After extensive option testing, Sony has decided to go with a First Person Shooter friendly design for their new controller, the DualShock 4. One of the more interesting factors that led to this decision was a failed implementation of their first choice, a galvanic skin response design controller, Mark Cerny revealed to Stuff.tv.
No, that wasn’t gibberish. Galvanic skin sensors detect the levels of sweat emission in the skin, and this data can be interpreted in a number of ways; specifically in the case of a controller, it could be used to determine the level of engagement of a player. That means a game could adjust its game play or plot based on the players current interest level, as deduced by the controller’s galvanic skin sensor.
Unfortunately, as different people emit different amounts of sweat at varying levels of excitement, this technology is still fairly unreliable when it comes to gauging gaming engagement. But we certainly applaud Sony’s efforts to go above and beyond when it comes to controller design.
With the Galvanic Sensor system off the table, Sony decided to take a more practical approach, and highlighted something they’ve often been criticized about in their past controllers: FPS compatibility. The new controller design has been specifically designed and tested with FPS player compatibility in mind, with special attention being placed on button placement and sensitivity.
All reports thus far are that the Dualshock 4 is Sony’s best controller yet. Let’s hope it can live up to the hype.
Source: Stuff.tv