One Hacker's Opinion: PlayStation Event Special

Controllers and Input

Okay so remember all of those leaked images we saw of the supposed PS4 controller a couple weeks ago? Well all of those happened to be pretty much exactly correct. The design we saw on Wednesday is more or less a modified version of the Dualshock 3 with a newly added touchpad on the top and some more appropriately designed triggers for R2 and L2. That's not the only way developers want you to interact with the console though, because Sony has also said that each hardware configuration will also come bundled with a camera that is not too much unlike an improved version  of the Xbox 360 Kinect. They're also still incredibly keen to push the PlayStation Move on us as well, if the Media Molecule tech demo wasn't evidence enough of that. Suffice to say, we're going to have lots of input options when it comes to the "next generation of Play."

In terms of what I think about all this, I would say the overall design of your main remote is almost exactly what PlayStation fans want. The edges are just a little bit more rounded to support bigger hands, and the triggers are going to be incredible when it comes to playing all of your favorite shooter titles. As far as the touchpad obsession goes, it can only be as big as the developers want it to be, but if the backing is there I think we could finally see a reasonable and new source of input that even hardcore gamers could adapt to. I think the same can be said about the cameras, although many folks on the internet claimed they aren't too okay with the idea of a camera staring back at them all the time. To that I say, get used to it because you can bet the 720 will be sporting something similar when it is announced later this year. The only real letdown here is the PlayStation Move. In a lot of ways I feel like nobody is buying it now, so they probably won't in the next generation. The Sony market just isn't compatible with a Wii-like game plan. All in all though, I can't say I was disappointed.

Other than new ways to play your games, we also saw a huge emphasis on social networking. Is this a good or bad thing?

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