Sony has finally revealed its new controller DualSense for the upcoming next-gen PS5 console and it is bringing some major changes along with some really good hardware. For starters, it is ditching the DualShock name and is now called DualSense. Sony’s reveal comes after the final design of the controller is complete and the units are being shipped out to developers so that they can use the controller for the development of next-gen titles.
The controller was revealed on the official PlayStation Blog by Hideaki Nishino who is the Senior Vice President, Platform Planning and Management at Sony. Along with the details, Sony has also released the first-ever images of the upcoming DualSense controller for the PS5. It appears that the design of the PS5 controller DualSense is heavily based on the feedback Sony received after the release of the DualShock 4 controller.
Although better than its previous generation, Dualshock 4 was not as good as its direct competitor Xbox One’s controller. Based on the feedback gathered in the past years, Sony has decided to keep some of the fan-loved features in the DualSense but also implement a lot of new features into the controller some of them which were much needed to match it with the competition.
Some of the major additions to the new DualSense controller include Haptic Feedback, Adaptive L2 and R2 triggers along with a new ‘Capture’ button instead of the Dualshock 4’s ‘Share’ button. It will also ship with a built-in microphone now allowing players to chat without the need of an external microphone attached to the console or the controller. The final design comes after different concepts and mockups of the past few years.
As you can see in the pictures above, Sony has also changed the default color of the controller from black to white. This makes us believe that PS5 might also return back to the first PlayStation’s default white color scheme. After PS1, all consoles had black as their default color. DualSence does come with two-tone colors with the upper and backside of the controller is white while the lower part of the controller is black only on the front side. The light bar is also gone at the back, replaced by two light strips facing the player on either of the controller. The touchpad is however still present.
The blog post also includes an exclusive message by Jim Ryan, President and CEO, Sony Interactive Entertainment:
DualSense marks a radical departure from our previous controller offerings and captures just how strongly we feel about making a generational leap with PS5. The new controller, along with the many innovative features in PS5, will be transformative for games – continuing our mission at PlayStation to push the boundaries of play, now and in the future. To the PlayStation community, I truly want to thank you for sharing this exciting journey with us as we head toward PS5’s launch in Holiday 2020. We look forward to sharing more information about PS5, including the console design, in the coming months.
The new ‘Create’ button is replacing the ‘Share’ button however it will allow players more freedom to create and share their gameplay content with the world. More details on this feature will be shared in the upcoming days as the launch gets closer. Both L2 and R2 triggers are now adaptive triggers similar to that of the Xbox One controller giving players greater control over how they perform different acts in the game. The additional feedback by the triggers will massively improve gameplay in different games.
The official blog post further continues:
This provided us with an exciting challenge to design a new controller that builds off of the current generation, while taking into account the new features we were adding. For example, with adaptive triggers, we had to consider how the components would fit into the hardware, without giving it a bulky feeling. Our design team worked closely with our hardware engineers to place the triggers and actuators. The designers were then able to draw the lines of how the exterior of the controller would look and feel, with a challenge of making the controller feel smaller than it really looks. In the end, we changed the angle of the hand triggers and also made some subtle updates to the grip. We also took thoughtful consideration into ways to maintain a strong battery life for DualSense’s rechargeable battery, and to lessen the weight of the controller as much as possible as new features were added.
As the PS5 launch inches closer, Sony is revealing more and more information about the next-gen console.
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