The Xbox Controller is outdated

[Bob_McMillan]

I think the DS4 is the best controller I've ever used. As a Playstation kid for all my life, it felt amazing after the crap DS3s.

I've only ever tried the original Xbox and 360 controllers, but I fucking hated them. Made my hands sweaty as hell, even cramps sometimes. The layout was just bizzare to me.

To each his own. I doubt there is an objectively best controller out there, especially when we all play different games.

But on the topic of controller features: I've always suspected that controllers never change too much because there's a killing to be made in controller attachments and "pro" versions. I was pretty disappointed to see the DualSense didn't have the back buttons like the rumors said, but then how would Sony sell that weird looking attachment in the future?

 

[Gordon_4]

They aren't. Maybe for you, but anybody who's used it on Switch and PC will tell you its the superior way to play shooters on consoles.

In what reality would a PC gamer use gyro controls over the mouse to aim anything?

 

[themistermanguy]

In what reality would a PC gamer use gyro controls over the mouse to aim anything?

If they're playing a game that works better with a regular controller. FPS are usually M & KB, but for something like GTA V, having the precision of a gyro combined with a gamepad is very beneficial.

 

[Gordon_4]

If they're playing a game that works better with a regular controller. FPS are usually M & KB, but for something like GTA V, having the precision of a gyro combined with a gamepad is very beneficial.

I’m sorry, maybe I’ve finally hit that ‘old man yells at cloud’ stage of my life, but I can or fathom anyone sitting at a gaming desktop worth its salt and using a gyroscope control. It’s one thing with a Switch or a Wii and the controller is sitting in something vaguely firearm or sword/club shaped to get you in the swing. But just leaning back in a chair? Can’t see it.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Sometimes you just want a really good controller, thus you go to the xbox one. I mean what features does the ps5 controller have that will actually be used well? All the weird features the ps4 controller had were pretty much wasted.

Haptic feedback can do things like making how specific weapon recoil feels different from one to another, or how tire traction varies on different road types, etc.

Programmable trigger resistance can make different weapons feel appropriate, like pulling the trigger on a revolver vs machine gun, or how much tension a particular weight bow requires.

The touch pad could be used for any number of things which DS4 has already shown. A simple map button, a tracking pad that can be used to highlight different things in game, turn pages in a journal, etc.

The light...idk...probably mostly for motion stuff.

The built in microphone means you can communicate without needing a headset or some other peripheral.

Of course developers have to leverage the features, but it sounds like they’ll be innately encouraging for creatives. If people don’t care about any of that, then oh well. There’s also plenty of people that would.

I like the build quality of Microsoft’s controller, and especially how the triggers are designed with actual plastic underneath and not just resting on the triggers themselves (this has personally happened several times setting the DS4 on a couch and the trigger gets triggered and slashes some npc or something). But the pro’s of Sony’s controllers to me outweigh the con’s by far. They’ve had the dpad right since day one, which is another thing I’ve always appreciated. Took them a while on the analog sticks, but I’ve never had a problem with their form or function on DS4.

 

[Worgen]

Haptic feedback can do things like making how specific weapon recoil feels different from one to another, or how tire traction varies on different road types, etc.

Programmable trigger resistance can make different weapons feel appropriate, like pulling the trigger on a revolver vs machine gun, or how much tension a particular weight bow requires.

The touch pad could be used for any number of things which DS4 has already shown. A simple map button, a tracking pad that can be used to highlight different things in game, turn pages in a journal, etc.

The light...idk...probably mostly for motion stuff.

The built in microphone means you can communicate without needing a headset or some other peripheral.

Of course developers have to leverage the features, but it sounds like they’ll be encouraging. If people don’t care about any of that, then oh well. There’s also plenty of people that would.

I like the build quality of Microsoft’s controller, and especially how the triggers are designed with actual plastic underneath and not just rest on the triggers themselves (this has happened several times setting the DS4 on a couch and the trigger get triggered and slashes some npc). But the pro’s of Sony’s controllers to me outweigh the con’s by far. They’ve had the dpad right since day one, which is another thing I’ve always appreciated. Took them a while on the analog sticks, but I’ve never had a problem with their form or function on DS4.

Yeah but most of those weren't used well, they were just there and as I understand, mainly just annoyed players. Although some people really seem to like vibration which makes no sense to me.

 

[BrawlMan]

I think the DS4 is the best controller I've ever used. As a Playstation kid for all my life, it felt amazing after the crap DS3s.

I can agree to an extent, but I never cared much for the touchpad features. Not many games used them outside of basic menus. The most I have seen done with it was Onechanbara of all things, where using the touchpad was pressing an even simpler QTE in Z2 Chaos. Something the series had started doing since the first Z game. Also, the battery life sucks on DS4. I swear whenever you use a controller for more than a year, the controller won't hold a charge. I've been through two controllers that do this already. That is bullshit when controllers are the price of a $60 game. I got lucky because most of the controllers I bought were around the Black Friday sale.

 

[Ezekiel]

Oh god, every gyro puzzle in Breath of the Wild is such a hassle. I don't need that in my controller.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Yeah but most of those weren't used well, they were just there and as I understand, mainly just annoyed players. Although some people really seem to like vibration which makes no sense to me.

Not sure what you mean by the first statement as I was mostly describing things that will only be on DS5. But rumble has helped make general things easier, like finding treasure in a number of games or physical cues as to what an enemy is doing or about to do. I’ve heard people complain touchpad is easy to bump, but overall I’d rather have it available as a more intuitive interface to interact with, even if it’s mostly been used for simple things.

 

[Avnger]

Gyro controls are objectively better than stick controls in Splatoon 2 for starters

I'm not sure you understand what the word "objective" means; "opinion I agree with" falls a bit short of the actual definition. Here's a refresher.

Also compared to the supremely lackluster Nintendo controller, I'm not exactly surprised someone might find gyros better. The Dualshock 2 is probably a nicer controller than that thing.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Gyro controls are objectively better than stick controls in Splatoon 2 for starters

Looking at that video it looks like the gyro controls have a huge amount of aim assist. Just look at him whipping around his camera when he first turns on the motion controls to demonstrate how "smooth" they are and how the recital sticks to every enemy it passes over.

If the gyro controls were as precise as you and themistermanguy claim then they wouldn't need aim assist.

Literally the only thing this video demonstrates is that whipping your controller around fast with big motions and then relying on the aim assist to correct your aim is easier than moving a joystick. Yes, big aim assist does make playing the game easier. This doesn't demonstrate that gyro aiming is actually good and precise.

 

[Worgen]

Not sure what you mean by the first statement as I was mostly describing things that will only be on DS5. But rumble has helped make general things easier, like finding treasure in a number of games or physical cues as to what an enemy is doing or about to do. I’ve heard people complain touchpad is easy to bump, but overall I’d rather have it available as a more intuitive interface to interact with, even if it’s mostly been used for simple things.

Well, haptic feedback is just going to be various feeling of vibration and its going to just be worthless, it always is, sure it can be used for finding treasures which is why I tend not to turn it off until I'm a bit of a ways in just to make sure they don't pull something like that but you can do other things for that, that work better.

The trigger pull idea is neat, but its just going to end up with tired fingers, the most useful it will be will be someone setting the pull strength they like and just leaving it there.

The touch pad on the ps4 controller as I understand was never really used well and was just kind of there and would periodically annoy users in some games, its in a weird location that is hard to reach for basic gameplay and its just a little touch screen.

The built in mic is handy but the sound quality will probably kind of suck, although I could be wrong there since the Index has a built in mic and it sounds fantastic, better then my headset mic.

It just seems like a lot of that stuff will be gimmicky at best.

 

[CriticalGaming]

I mean the playstation controller hasnt changed much through out its life. The basic shape hasnt changed and outside of continously adding new features and a bit more rounding to the shape the principle core design remains the same.

The xbox controller has perfected shape with the 360, however theyve been afraid to change or add anything but small refinements. Though it is the most praised controller in console history so is it really a bad thing? How much shit do you actually need in a controller?

Personally i dont even notice vibration anymore, haptic or otherwise. Ive never noticed the feedback on the triggers except when i play Forza 7 for a while and then never noticed on any other game ever.

So is the xbox controller outdate or simply as good as it needs to be?

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Well, haptic feedback is just going to be various feeling of vibration and its going to just be worthless, it always is, sure it can be used for finding treasures which is why I tend not to turn it off until I'm a bit of a ways in just to make sure they don't pull something like that but you can do other things for that, that work better.

The trigger pull idea is neat, but its just going to end up with tired fingers, the most useful it will be will be someone setting the pull strength they like and just leaving it there.

The touch pad on the ps4 controller as I understand was never really used well and was just kind of there and would periodically annoy users in some games, its in a weird location that is hard to reach for basic gameplay and its just a little touch screen.

The built in mic is handy but the sound quality will probably kind of suck, although I could be wrong there since the Index has a built in mic and it sounds fantastic, better then my headset mic.

It just seems like a lot of that stuff will be gimmicky at best.

Yeah, I actually hate the idea of every controller having a built in mic.

Playing multiplayer and having everyone on open mic is the worst, and a mic that is built into a controller has the added disadvantage of having to pick up sound from much further away meaning you're going to be hearing a lot of ambient room noises from anyone that is using one.

I'm imagining playing something like Call of Duty and just constantly hearing kids' parents arguing, and hearing babies crying because people don't mute their built in mics.

You're basically just going to have to mass mute everyone but the people on your friends list that you know have actual headset mics.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Yeah, I actually hate the idea of every controller having a built in mic.

Playing multiplayer and having everyone on open mic is the worst, and a mic that is built into a controller has the added disadvantage of having to pick up sound from much further away meaning you're going to be hearing a lot of ambient room noises from anyone that is using one.

I'm imagining playing something like Call of Duty and just constantly hearing kids' parents arguing, and hearing babies crying because people don't mute their built in mics.

You're basically just going to have to mass mute everyone but the people on your friends list that you know have actual headset mics.

For one thing, I’m sure the mic volume can be adjusted or muted just as easily as the DS4 can be tweaked from the dashboard.

For another I have to mass mute people as it is in mp games, which is one reason I don’t care for the competitive online game type in general.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

For one thing, I’m sure the mic volume can be adjusted or muted just as easily as the DS4 can be tweaked from the dashboard.

For another I have to mass mute people as it is in mp games, which is one reason I don’t care for the competitive online game type in general.

Yes, I'm sure mic volume will be adjustable, but that's not the issue.

When you're using a headset mic it's right next to your mouth. It is by default less sensitive because it only has to pick up sounds an inch away. If you're using a mic built into a controller it has to pick up sound from multiple feet away.

if someone doesn't know how to mute their mic, or is just an asshole and doesn't care you're going to get much more interference from someone using a built in controller mic than you would from someone using a headset mic.

If Sony's purpose for having a built in microphone is so that more people will have the ability to talk and interact in team games then building the mic into the controller is a terrible idea, because having mics that pick up all of the surrounding noise is just going to make people mute everyone more often instead of communicating with their teams.

 

[Worgen]

Yeah, I actually hate the idea of every controller having a built in mic.

Playing multiplayer and having everyone on open mic is the worst, and a mic that is built into a controller has the added disadvantage of having to pick up sound from much further away meaning you're going to be hearing a lot of ambient room noises from anyone that is using one.

I'm imagining playing something like Call of Duty and just constantly hearing kids' parents arguing, and hearing babies crying because people don't mute their built in mics.

You're basically just going to have to mass mute everyone but the people on your friends list that you know have actual headset mics.

Been there done that, generally open voice is a bad thing, although it can be useful.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Yes, I'm sure mic volume will be adjustable, but that's not the issue.

When you're using a headset mic it's right next to your mouth. It is by default less sensitive because it only has to pick up sounds an inch away. If you're using a mic built into a controller it has to pick up sound from multiple feet away.

if someone doesn't know how to mute their mic, or is just an asshole and doesn't care you're going to get much more interference from someone using a built in controller mic than you would from someone using a headset mic.

If Sony's purpose for having a built in microphone is so that more people will have the ability to talk and interact in team games then building the mic into the controller is a terrible idea, because having mics that pick up all of the surrounding noise is just going to make people mute everyone more often instead of communicating with their teams.

We’ll just have to wait and see. Mic sensitivity can be adjusted, and chances are when everyone sets up their console for the first time these things will be ironed out to minimize any nuisance issues. It would be very surprising if a major console maker with this much experience overlooked something so trivially simple.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

We’ll just have to wait and see. Mic sensitivity can be adjusted, and chances are when everyone sets up their console for the first time these things will be ironed out to minimize any nuisance issues. It would be very surprising if a major console maker with this much experience overlooked something so trivially simple.

It wouldn't be surprising at all. In fact this is one of the major problems with the Xbox Kinect.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

I can agree to an extent, but I never cared much for the touchpad features. Not many games used them outside of basic menus. The most I have seen done with it was Onechanbara of all things, where using the touchpad was pressing an even simpler QTE in Z2 Chaos. Something the series had started doing since the first Z game. Also, the battery life sucks on DS4. I swear whenever you use a controller for more than a year, the controller won't hold a charge. I've been through two controllers that do this already. That is bullshit when controllers are the price of a $60 game. I got lucky because most of the controllers I bought were around the Black Friday sale.

I don't think I've ever actually used the touchpad in a game, probably because I never played any of the early PS4 exclusives. Which is sad honestly. It could so easily have been used to bridge the gap between controller and keyboard functionality.

While I do agree that the battery life sucks, I'm surprised yours have died so quickly. My two controllers, which I've had for 7 years now I think (I bought a PS4 controller before I had a PS4), still perform the same as they did when I got them.