Sony’s new wireless controller for the PlayStation 4, dubbed “Dualshock 4,” will come with a few features that weren’t present in the Dualshock 3 controller. For starters, it will have a new “highly sensitive” six-axis sensor, as well as a touch pad located on the front of the controller.
Additionally, the Dualshock 4 will come with built-in speakers and stereo headset jack. You’ll be able to use it with regular headphones, as well as a Mono Headset that will come bundled with the PlayStation 4 console for voice chat.
The Start and Select buttons on the controller have been combined into a single “Options” button. Another button, “Share,” allows you to record and share gameplay footage from the PlayStation 4 console using Facebook. You can also use the Share button to stream live video using Ustream.
The Dualshock 4 will also interact with Sony’s new PlayStation 4 Eye peripheral. The controller includes a light bar on the top that changes colour to identify help players, and can also change pattern to “provide useful information”.
Meanwhile, The PlayStation 4 Eye, which includes two “high-sensitive” cameras with wide-angle lenses that can recognize depth of space, will be able to sense the colour of the light bar on Dualshock 4 controllers to judge the positions of players.
It appears as though the PlayStation 4 Eye will also be capable of performing certain functions similar to Microsoft’s Kinect, such as cutting the image of the player out of the background, or to judge players’ positions in front of or behind each other. Video framerate for the PlayStation 4 Eye is listed as:
- 1280×800 pixel @ 60fps
- 640×400 pixel @ 120fps
- 320×192 pixel @ 240fps
You’ll be able to charge the Dualshock 4 controller using the PlayStation 4 while the device is in sleep mode, or through a dedicated charging station. Sony say you’ll also be able to use smartphone chargers via USB for charging.
The Dualshock 4 will have the following buttons or inputs: PS button, SHARE button, OPTIONS button, Directional buttons (Up/Down/Left/Right), Action buttons (Triangle, Circle, Cross, Square), R1/L1/R2/L2 button, Left stick / L3 button, Right stick / R3 button, Pad Button Touch Pad 2 Point Touch Pad, Click Mechanism, Capacitive Type Motion Sensor Six-axis motion sensing system (three-axis gyroscope, three-axis accelerometer).
