The tyranny of the DualShock 4 light bar is over, as a patent describes the new PS5 gamepad and its built-in microphone and haptic feedback.
By this time next year the PlayStation 5 will probably be out, or at least very close to release, but at the moment we still know very little about the console and almost nothing about its games.
Sony has given a few, relatively vague, details about its tech specs but it hasn’t shown anything of the console itself or its controller – even though a Wired journalist did get to play with a prototype version last month.
But as so often happens the patent office has managed to spoil the surprise, with these images appearing on a Japanese website and seeming to show that the DualShock 5 will be pretty similar to the DualShock 4.
There are differences in the new controller though, most obviously an in-built microphone and, praise be to Jeebus, no light bar.
Assuming the diagrams are accurate – which isn’t necessarily a safe thing to do – the DualShock 5 also seems to have larger triggers, smaller analogue sticks, and a USB-C port for charging.
The most important changes though aren’t something that would be obvious from just looking at it, diagram or not, as the DualShock 5 uses haptic feedback, which is much more versatile than standard rumble effects and can produce different feedback in both the left- and right-hand grips.
These are then combined with the improved on-board speaker to simulate things like different vehicles and weapons.
The DualShock 5 will also have ‘adaptive triggers’, which offer different levels of resistance depending on what you’re doing – whether it’s accelerating a car or pulling a bow and arrow.
That is all quite exciting, and while some will probably have liked to see the end of the underutilised touchpad the mere fact that the lightbar has been axed is the best news we’ve heard all year.
Although that does beg the question of how the PlayStation VR is going to work, considering Sony has already said it will be backwards compatible with the PlayStation 5.
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