Dualshock 4 controller and the PS3

[Dirty Hipsters]

I just bought myself a Dualshock 4 controller for my PS3 during black friday. I fucking HATE the Dualshock 3 controller and the dualshock 4 is a nice step up in pretty much every way. The ergonomics are much better, the L2 and R2 buttons are actually useable and feel good. Only problem is that the PS3 doesn't support sixaxis for the dualshock 4 meaning that some games are impossible to progress in with it (like Killzone 3). I was wondering if there are any ways to bypass that feature in games.

For example, I own The Last of Us, and I love the game and I was hoping to replay it with the dualshock 4 controller. I know that the flashlight in the game has to be "recharged" by shaking the controller a little. Is there any way around this or am I going to be stuck with a useless flickering flashlight if I want to play through the game without using a sixaxis enabled controller?

Also what are some games that I should watch out for and not buy because they can't be beaten without using sixaxis? There are lists online of games that use sixaxis, but I haven't found any lists that say which games sixaxis is actually critical for.

 

[Hairless Mammoth]

I'm surprised that a game so late in the PS3's life cycle forces you to do stupid wii waggle mechanics, especially a Naughty Dog game. All I can think of is sending an email (or starting one of those online petitions) to get Sony to release a patch that fixes the Sixaxis issues. Even then, I doubt it would be at the top of their priority list, though.

(It is also sad they did that. Motioninjoy makes my Dualshock3 look like a 360 controller to a PC (including rumble) and it's awesome, except for the ergonomics. If a third party can do that, why doesn't Sony support their system, that they said had a 10 year life span?)

It never liked the PS3 controllers' L2 and R2 triggers. They're far too sensitive and stick out at the bottom more than any other controller's. Any game that had a dangerous action (like grenades) mapped to those buttons was a pain until I gave up and remapped the controls. Watching a video or listening to music with it is touchy since a bump could cause it to jump around. (Probably a tactic to get you to buy that expensive remote.) The PSP also had that problem.

 

[Doopliss64]

I don't think it can be fixed in The Last of Us. Naughty Dog has made it a bit of a habit to assign to motion controls actions that are mission-critical but largely superfluous, which is going to make things difficult for you. I have no idea about the rest of the PS3's library, but I would imagine you'll need to tread carefully lest you lose ten hours of progress when the game requires you to contextually turn a wheel or something.

I'm glad to hear you like the new controller, though. I'm sitting on a Black Friday PS4 and I was a little bit concerned that I might dislike the controller as much as I disliked the Dualshock 3. Screw that thing, here's hoping the DS4 was actually designed to be held by human hands.

 

[Casual Shinji]

You're talking about using the Dualshock 4 on the PS3, right?

In that case no, I don't think there's anyway to circumvent that issue. It just doesn't work very well with the PS3. As a matter of fact I heard something a while back that playing the PS3 with the Dualshock 4 can actually cause some damage to either the PS3 and/or the DS4 controller, or erase saves, but I'm not too certain. I did hear some spooky things that made me never try that again.

And yes, the controller is super awesome. Except for the rubber on the analog sticks wearing out pretty fast. I thought I was the only one, but apparently this is a more wide spread issue.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

In that case no, I don't think there's anyway to circumvent that issue. It just doesn't work very well with the PS3. As a matter of fact I heard something a while back that playing the PS3 with the Dualshock 4 can actually cause some damage to either the PS3 and/or the DS4 controller, or erase saves, but I'm not too certain. I did hear some spooky things that made me never try that again.

That sounds incredibly silly and I don't believe it.

The PS3 just treats the Dualshock 4 controller like a generic third party blutooth controller. I've used third party controllers with my PS3 for years (like I said, I fucking hate the dualshock 3) and have never had a problem, so there's really no reason that using the dualshock 4 should cause any damage to the console or the other way around.

Where did you hear something like that? It sounds like the uninformed ramblings of a 12 year old who isn't quite sure how technology works.

 

[Casual Shinji]

In that case no, I don't think there's anyway to circumvent that issue. It just doesn't work very well with the PS3. As a matter of fact I heard something a while back that playing the PS3 with the Dualshock 4 can actually cause some damage to either the PS3 and/or the DS4 controller, or erase saves, but I'm not too certain. I did hear some spooky things that made me never try that again.

That sounds incredibly silly and I don't believe it.

The PS3 just treats the Dualshock 4 controller like a generic third party blutooth controller. I've used third party controllers with my PS3 for years (like I said, I fucking hate the dualshock 3) and have never had a problem, so there's really no reason that using the dualshock 4 should cause any damage to the console or the other way around.

Where did you hear something like that? It sounds like the uninformed ramblings of a 12 year old who isn't quite sure how technology works.

I actually read it in a news article right here on the Escapist.

I haven't heard any follow up to it, so maybe it is bullshit, but after trying it myself and finding out it doesn't work too well with some games anyway, I decided I'd rather be safe than sorry.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

In that case no, I don't think there's anyway to circumvent that issue. It just doesn't work very well with the PS3. As a matter of fact I heard something a while back that playing the PS3 with the Dualshock 4 can actually cause some damage to either the PS3 and/or the DS4 controller, or erase saves, but I'm not too certain. I did hear some spooky things that made me never try that again.

That sounds incredibly silly and I don't believe it.

The PS3 just treats the Dualshock 4 controller like a generic third party blutooth controller. I've used third party controllers with my PS3 for years (like I said, I fucking hate the dualshock 3) and have never had a problem, so there's really no reason that using the dualshock 4 should cause any damage to the console or the other way around.

Where did you hear something like that? It sounds like the uninformed ramblings of a 12 year old who isn't quite sure how technology works.

I actually read it in a news article right here on the Escapist.

I haven't heard any follow up to it, so maybe it is bullshit, but after trying it myself and finding out it doesn't work too well with some games anyway, I decided I'd rather be safe than sorry.

Which games did it not work with? So far I've only tried it with Demon's Souls and Batman Arkham City and it worked great. I know there's some games that just straight up don't support the controller at all, and it won't work for them, and there are other games where the controller works but without any sixaxis functionality making them unbeatable. In what capacity did the controller work poorly for you?

 

[Casual Shinji]

Which games did it not work with? So far I've only tried it with Demon's Souls and Batman Arkham City and it worked great. I know there's some games that just straight up don't support the controller at all, and it won't work for them, and there are other games where the controller works but without any sixaxis functionality making them unbeatable. In what capacity did the controller work poorly for you?

I can't really remember, it was about a year ago and I only tried it once. I do remember playing The Last of Us with it on PS3 and not finding the R1 and L1 buttons on the Dualshock 4 as optimum for aiming and shooting because of their decreased size, as well as the slight slope of the controller where those two buttons are housed.

Maybe I'll check out again in the future with other games.

 

[Fulbert]

In that case no, I don't think there's anyway to circumvent that issue. It just doesn't work very well with the PS3. As a matter of fact I heard something a while back that playing the PS3 with the Dualshock 4 can actually cause some damage to either the PS3 and/or the DS4 controller, or erase saves, but I'm not too certain. I did hear some spooky things that made me never try that again.

That sounds incredibly silly and I don't believe it.

The PS3 just treats the Dualshock 4 controller like a generic third party blutooth controller. I've used third party controllers with my PS3 for years (like I said, I fucking hate the dualshock 3) and have never had a problem, so there's really no reason that using the dualshock 4 should cause any damage to the console or the other way around.

Where did you hear something like that? It sounds like the uninformed ramblings of a 12 year old who isn't quite sure how technology works.

I actually read it in a news article right here on the Escapist.

I haven't heard any follow up to it, so maybe it is bullshit, but after trying it myself and finding out it doesn't work too well with some games anyway, I decided I'd rather be safe than sorry.

There was a story about a ps4 picking up commands from a ds4 controller that was used to play games on ps3 at the moment, which resulted in the player buying a copy of battlefield 4 without knowing it. I remember reading it on the Escapist. Sony called bullshit on that and refused to refund the purchase.

As for the games incompatible with ds4, there's a list of those on reddit [http://www.reddit.com/r/PS4/comments/1p2ug1/everyone_with_a_dualshock_4_right_now_lets_create/].

 

[Casual Shinji]

There was a story about a ps4 picking up commands from a ds4 controller that was used to play games on ps3 at the moment, which resulted in the player buying a copy of battlefield 4 without knowing it. I remember reading it on the Escapist. Sony called bullshit on that and refused to refund the purchase.

As for the games incompatible with ds4, there's a list of those on reddit [http://www.reddit.com/r/PS4/comments/1p2ug1/everyone_with_a_dualshock_4_right_now_lets_create/].

Yeah, that's the one. But I guess even then you'd have to have your PS4 on stand-by, which I never do. I'm just a big sissy when it comes to technology.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

As for the games incompatible with ds4, there's a list of those on reddit [http://www.reddit.com/r/PS4/comments/1p2ug1/everyone_with_a_dualshock_4_right_now_lets_create/].

That list is not very useful.

I've seen that list before on various websites, but the problem with that list is that the "working" list lists games where the controller is usable, not games that can actually be COMPLETED with the controller.

Killzone 3 is on the working list, and while you can perform all the basic functions of the game with the DS4 controller (walking around, shooting, etc.) there are areas in the game where sixaxis control is REQUIRED for progression (you have to spin some valves using the sixaxis controls to open the critical progression path). So the game technically isn't playable with the DS4 controller unless you pause the game, switch to a DS3 controller during those sections, and then switch back to the DS4 afterward.

So yeah, that list is next to useless. I don't want to know what games "technically" work with the Dualshock 4, I want to know which games I can actually play with it without running into bullshit where the sixaxis controls were crammed in.