News & Rumours: Playstation 4/ Orbis *spin*

Ok, I see that now. Disregard post then.

 

http://www.vg247.com/2013/02/13/ps4-controller-new-details-emerge-pre-reveal/

Reason prevails at Sony for once.

 

I always imaged that with a touch screen/pad in the middle Select and Start would have been removed altogether.
Oh well I hope they moved them in comfortable position.

 

Could be under the face buttons or elsewhere, but not 'buttons' as they are on the PS1, PS2, or PS3 controllers.

Maybe more like Vita where they are flat next to the controller's surface, but can still be pushed in. I bet they are smaller and more inconspicuous compared to before since they could be moved somewhere where our hands or palms might hit them otherwise.

 

^^^
I didn't think about that...silly me.
Using flat buttons would be a great choice indeed, also the PS button should be flat as well.

 

I haven't held the dual shock in a long time so I don't recall the size, but I'm hopeful that it's comfortable to use the entire touchpad with an average sized thumb while still holding the controller with both hands.

If you have to let go of the controller with one hand an use you index finger, I think it defeats the purpose.

 

On Vita you can use your thumbs to use the touchscreen, but for example when using your browser you don't need the speed to access it, so you can just use your index finger after taking off your hand. Though it is very easy to scroll and zoom in a browser using your thumb (or your fingers on the back touchpad).

On DS3, the start and select buttons are easily accessible with thumbs for most people. I would say my hands could be on the slightly small side, and my thumbs can easily reach the start and select buttons, enough that I think it would be pretty easy to swipe my thumb up and down, or side to side. In fact I think the largest complaint about PlayStation controllers is that it is too small, not that it is hard to reach buttons. For me the size is pretty perfect though.

Right now it doesn't look like a problem, I just went and held a DS3 to check lol. It's pretty easy to handle thumbs on the touchpad on Vita also, but of course if you want to be really accurate you're going to have to use index fingers. The thumb's purpose is to be opposable mostly, not accurate

 

That's good to read. I'm really intrigued by the idea of a touch panel although I have no idea how it could be used. lol. I hope they find some clever uses.

Is the Vita rear panel multi-touch? I wonder if using both some thumbs on the potential DS touchpad you could do some cool pinch-to-zoom type maneuvers. That maybe easier to do than doing it with both analogue sticks. Hopefully, it won't only be a QTE enabler.

 

A touchpad to control a pointer in a browser would be great. Also I'd love to try that for precision aiming when zooming with a scope in an FPS.

 

Well, that's why our hands are multipurpose

Swiping between screens, scrolling, zooming, etc.... thumbs.

Dragging a pointer, using a complicated menu, etc... index fingers.

It's not one all be all, it's multipurpose, like touchpads on your phone

It's not about picking one design, it's about being compatible with many, and a touch interface is for many things

P.S. About aiming, the Sixaxis controls on Uncharted Golden Abyss... I know there are people who regardless of how it is done, will just not be able to use it, because it won't click with them, but imo this one 'clicked' and was very easy to use. There were two areas it worked in which were regular aiming (pistol, rifle) or zoomed in aiming (sniper rifle).

The one which really surprised me was the sniper rifle aiming, because especially with the more-difficult-to-be-precise with analog sticks on Vita, the minor adjustments you could do with tilting was pretty amazing and very responsive. And on top of that when enemies were either moderately or very far away, those miinor adjustments to aim you could afford with just slightly moving the Vita itself was pretty helpful, I was impressed at least.

Again, still other people did not like it as much as I did. But I thought I saw a very good example of it working like we might think it should. To me, it was very responsive and adjusting sensitivity you could make the motion smooth as butter, almost like emulating a 1:1 motion without actually doing so.

 

I think pointers and aiming is probably the worst application. The best application is probably for menus and other non-twitch control. Swipe left for inventory. Swipe right for stats. Swipe up for pause menu. Swipe down to do something else. That kind of thing.

 

I agree, the tilt controls were great for aiming in Golden Abyss. Use the stick for large movements and the tilt for fine adjustments. I think it worked really well and hope we see it in PS3/PS4 games.

 

Yes, front and back of Vita are both five point multi-touch.

 

Menu's don't really need a touch interface. That'd be a lot of investment for very little gain over leaving the touch pad out and just using menu's and D-pad navigation.

IMO the main purpose of the touch pad ought to be expansive, immediate interfacing. You can have virtual buttons with a broad enough placement that it's obvious to the user. Better yet, it should have positional continuity with the game, such as selecting an area in an RTS to calling up tactics. Broad positioning on touch pad can be married to AI target selection, so a pass can be made in a football game based on the smartest choice in the touched vicinity, versus the timed press and the like of current games. I suppose for menus there could be something like four drop-down tops on the top of the screen, with a corresponding touch on the top of the pad in the equivalent column bringing down a menu which you can slide down to make a selection. That'd be quick. I don't suppose it's accurate enough for inventory management in a Wii U like way - that'd need a screen.

If all touch adds is a gimmicky interface, swiping instead of pressing a button, it'll contribute nothing of value to the future IMO