14 DAY TRIAL // Toshimasa Aoki, the leader of the product planning division at Sony, says that at one stage, the design of the new DualShock 4 controller for the PlayStation 4 was similar to the one used for the Xbox 360 from Microsoft.
Polygon quotes the developer as saying that, “For the analog sticks, we did test having the analog sticks on top, since the Xbox has the left side on top. Especially from the shooter teams — we got feedback that that’s what they wanted. They knew that consumers liked the 360 for shooters.”
As the process of finding out the best possible layout for the controller progressed, the Sony team had to decide whether it wanted to adopt the new version or whether it needed to stick with the classic look associated with the PlayStation brand.
Toshimasa Aoki adds, “The prototype team, myself, and also the management team really felt that having this look is the PlayStation look, and we had to keep that.”
The DualShock 4 is designed to be more ergonomic and easier to use than its predecessor while offering new functionality, especially via the Share button.
It is designed to make it easier for gamers to capture content from the games they are playing and then quickly show it to friends via the PlayStation Network.
Sony has said that the PlayStation 4 is a console which places player connection at the center of the experience, with more ways to communicate with friends and with multiplayer partners.
Launch for the new device is set for November 15 in North America and two weeks later in Europe, for the price of 399 dollars or Euro.
After the delay of Watch Dogs and DriveClub, the most interesting launch titles for the console are Killzone: Shadow Fall and Knack.