PS5 controller: PlayStation reveals new 'DualSense' for upcoming console as it promises 'radical departure'
New controller focuses on 'sense of touch', says Sony
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Your support makes all the difference.Sony has revealed the PlayStation for the upcoming PS5 – and claims it is a "radical departure" from what has gone before.
Named "DualSense", the controller comes with a variety of new features including haptic feedback, new triggers that can make themselves harder to push, a built-in microphone and a whole new redesign.
The chief change in that redesign appears to be that the controller is larger and bulkier than the DualShock 4 that came with the PlayStation 4, borrowing a design more akin to the chunkier Xbox One controller.
PlayStation boss Jim Ryan said the controller marks a "radical departure" from its previous generations, and promised that more about the console – including its design – would be unveiled in the coming months.
Both Xbox and PlayStation have taken the unusual step of showing off a variety of details about their new consoles, months ahead of their "Holiday 2020" release schedules. Microsoft has already unveiled the controller for the upcoming Xbox Series X, though it looks almost identical to the current generation.
Sony said that the development of the new controller had focused in large part on the "sense of touch within gameplay". That has not been a big focus for many games, the company said, likening it to audio – for which the PS5 has a range of increased hardware capabilities.
To improve that sense of touch, it added haptic feedback that adds precise, powerful vibrations while you play, "such as the slow grittiness of driving a car through mud". The Nintendo Switch's controller already includes such a feature, allowing players to hold the controller and have it feel like they are moving virtual objects.
The DualSense also includes "adaptive triggers" on the L2 and R2 buttons "so you can truly feel the tension of your actions, like when drawing a bow to shoot an arrow", Playstation said.
All of those features led the design to change slightly – with alterations to the angle of the hand triggers and updates to the grip – but without adding too much bulk, PlayStation said. It also tried to ensure that the new features did not hit the battery life too much.
The new controller also includes a microphone array, allowing people to chat without having to plug in a headset.
The controller also gets a new look, breaking with the tradition of having one single colour. Instead, it has a two-toned design and moves the light bar to the sides of the touch pad, allowing it to be larger and brighter.
The new controller also swaps the "share" button the DualShock 4 for a "create" button that is marked with a small icon. Sony said that it will introduce new ways to share content and will "have more details on this feature as we get closer to launch".
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