It’s been rumored that Sony will finally ditch the fifteen year old Dual Shock design with the upcoming PS4, and thanks to a supposedly leaked picture, we may finally have our first look at the PS4’s unique new controller.
The picture seems to back up a lot of the rumors we’ve heard about the PS4 controller in recent months: the start and select buttons have been replaced by a small, touch-sensitive screen or panel in the middle of the controller. While earlier rumors suggested that the PS4 pad might be a Wii U like tablet, it appears that the screen (if it is a screen,) is pretty tiny and I’m assuming it’ll only be used for menu’s and player stats rather than gameplay (a-la the VMU on the Dreamcast.) The controller also features a large, glowing bar along its top edge, which resembles the glowing orb on top of PS3 Move controllers, which seems to suggest that the PS4 controller will have motion-sensing capabilities similar to the Move.
The controller also looks like it features a built in speaker, similar to the Wii-mote’s. The analog sticks have also been changed to have concave tops, similar to the Xbox 360’s sticks.
Since the picture is only of the front of the controller, we can’t confirm yet if the rumors about the controller featuring a Vita-esque back-touch panel were true. Considering all the other associated rumors about the PS4 controller seem to be accurate (at least as far as this pic is concerned,) I think it’s safe to bet at this point that the PS4 controller does indeed have that feature as well.
IGN says that multiple industry sources have confirmed that the pic is indeed legit, and that the pictured controller is the same as the prototypes that developers have been working with. According to IGN’s source, the pic is of an early version of the controller, and the final look of the PS4 controller may change.
Nick Hernandez
Gross