Topic: PlayStation4 - News/Rumor/Speculation - Over 1 Million Sold on Day 1

[broodwars]

Snark all you want, but the Dualshock has been THE Standard for gaming controllers since the PS1, though no doubt that has now shifted to the Xbox 360 Controller design (which even Nintendo has now emulated with the Wii U Pro Controller).  And considering its core design is based on the SNES controller (which was THE Standard in its day), I think it's reasonable to assume the controller's been fairly popular.  Otherwise, people wouldn't have run from the Boomerang controller when Sony tried to push that on people.

I've given my thoughts on the Dualshock design before so I won't go into it again. But suffice it to say that it's a great general-purpose controller equally adept at pretty much any console genre you throw at it.  It doesn't excel at any one play experience like Nintendo or Microsoft might have with their controllers, but at the same time you also can't really throw a console genre at it that it can't handle (which is more than I can say for Nintendo's controller designs).

[nickmitch]

Also, the boomerang controller looked ridiculous?

[broodwars]

Also, the boomerang controller looked ridiculous?

No more so than a damn remote control (Wii) or a Trident (N64), IMO. Game Controllers are weird.  :

(and no, I wasn't fond of the boomerang controller either. Just sayin', we've seen weirder controllers)

[MrPhishfood]

The standard 360 controller just isn't child friendly. I know this 12 year old kid who prefers the PS3 because he can't fit his hands around the 360 pad.

[nickmitch]

The Wii controller needed to be explained, but it made sense once it was. When you looked at it, you saw something you could easily hold.

The N64 controller, again looked holdable. Even if you couldn't decide how to hold it.

[Oblivion]

The standard 360 controller just isn't child friendly. I know this 12 year old kid who prefers the PS3 because he can't fit his hands around the 360 pad.

Tell that to the millions of little shits on Call of Duty.

[NWR_insanolord]

The standard 360 controller just isn't child friendly. I know this 12 year old kid who prefers the PS3 because he can't fit his hands around the 360 pad.

Tell that to the millions of little shits on Call of Duty.

Maybe that's why they're angry. They shout expletives and racist insults at people all the time because they're frustrated at how big the controller is.

[TJ Spyke]

Unless you have the hands of a 10 year old (and even they might be fine), I don't see how anyone could think the Xbox 360 controller is too big. The PS3 controller also has that kiddie design with shapes for face buttons.

[BranDonk Kong]

Nevermind. Don't know what happened here.

[lolmonade]

Unless you have the hands of a 10 year old (and even they might be fine), I don't see how anyone could think the Xbox 360 controller is too big. The PS3 controller also has that kiddie design with shapes for face buttons.

LOL...yes, because A,B,X,Y are mature buttons for mature gamers.

I could see your point if the playstation buttons were "smiley face", "rabbit", "balloons", and "Elmo", but really?  X, O, â–³, and â–¡ are childish?

[EasyCure]

Is there any backstory as to why they chose symbols? I've always wondered...

[TJ Spyke]

Yes, using shapes is something you would see on something like Leapster or Playskool. A circle? A triangle? A square?


EasyCure, not sure if true but I heard Sony wanted to make something people of any language could understand.

[lolmonade]

Is there any backstory as to why they chose symbols? I've always wondered...

Excerpt from the Sony Controller wikipedia article:

Using the simple geometric shapes of a green triangle, a red circle, a blue cross, and a square to label its action buttons rather than traditionally used letters or numbers, the PlayStation Controller established a trademark which would be incorporated heavily into the PlayStation brand. In an interview with Teiyu Goto, designer of the original Playstation Controller, he explained what the symbols mean: The circle and cross represent "yes" and "no," respectively; the triangle symbolizes a point of view and the square is equated to a sheet of paper there to be used to access menus.

The real reason is probably something closer to not wanting their controller to be completely lifted from the SNES controller conventions, and having symbols instead also is an easy way to have something unique to their brand of video game products.

[broodwars]

Unless you have the hands of a 10 year old (and even they might be fine), I don't see how anyone could think the Xbox 360 controller is too big. The PS3 controller also has that kiddie design with shapes for face buttons.

LOL...yes, because A,B,X,Y are mature buttons for mature gamers.

I could see your point if the playstation buttons were "smiley face", "rabbit", "balloons", and "Elmo", but really?  X, O, â–³, and â–¡ are childish?

Indeed. I prefer the shape buttons, honestly, as I find them easier to remember associated to face button positions (especially Triangle, a shape that points upward), whereas when I'm playing something like the Classic Controller I always have to remind myself which button is "A" and which is "B" (though I always remember where X and Y are, for some strange reason).

[lolmonade]

Yes, using shapes is something you would see on something like Leapster or Playskool. A circle? A triangle? A square?

Yes, and A, B, X, Y are letters you're taught as a child when learning the alphabet.  They're both identifiable sets of symbols that more or less anyone would understand.  I fail to see how letters are less childish than shapes.

[Shaymin]

Circle - 1 line
X - 2 lines
Triangle - 3 lines
Square - 4 lines

[TJ Spyke]

Yes, using shapes is something you would see on something like Leapster or Playskool. A circle? A triangle? A square?

Yes, and A, B, X, Y are letters you're taught as a child when learning the alphabet.  They're both identifiable sets of symbols that more or less anyone would understand.  I fail to see how letters are less childish than shapes.

Because we grow up with those letters, especially on controllers. Imagine if your remote control had you using a circle instead of "8", a triangle instead of "4", etc. You would laugh at it and rightly so. I grew up with ABXY (as did most gamers), so I always remember where those buttons are. Aside from the triangle, I frequently have to look down when I use the DualShock controller. It's one of the reasons Sony has always had the worst controller (there are other problems with the DualShock too).

[EasyCure]

The real reason is probably something closer to not wanting their controller to be completely lifted from the SNES controller conventions, and having symbols instead also is an easy way to have something unique to their brand of video game products.

That's the only thing I could think of but why not just go with 1, 2, 3, 4? Or other letters even?

The O/X = Yes/No thing I would of never thought of because I don't associate O/X that way. Thinking back to certain games and possibly some game shows, it makes sense now but I never would've thought of that as a kid because it just wasn't common enough. Square is supposed to represent paper thus meaning menus..what? That's just fucking over-thinking it, c'mon.. that can't be real.

Broodwars, thank you; from now on I'll always remember where Triangle is on the dualshock now that you've pointed out it points up. Oh wait, the picture i'm looking at is a bit angled so my perspective makes it seem like it's not pointing up, it's pointing at square instead, or is it pointing at circle?

Granted, if you grew up with either the NES or SNES, ABXY are easy to remember, but circle, square, x, triangle are just.. odd. To this day I can't memorize that thing. At least on Xbox I can remember to flip 'em, so even if the game or another person tell me to "press A!" I know to hit B. The second you give me a dualshock though, 20+ years of controller use goes out the window; no matter how many times I use the damn thing.

The only other controller to trip me up so bad was the Saturn controller, but there the problem either stemmed from my fingers not being used to the extra buttons, thus fumbling if I had to jump from A to Z - or the fact that my thumbs rested easier on BC/YZ and had to stretch out for X and A buttons (I still had kid hands back then).

[broodwars]

The controller that always used to throw me was the damn 6-button Sega Genesis controller, with all the buttons just lined up like that on 2 lines.

[TJ Spyke]

I think developers didn't like it either since most Genesis games only used the 3 buttons that the default controller came with. I never even owned the 6 button one.

[lolmonade]

The controller that always used to throw me was the damn 6-button Sega Genesis controller, with all the buttons just lined up like that on 2 lines.

But it was SO much better to play Street Fighter with compared to that damn SNES controller with the shoulder buttons. 

[EasyCure]

The controller that always used to throw me was the damn 6-button Sega Genesis controller, with all the buttons just lined up like that on 2 lines.

But it was SO much better to play Street Fighter with compared to that damn SNES controller with the shoulder buttons. 

I'm going to assume you had huge hands or used the arcade method with your right hand, cuz I preferred playing on SNES where I could use both hands to support the controller, L/R were fine.

The controller that always used to throw me was the damn 6-button Sega Genesis controller, with all the buttons just lined up like that on 2 lines.

Same lay-out as the Saturn controller, no?

[NWR_insanolord]

I don't mind the PlayStation button layout, but I do have an issue switching back and forth between the different ABXY layouts for Nintendo and Microsoft.

[EasyCure]

I don't mind the PlayStation button layout, but I do have an issue switching back and forth between the different ABXY layouts for Nintendo and Microsoft.

Besides the N64 controller (which doesn't have XY buttons anyway), which of Nintendos controllers had a different layout for ABXY?

[nickmitch]

Guys, GUYS! All this bullshit about numbers, letters, and symbols on the buttons is NONESENSE! All controllers should have one big green main button, a smaller secondary red button, and two odd shaped satellite buttons. Why memorize some two-bit map, when you can just go by feel?