So far, Microsoft and Sony have had very different approaches to how they talk about their upcoming consoles, with the latter being far more reserved. Today, though, Sony has shed light on the brand new DualSense controller, which will be the controller that ships with the PlayStation 5. This is the first time the company is doing away with the DualShock branding for the PlayStation controllers.
Right away, it"s obvious that the DualSense controller looks very different from previous iterations. First, it now features a dual-tone look, instead of the previous single-color designs. Sony has also made some changes to the shape of the grip and the angle of the hand triggers, making the controller seem somewhat more round than before.
The design of the light bar has been changed too, and it now wraps around the sides of the touchpad, rather than sitting above it. As for the face buttons, Sony has gone with a more monochrome look, rather than the colored icons that were previously used on the right-side buttons.
There are some new features here, too. First, there"s haptic feedback, which promises more realistic sensations for certain situations in games, such as "the slow grittiness of driving a car through mud". Additionally, the controller features adaptive shoulder triggers in the R2 and L2 buttons, which will reflect the tension of in-game actions, adding a degree of immersion to the experience. Fitting the components for these features inside the controller is part of what caused the changes in design.
Sony has also changed the Share button, first introduced in the DualShock 4, into a Create button. The end goal is still the same, but it aims to provide gamers with new ways to create and share gameplay content directly through the controller. Sony didn"t offer details on how this will be different from the Share button, though.
Finally, the controller has a microphone array built-in, enabling voice chat features in games without the need for an additional headset.