Hello all! I might be a bit late for this topic but it's just based on my first experience with the DualShock 4 and I wanted to share it with you all. :)

Yesterday I went to an event called Games13 where you could try out upcoming games and next-gen consoles and win stuff, so I've got my hands on the DualShock 4 while playing Knack and then PlayRoom and boy it felt good, it's way better than DS3 that's for sure, the touchpad was responsive, the thumb sticks were tight and non slippery, the light bar is a brilliant idea, while it was working with the PS4 Camera simultaneously, I've barely seen any sluggish framerates (While playing PlayRoom). So it was pretty straightforward, the thing is you'll need to get used to the new layout, it won't take more than a minute or 2 so don't worry, the options button is used as a Start/Select buttons but in Knack it was the Pause Menu button, so I don't know how viewing maps will work in other games.

Overall, it is a huge step up from the DS3, its a bit heavier but definitely will impress you for hours as it did for me, literally (If you still didn't try it of course). In case you did, tell me what do you think of it? Was it a big improvement to its predecessor or not? Thanks for reading and happy gaming everyone!

how as the vibrations and such?

@tobyus: Well, the only game I've played that supports the rumble feature was Knack, though I didn't feel much vibration between my hands, although I'm pretty sure that its equal if not stronger than DS3's. The motion controlling was very smooth, no lags you'll find or whatsoever.

In AC4, the map works by clicking in the touchpad, so that'll probably become the norm.

Looks comfortable, but it's still too limiting. Two buttons in the back would have made a big difference, like with the Steam controller. Recording doesn't deserve a button. It should be selectable in the PlayStation button menu.

Oh thanks for the info! Honestly, I don't think it's a problem if they mapped the Start/Select buttons to the touchpad, it'd be a perfect replacement as it was covered by the previous buttons, so that'll help.

Yeah what the fuck?

Like our thumbs aren't busy enough as it is, dealing with both face buttons and sticks at the same time, now they gotta use the touch pad too? Meanwhile, no new buttons for the other fingers.

@grissefar: Not all games will be using the touchpad, and I was handling it pretty well when I was testing, so you don't need skills to move your thumbs from the sticks/face buttons to the touch pad swiftly.

haha, cool to hear you liked it. Overall, the impressions regarding the dual shock 4 have been uniformly positive, which is good.

Also, sigh @ the more buttons arguments arising in this thread too. I assume there's a steam-controller thread where that stuff is being talked about as well.

That would make recording frustrating/useless/impossible in online multiplayer games.

@starvinggamer:

The XMB is much faster now. The record option could be the first thing the user sees when they open it. They could even design the record option so that you simply press one of the unused buttons after opening the XMB.

Ideally, the console should always be recording up to 15 minutes of gameplay, unless the user doesn't care and disables it. They can still miss a great or peculiar moment or realize it too late.

The record option has to do with the system, not playing the games. That's why it should be in the XMB.

Some of us just want more complex games.

@selfconfessedcynic: Yeah, I've seen it, pretty futuristic I must say.

Yeah good to hear it works well but what I'm worried about is how some actions become physically impossible to do simultaneously. Ever tried to throw a grenade in inFamous? It's awkward as hell because you can't aim and throw at the same time because you don't have two right thumbs. Same in Call of Duty. You have to choose between being able to knife at a whim, or crouch at a whim. If you choose knife, the crouch will be awkward as hell because it will be bound to a face button.

I use the side of my index finger to press the face buttons when my thumb is occupied with the stick, but it becomes uncomfortable as the flesh digs into/under the nail. While doing this I can still use the triggers with my middle finger.

It's Dynamic Menu now, not XMB. No the Share button is for sharing stuff not only recording and screen capturing and you can view other's livestreams as well, I don't think they designed it to do other than doing social stuff actually. You mean disable the feature of recording or extending the time limit? True, but we still don't know if they'll do that or not either way the more options the better.

@grissefar: That my friend will count on how you prefer your controller button mapping feature, each game developer will decide whether to add it or not. If you wanna aim while throwing grenades in inFamous you'll need to map it to either the R1 or R2 buttons which will give space for other fingers, same goes for CoD. So It all depends on how the controller layout will turn out to be so the dev is responsible not the controller.

Edit: Quoting from Wikipedia on the I:SS article: "the player will not need to hold down the L1 button to aim, and will just be able to fire whenever they want, using a permanent reticle on screen to aim." I think that's gonna suit you

My question is is L2 and R2 going to be the default triggers this generation? I thought it was weird that GTAV defaulted to those on the PS3. They just don't feel right.

So long as PS4 isn't DS3 compatible then nobody should want a PS4.

Well you could just remap the controls to L1 and R1.

OH WAIT the console doesn't let you do that either.

Sure it's not the developers fault. Even free button mapping isn't a solution, since there simply isn't enough shoulder/back buttons available.

@landon: Some games will use the L1 and R1 by default instead of the triggers. Tomb Raider and Bioshock Infinite are examples on PS3. By the way, DS4's triggers are way better than DS3's.

@grissefar: Just replace them with a face button you don't use a lot, that'll work. A permanent reticle on the screen should be there for you when you wanna shoot/throw without aiming.

When I say "aim" I actually mean having my thumb on the right stick, being in control of the aiming/movement. So you can see why having to move your right thumb to a face button leaves me unable to aim that grenade or knife or whatever.

Recording could have been done so when you double tap The home button recording begins. Really wish there was a start and select button, but I'm sure it'll end up being fine. I'm more mad that the face buttons And dpad are no longer pressure sensitive... Seems like the biggest loss

@naru_joe93: The problem with having to pre-emptively select or press an action to record is that you will miss out on cool moments. With it having automatically record the last 15 minutes or so, if there's a crazy moment that you never saw coming, it's already recorded. :)

Also, how many games used the pressure sensitive buttons? I remember MGS3 did on the PS2 but that's all I know of.

@zero_:

Driving games also used the pressure sensitivity. GTA and GT. I would rather use the triggers, though.

I cant wait to have this baby in my hands!

They took the worst controller ever (ps3) and tried to bring it closer to the best ever (360) while adding on random crap I don't care about, but also doesn't seem to be intrusive. I think it'll be a fine controller.

@grissefar: Um, that's how all controllers work, you can't expect to use the Right Stick and the face buttons all together unless a magical extra right thumb grows out o f your right hand, so I really don't see any solution for this..

How about extra shoulder/back buttons? Got a bunch of finger that do nothing and a thumb that has to do all the work.

I meant as the share button, I know how the recording works :) you just double tap the home button and that brings up the share stuff, instead of giving it its own button

also, yeah nothing used pressure sensitive button, but were going into a new generation which means more innovation then ever before. Maybe that added control could have proved useful. It couldn't have hurt to add it, and the price on controllers are already way past what it actually costs to produce them, so I doubt the added cost would have mattered much. Could have proved interesting...

@grissefar: Hmm, the touchpad does have extra buttons but they'll need your thumb, and as I've stated before you won't have any trouble dealing with those buttons, so that might cover it for you, but since you don't wanna use your thumbs on a lot of buttons, perhaps a third-party company would make a custom controller that'd suit your needs, just like the Razer Onza controller with extra bumpers for X360.

@naru_joe93: Double tapping the PS button will bring you directly to the last game you've played, just saying. =)

Actually you can change the shoulders to shoot with L1 and R1.

Cool to hear about the touchpad. That was the only thing I didn't get to try out. If implemented well, it would trump rumble in the triggers; the rest of the controller is already better than the Xbox One controller (which I also got to try out).

Bad news bro. No pressure sensitive buttons on the DS4. Apparently the pressure sensitive nature of the buttons on the 3 hogged an awful lot of bandwith, so they nixed it.

Source: http://www.pushsquare.com/news/2013/03/five_things_you_may_not_know_about_the_ps4s_controller

The PS4 and XBONE were both on show at Eurogamer Expo in London but I only got hands on with the PS4 controller just because lines were crazy long. My hands on was fairly brief but I can say that it's a definite step up from the DS3. It certainly has a bit more weight to it as well as being slightly bigger in the hands now that the handles themselves are a different shape. It was hard to really get a feel for the sticks though as they were so stiff because they were new that I found pressing them in to run a bit difficult as I'd start running and soon stop but I'm sure that's something that wouldn't really be a problem over time. The touch pad actually surprised me the most just because of how sensitive it is. My concern was that it would be similar to the back of the Vita which is just terrible and doesn't respond well at all but here, it's perfectly fine to use. The biggest concern from here on out is how will developers actually use it. So far it seems like it's because used for short cuts so you can have more options. So for example, I played Warframe where a simple swipe in different directions would activate your powers but I couldn't find any use for it when I played Knack.

@bitcloud: They're quite fast and responsive actually, way better than DS3's that's for sure.

@mrcraggle: Sticks are all new despite their position, so we'll definitely need some time to get used to them. I don't know much about the Vita's touch pad but my friend was positive about them, especially about their integration with Fifa Soccer, perhaps we'll be seeing the same integration with DualShock 4's touchpad in Fifa 14? I didn't find any use of it in Knack either, but it'll be used in Killzone: SF for the drone and in inFamous: SS for the fingerprint scanning and absorbing the smoke.

Yeah, touchpad was all good, but we need to see more devs supporting it in their games..

I own an Xbox 360 and a PS2, and I am most comfortable with the Xbox 360 controllers. I never did like the triggers on the DS2 or 3 but now the controller looks like as soon as I learn to use side-by-side thumbsticks it will be EASIER to use than xbox 360.

@ii_spadex_ii: How are the thumbstick placements, I have been recently experiencing wrist pain because of the DS3 and now am worried that it will be the same as the DS4.

Which did you like better the DS3 or Xbox 360 controller? Also, where do you normally place your thumb on the sticks? do you use the bottom edge, do you overlap the stick, or do you thumb right dead in the center?

@egg: actually you can remap.