E3 2013 – PlayStation 4 Console And Controller Impressions

Sony’s brand new PlayStation 4 console, PlayStation Eye and DualShock 4 controllers were on show today at E3 in the huge Sony booth and in the Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) room. I got to take a closer look at the new controller while playing Driveclub, Knack and The Play Room, the latter comprising of a collection of tech demos showing off the improved motion sensing capabilities of the PlayStation Eye camera and controller. We’ve got an in-depth video of The Play Room coming up.

The PlayStation 4 console is actually a lot smaller than it appeared during the Sony press conference. Think PlayStation 3 slim size but a bit slanty as if the top layer of your Victoria sponge cake has slipped back a bit. This is an impressive feat given the power Sony have packed into it. I only hope it doesn’t suffer the same overheating problems (aka Yellow Light of Death) that plagued the original PS3 models. The new PlayStation Eye was practically invisible sitting happily under a Sony TV running Driveclub. It’s small and unassuming which was surprising.

The Dualshock 4 controller is pleasingly weighty, fits snugly in your hands and really does benefit from having the bottom shoulder triggers curving upwards rather than downwards. The front touch pad dominates the central area of the controller and it’s pretty damn sensitive. It detected even the lightest of my touches without a hitch. You can also press to click the touch pad, giving the controller a whole new button. Only The Play Room made use of this extra button out of the PS4 games I played.

Elsewhere the D-Pad felt solid as did the triangle, square, circle and cross buttons. I can’t say I noticed a lot difference between these buttons and the DualShock 3 versions but I did find myself prodding the touchpad when hunting for the now defunct start button. I wasn’t able to test the “share” button other than just prodding it. Yep, I can confirm it feels like a button.

Other improvements to the controller were a lot more noticeable. The addition of a front-facing speaker allowed me to hear the yelps of the cute little robots trapped inside my controller during The Play Room. I could even feel them moving about thanks to the far more sophisticated vibration capabilities.

The front of each controller sports a colour changing panel, which typically glows blue for player 1 with red and green also visible in the SCEE room.

Summary:

The PlayStation 4 console on the surface looks like a tidy package. It’s not the daring design I was hoping for from Sony, but it works none the less. The DualShock 4 is an impressive controller. It’s solid, responsive, easy to hold and sports some nice vibration and touch functionality. It’s a marked improvement over the previous model, not least thanks to the properly curved shoulder buttons. Nice job Sony.