New PlayStation 3 claims emerge. Incredible expectations laid down

No, but I consider it to be about as accurate as pulling a trigger.

But I'm not a big fan of any control system for driving games, especially steering wheel and pedals set-ups. Thing is, I consider myself to be a pretty good driver - and I think any decent driver is accustomed to getting so much tactile, visual and auditory feedback that no computer game can compare.

So many factors affect car handling, including temperature and humidity - which you never get a feel for from a game, and it's not fair to expect that you will any time soon.

But one of the biggest factors in handling is weight distribution. The same car, at exactly the same speed, in exactly the same position, at exactly the same angle on the same corner will handle massively differently depending on whether it is accelerating or deccelerating, and on the rate of change of velocity.

The fact that ALL computer game car control systems are approximately 100% inaccurate means that I don't really prefer one over another.

Steering wheel systems seem to be trying to overcome these problems. But in real driving the wheel gives most of the feedback, to the road surface, to traction staus and to forces on the suspension. Computer game wheels establish an expectation that they completely fail to deliver on, and this makes them worse than a joypad to me.

Well, speaking for myself, I use the analogue stick to control the gas and brakes while playing GT. Stops me doing left foot braking techniques, but I'm no good at that on XBox either! :-)

Just because Sega invented the analogue trigger system and MS and Nintendo ripped it off, doesn't make it the best control system out there.

It certainly affects playing other games that require a non-analogue trigger system. Games that use the shoulder buttons on PS2 pads for gun triggers, or for view switching, for example. Try playing a Tony Hawk game on XBox, the doubling up of triggers for revert and spin makes landing big combos a bit nasty.

Also, the extra space required for analogue triggers makes having four prohibitive, another place where the PS2 pad scores, no black and white buttons to ignore.


What's so weird about using symbols instead of letters? A, B, X & Y makes no sense to me. What happened to C & D?

Anyway, the PS symbols have three ways of referring to them, shape, colour and number (circle - one stroke, cross two, triangle three, square four). Notice that MS added coulour to the buttons on the XBox pad, Ninty dropped the ball with the X & Y being both grey on the Cube pad.

Also, the symbols are universal. What does "A" mean to someone who reads and writes Kanji? What does "Y" mean to someone who reads and writes Arabic? Or Korean, Thai, Hebrew or even Russian?

The real reason Sony used symbols, of course, is so they can be used to create a brand. Most of the Sony studios use the symbols in their logos.

Team Soho
Studio Cambridge

Also, the symbols can be used in other places by other people to indicate that they are talking about gaming. In the UK there was an advert for becoming a teacher that used the question "Can you speak another language" while showing a kid talking alternating with the PlayStation symbols. Instantly you knew what they were getting at, "this kid is talking about gaming, do you know what she's saying?"

You can't make that connection with A, B, X & Y. You can't make the above point as simply with those letters either. By using the symbols, and allowing others to use them, Sony are reinforcing their brand and the idea that "PlayStation == Gaming".

It was a very clever move on their part from start to finish.

i thinkt he analog ont he xbox is very good, especially considering the rediculous amouint of halo and other fast action games i play, ninja gaiden anyone? as for the buttons i have never had any issues witht he slightly rounded tops, also the controller-s buttosn are barely more convex than the ps2 or game cube buttons. plus i have never had an indentation in my finger... not since the analog trigger was invented... i used to get it from racing games on odler systems... cause you know pushign harder makes the car go faster!



i dont think the location of the c-stick is poor, its basically the same as the dual shock, but the fact that it has no top to it is really stupid. and the z-button is just terrible. as for the analog seemign superior i dont know if it is a physical difference or if you have just been playign nintendo games on it making the controller seem better because nintendo games are so well tuned... mario 64 still has better analog controll than most current gen platform games.



i think it is two small but i am 6' and have rather large hands even for someone my height so im a little outside the average. the buttons and sticks are well layed out.




im with you... except i woudl preffer that the l/r1 buttons be made into triggers since that is where my "trigger finger" woudl be and then have another set of buttons (or two, we have more fingers) just below them.

Yeah, and one that EA could have had for themselves. But they dropped the ball.

I mean first time I ever saw the PlayStation shapes they reminded me of the old EA logo - remember the Square, Circle, Triangle one.

And they even used to do each shape a different colour!

its a valid point. i never questioned their resoning, it definitly has its ups. I just dont like having to re aclimate myself. I have had the ab set up sine the nes and the ab/xy set up since the snes... abc/xyc ont he 6 button genisis. If i where to look at a ps2 games manual i would have to stop and think about what im doing. Im sure if i played alot of playstation i would have gotten used to it quickly but i just dont enjoy having to make the switch in order for sonyt to help brand themselves.

As for the language issues im pretty sure the nes had A and B buttosn even in japan so it is somethign that japan andf basically all other game playign countries are already used to as well. Im not trying to prevent change but i dont think making buttons into generic symbols has enough a benifit to the customers to make it worth while.

Does it help sony make snazy adds? you bet! does it make my game playing experience any better? not in the slightest! (if i where some kind of sony hater i might point out that this could be construde as sony putting there own branding ahead of their customers needs or wants, but i wouldn't do that :) )for me it actually inhibits it. But again, thats just my personal prefference.

also the 64 started the color coded button thing, i don't know why they changed it up for the cube. I guess it was to help acentuate the importance of the "A" button! aprently making it 4 times the size of the other buttons wasn't enough!
______

Yeah, and the cone and the cube!

I heard a while back that the Dual Shock 3 would have triggers on the back, but I don't know if that means changing the existing L buttons or adding more.

A fast view of the pads:

Xbox: evolved from the Saturn 3D pad and the Dreamcast pad. Nicely comfortable to an old Sega player like myself. The S is a Dual Shock/DC hybrid, and works nice.

Cube: Obviously aimed at children, and yet again a modified Dual Shock. C Stick is awful, Z is fine (it's where R1 is, after all...), shoulder buttons shaped weird. Front of pad very confusing. Small hands only comfort-wise.

PS2: Evolution of old Snes pad. Hand positioning to cover all buttons hurts my hands, pad legs push into palms causing many a muscle pain, joysticks too loose. Oh yeah, and if dropped they break. I broke 3 during GT2.

The next round, comfort and design are going to be key issues; Cell processors liking others being near will drive away the pirate game player (a key demographic of the PS1 crowd) and the cheapass (hey, i ain't getting an AIBO and a new telly just to play a better Tekken), so that'd be a little stupid. Nobody would replace their entire electronics setup to play GT5 with a better framerate and claim to be smart.

Let's face it, the joystick is still the best controller. They cost to much to make, so they're out of the question. Discomfort is a key of gaming; look at the NES pad, for the love of all that is pixellated...

Cube takes my award for Best Controller Ever.

i love nintendo and what they tried to do... but the cub controlelr has some things that are just retarded.

first off... the left analog stick was intentionaly stupified because nintendo games only use it as a camera controll... and if anyoen elses wants to sue it for somehtign more complex... well tough s**t to them... trying to aim and fps with a little yellow nipple is bad. secondly... the z-button is in a bad place... my trigger finger goes on the triggers... i do however have 3 other fingers on that hand that are below that6 trigger that coudl easily access a secondary button if it where back there... but instead nintendo put it on top so i have to take my finger off of the trigger and strain to reach it... ratarded!
thirdly
they left off the clickable analog sticks... so rather than have a device that can function in its normal way and add axtra functiosn they decided to give the analog triggers a second click... problem is i have to already have the triggers all the wya in before i can use the extra functionality... makeing them less usefull than clickable sticks woudl be.

also the fave buttosn be laid out the way they are severly inhibits button combos... soul calibur requires i hold the controlle rin a way it wasnt intended... i cant push B and X or Y without either hitting "A" (god of buttons) or holding my right hand over the controler and using more than one finger... which renders the z-button and right trigger useless.

for playign mario sunshine and zelda,,, the cube controller is awsome... for third party games... it blows!

which is probably just oen mroe reason (among many) why nintendo cant seem to maintain good third party support.