom kernel, but compiling in hid-sony is a LOT easier than fixing an entire broken BT stack), the big news here is support for PS3 controllers via Bluetooth.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
Android devices "just work" if you pretend it is as locked down as an iPhone and don't go exploring possibilities that you wouldn't have had anyway. In so many cases something that has sensible defaults but lot's of power under the hood if you want it is decried as 'too complicated' even though without popping the hood you can't even tell the difference.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
The PS3's controller works then fine in Linux, using BT, like a regular controller work.
Does it? As mine doesn't. The two ways to make it work after the sync seems to be patching hidd or killing hidd/bluetoothd and using QTSixa, at least judging from what I have found so far on the Web and most of it seems rather outdated. There also seem to be issues with the controller not using authentification that one thus might need to disable in the bluetooth config.
Long story short: If somebody has an up to date HowTo on how to make the controller just work over Bluetooth without additional hackery in Linux, I'd like to know. As so far I didn't had any luck.
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