Slashdot Mirror
The Fixes Sony's DualShock 4 Controller Still Needs
An anonymous reader writes Sony's PS4 has been on sale for more than a year now, and while its revamped DualShock 4 controller has been critically lauded, it's not without its faults. A new article flags up the issues — both hardware and software — that Sony could look to improve. Almost all of the points — a bigger battery, more options for the lightbar, repositions Option button — could be fixed with a bit of elbow grease. After all, as the author points out, Sony has already quietly changed the model it ships with each console once already.
This has to be the worse headline I have ever seen. And, I have seen many of them over the days here, having been a devout reader for about 20 years!
And perhaps remove the obnoxious touchpad that no games use and is extremely awkward to use when they actually do?
I mean come on, precision is important in most games and fumbling with that stupid piece of shit never fails to annoy me.
The Options button is a key one. The thing is tiny and aggravating to push. For any game that you end up using it a lot (ie, Dragon Age Inquisition) it gets annoying really fast.
Other than that though I have no major complaints. The touchpad I don't see as useful but it also doesn't really get in the way either. Bigger battery - yeah it would be nice but its not hard to keep it charged up (I just keep a second cell phone charger near my nightstand and connect the controller when I'm finished playing).
If they just got that options button taken care of that would work great.
Also - a cheaper wired version would be nice (even if third party). My 6 year old likes to occasionally play Skylander Co-op, but she generally doesn't need a great controller (and keeping two charged up is more aggravating). The availability of a ~$15 second controller is why we're still playing that on the PS3 instead of the PS4.
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
Cosmonaut? ;)
The controller needs to be more inclusive towards women. Vibrating controllers and smooth grips are a clear allusion to female sexuality and each PS4 controller thus represents a concrete manifestation of rape culture in which women and womens' sexualities are groped and objectified by a violent, uncaring male patriarchaly power ethos. Women feel adversion and exclusion towards phallic and gynopobic objects being misused and are thus excluded from full participation in the enjoyment of virtual and online expieriences by the PS4 controller.
For the record, I'm not saying that the PS4 controller is raping women, but it is contributing towards and environment in which violence and rape are seen as a acceptable method of control over girls and women in the living room, the household, and in wider society.
I expected some sort of stupid Bennett Hasselhoff rant. You know that joke? "The food tastes terrible! And the portions are too small!" Yeah, that's slashdot and sony.
Copyright (c) 1990 - 2014 Dice. All rights reserved. Use of this comment is subject to certain Terms and Conditions.
anyone else have this problem? I have two controllers and both will occasionally get super laggy for a few seconds at a time. really annoying when playing an action game. This happens on both the PS4 and PSTV.
super weird.
This is really important. I am glad you addressed this obvious issue.
Steal the team that designed the Xbox One controller. All qualms about the XBone aside it comes packed with, hands-down, the most comfortable controller on the market.
You can now turn off the light on the controller!
I bought a 2nd wireless controller for £45 and it didn't come with a cable to charge it. Bare in mind that these are just standard USB cables that you can buy from stores for just a couple of quid - wholesale they must be pennies. When I spend £45 on a wireless device that has no other means to recharge; I expect a damn cable to be included. Stingey gits
My friend keeps complaining that his PS4 is a stupid piece of shit and that Sony are incompetent fucks because it can't even auto-pause games when one of the controllers battery dies, unlike his Xbox 360.
Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
...the Dualshock 4 is hands-down the best game controller I've ever used. The thing is just ridiculously comfortable.
When people complain about how imprecise analog sticks are, one of the biggest problems is overcoming the initial tension that the return spring has on the analog nub. The thing hasn't changed in nearly 20 years. We've had hall effect sensors(Used on the Dreamcast; funny enough) and all sorts of other new ways to detect analog input. It's just two potentiometers.
We may never get to the place where analog aiming is as precise as a mouse, but we can certainly do better than what we've got now.
Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
The PS4 can't pause Destiny just because your controller died. It's considerations like this that led Sony to leave this feature up do game developers, as opposed to enforcing such rules system-wide.
Their pro controller has an 80 hour battery life. So there's really no advantage to fixing the controller's battery life.
I've been really happy with the DS4, even though I've only had my PS4 for a couple months. I think the touchpad is great! For those that haven't used it, the touchpad itself is a button. You just slide your finger across it, which in many instances moves a cursor on the screen, and then you press it to click. It's not a perfect substitute for a mouse, but it is a clever way to put some precision cursor control in your hands.
When entering text (like your PSN login info) the touchpad can be used to move a cursor, highlight your selection, and click. I have found it to be much more efficient than moving the cursor one letter at a time with the d-pad/analog stick. In GTA 5 when you go into your character's phone's web browser, the touchpad controls the mouse cursor within the browser.
The linked article has complaints about the placement of the share/options buttons, but I must say I haven't had any issues with it. I think my hands are pretty average in size, and I haven't felt like either of those buttons is such a reach. In some of my more hectic gaming moments on the PS4, I've accidentally pressed the options button instead of triangle. If I can mistakenly press that button when I think I'm reaching for one of the standard face buttons, I think it's not that far of a reach. I don't think I'd complain if they moved those buttons below the touchpad in some future redesign, but I also can't complain about the current setup. One more important note on these buttons: in-game functions that used to be mapped to select are commonly mapped to the touchpad's click button, so for those in-game features, it is not necessary to reach for either the share or options button. You just click the pad.
Perhaps I haven't had mine for long enough, but the triggers/shoulder buttons have been working just fine for me. No squeaks or other issues. I hope it stays that way.
As for the short battery life: yes, it's a bit of a hassle. However, the DS4 can be charged from just about any micro-USB charger, so there's no reason you have to be tethered to your console.
That light, though . . . I really hope they give us the option to turn it off. The coolest use I've seen for it so far is: when the cops are chasing you in GTA 5, it flashes red and blue. That's the best thing I've seen any developer do with the light, and even that is something I'd forgo, if the controller just lasted longer. Under non-police-chase circumstances, the light simply matches the (mission markers') color for the character you're using: blue for Michael, orange for Trevor, green for Franklin. I'd much rather have more battery life.
All around, I think the DS4 is a great improvement over the DS3, especially considering how little the DualShock controller series had changed between the PS1 and the PS3.
The biggest issues are: short battery life, and that useless light. And those two problems could cancel each other out with a simple software update.
So my friend has one... He wears down the exact same spot on all his controllers... left thumbstick at 7'oclock. He's just pressing too hard.
However, I am very gentle and precise with mine, and they have suited me well. *HOWEVER* the right thumbstick, when pressed in, is starting to flake out. If I press it to run, a lot of force is needed, or else I will stop running. So that controller is basically useless now.
And of course, I have to say that as for right now, the touchpad is absolutely useless.
So, what should be changed about the DualShock? My answer is in this image.
Circumcision is child abuse.
I dislike the fact the the DualShock 4 uses an internal battery that will eventually need to be replaced. I'd much prefer to use my rechargeable AA batteries since I have a bunch lying around. I also prefer it be heavier as I'm used to using the Xbox 360 controller with a Chatpad attached.
On the weekends I will play in binges of 8 to 10 hours or longer, so battery life can be an issue for me. As a result I tend to just leave a USB cable plugged into the controller at all times. I have also had problems with the controller when connected via USB. You need to be connected to a USB 3 port due to the power draw, the ports on my surge protector won't work, and I've noticed that sometimes the controller won't respond to the Playstation button to turn back on until I unplug the cable.
This is one of the reasons why third party support for the Gamecube was so poor, despite it having a similar installed base to the original Xbox and fairly easy hardware to develop for
Developing once you get the devkit is a very different task from qualifying to buy a devkit in the first place, and Nintendo's policies in the GameCube era made the latter difficult for some smaller studios.
its little controller had fewer buttons than the Dualshock 2 or the various iterations of the Xbox controller, so games would have had to be redesigned to fit on it.
The GameCube controller was missing Select/Back, L1/LB, L3, and R3. How often were those essential to the point where a redesign would be nontrivial?
And the Wii-U gamepad does at least have the right number of buttons and sticks (unprecedented for a modern Nintendo controller)
I don't see how it's unprecedented. The Classic Controller for Wii was laid out essentially the same as PlayStation Dual Analog/Sixaxis, just without L3 and R3 which are the hardest to hit anyway.
If you think the DualShock 4 is bad, you need to take a look at the Rez Trance Vibrator for the PS2!
I love that they added a headphone jack to the new controller (making it easier to chat)... and amazingly enough it works (kinda) with iPhone headsets. (3 channel mini plug)... though the audio only comes out one side in an imperfect stereo. Would be nice if they had a more intelligent jack here that could take regular headphones as well as the semi-standard (with lots and lots of options available) iPhone style stereo / mic plugs.
- Holy crap, I've got MOD points! Who thought that was a good idea.
I've been playing on different controllers since the pong dial-a-game brick. The PS4 controller is definitely one of the better controllers I've ever seen and actually tries to bring some innovation to the next round of consoles. It's still a dualshock controller, but it's not completely the same old. I also have not had any problems with my controller, though I admit, the options button in relation to the touchpad could be positioned different / better, I still find it an excellent controller.