News & Rumours: Playstation 4/ Orbis *spin*

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Shifty Geezer said:
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
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How big is that touch pad going to be? I suppose that if it's large enough they could stencil in some outlines for zones on the touch surface, so it could be used like buttons if you wanted, with clearly defined button areas.

To me, it would make for an incredibly poor twitch area, because it's in the center of the controller. Lots of games have controls for switching weapons, picking up and dropping things, inventory and menu screens, or even buttons to bring up OS functionality. That leaches a lot of buttons you could use for twitch things like movement, attacks, reload etc. If they can make that surface free up physical buttons for better things, I'm all for it.
 
Scott_Arm said:
How big is that touch pad going to be? I suppose that if it's large enough they could stencil in some outlines for zones on the touch surface, so it could be used like buttons if you wanted, with clearly defined button areas.
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Even without lines, a player could be expected to work a virtual 3x2 grid, 3x3, or even 4x3 grid.

To me, it would make for an incredibly poor twitch area, because it's in the center of the controller.
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Yes, it needs to be for more considered or relaxed actions. Thumbs leaping from buttons/sticks to pad and back is gonna be awkward.
 
As long as most of the action takes place just above the analog sticks, I think I could get used to that. It reminds me a slight bit of that touch-keyboard attachment thingy where the keys also worked as a touch pad that was released for the DS3. I have one lying around, but the buttons were even harder to press than that of an old Blackberry, making it far less useful to me, and as a touch-pad it didn't work that comfortably either.

Would be really disappointed if it didn't have a display, but only a touch area though, but we'll see. There's not that much room to make it very useful, but I would really love it if they could somehow include display technology so you could show buttons that explain themselves. This is the real power of a touch-panel interface.
 
IMO, the most obvious thing for the touchpad is that it'll be used for text input.

That would be orders of magnitude more convenient than having to use thumb sticks or d-pad to enter text.

I have a hard time thinking of non-gimmicky things to do with it in games. That isn't to say gimmicky things can't be cool. :)

Still just as a text input interface, it would easily justify its existence.

Regards,
SB
 
It may help in a third person or resource management game. e.g., Grouping units in RTS, dragging NPCs to their intended destination, drawing, etc.

Perhaps stuff that you can use Move in 2D but without raising your hands.
 
Silent_Buddha said:
IMO, the most obvious thing for the touchpad is that it'll be used for text input.

That would be orders of magnitude more convenient than having to use thumb sticks or d-pad to enter text.

I have a hard time thinking of non-gimmicky things to do with it in games. That isn't to say gimmicky things can't be cool. :)

Still just as a text input interface, it would easily justify its existence.

Regards,
SB
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But it isn't a touchscreen. It's a touchpad. How would text input work? Or am I wrong and it's a touchscreen?
 
Rumored for the 20th:

Guerrilla Games new IP (fantasy action based)
PGR style game (by ex Bizarre devs and Evolution Studios)
The Last Guardian (now on Orbis)

And probably something from:

SSM (new FPS IP?) or Sucker Punch
Square Enix (Agni's?)
Kojima
EA/UBI/Activision multiplat fodder
Tech demos from any of the internal devs (ND, SSM, Polyphony? Come on GT6 ffs)

We still care about the games, right? :D
 
Scott_Arm said:
But it isn't a touchscreen. It's a touchpad. How would text input work? Or am I wrong and it's a touchscreen?
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Oh bleh, if there's no screen, then yeah, I fail to see good uses for it other than navigating the UI, apps, and web browsing.

Having a touchscreen would be brilliant, a touchpad? Not so much.

Regards,
SB
 
A touchpad *could* be interesting with a visor.

Edit:

Bagel seed said:
Rumored for the 20th:

Guerrilla Games new IP (fantasy action based)
PGR style game (by ex Bizarre devs and Evolution Studios)
The Last Guardian (now on Orbis)

And probably something from:

SSM (new FPS IP?) or Sucker Punch
Square Enix (Agni's?)
Kojima
EA/UBI/Activision multiplat fodder
Tech demos from any of the internal devs (ND, SSM, Polyphony? Come on GT6 ffs)

We still care about the games, right? :D
Click to expand...

I just want to see shader alias go away in GT6.

And some new ideas in the games please.

Would be nice to see an update on The Last Guardian I guess.
 
patsu said:
It may help in a third person or resource management game. e.g., Grouping units in RTS, dragging NPCs to their intended destination, drawing, etc.

Perhaps stuff that you can use Move in 2D but without raising your hands.
Click to expand...
Looking at your usual dual shock, the area must be pretty tiny, for demanding games (as far as input is concerned, I wonder if the use of a proper stylus (galaxy note style) could do marvel :)
 
Bagel seed said:
Rumored for the 20th:

Guerrilla Games new IP (fantasy action based)
PGR style game (by ex Bizarre devs and Evolution Studios)
The Last Guardian (now on Orbis)

And probably something from:

SSM (new FPS IP?) or Sucker Punch
Square Enix (Agni's?)
Kojima
EA/UBI/Activision multiplat fodder
Tech demos from any of the internal devs (ND, SSM, Polyphony? Come on GT6 ffs)

We still care about the games, right? :D
Click to expand...

Hopefully the tech demos aren't "Killzone 2"-esque.
 
Not very likely - the hardware is PC like enough to more likely get actual stuff that runs and may even be playable than to warrent them to order companies to make CGI impressions of what they hope to eventually be able to do with the new hardware that nobody knows how to code yet as basically was the case last time. ;)

I think we also know for sure we'll see Media Molecule's other project.
 
liolio said:
Looking at your usual dual shock, the area must be pretty tiny, for demanding games (as far as input is concerned, I wonder if the use of a proper stylus (galaxy note style) could do marvel :)
Click to expand...
Something like a 3.7" mobile capacitance screen hung over the top. A DS3 is 2" from right D-button to Square button, while the screen is 3" long, so the DS3 would only need be extended an inch to fit a decent screen, or the screen moved upwards more. Of course, that'd be a 4:3 screen which isn't a great fit for a 16:9 TV. But I think it'd be too expensive and fragile for Sony to go this route, even if Wii U hasn't got the idea patented up tight so noone else can combine a touch screen controller with a console.
 
Thank god the Dual Shock remains more or less unchanged. This hints for many traditional games and I just love the controller. :D

Reading about the touchpad though - I wonder how a controller would play if you replace the right analog stick with a touchpad. Think of the possibilities for shooters if you had a more precise and accurate way of aiming. Perhaps using the thumb might not be as accurate as with your index finger, but I know people who can aim with a track-ball like mouse pretty well... why not on a touchpad then? At least something like this could evolutionize the shooter genre a bit - and other games as well. Although you would be going away from the traditional dualshock controller setup then which might not be good (or ackward) for other games....

Just a thought....
 
Phil said:
Thank god the Dual Shock remains more or less unchanged. This hints for many traditional games and I just love the controller. :D

Reading about the touchpad though - I wonder how a controller would play if you replace the right analog stick with a touchpad. Think of the possibilities for shooters if you had a more precise and accurate way of aiming. Perhaps using the thumb might not be as accurate as with your index finger, but I know people who can aim with a track-ball like mouse pretty well... why not on a touchpad then? At least something like this could evolutionize the shooter genre a bit - and other games as well. Although you would be going away from the traditional dualshock controller setup then which might not be good (or ackward) for other games....

Just a thought....
Click to expand...

The Xperia Play already had that feature.

xperia-play-01(2).jpg


I remember reading reviews where the biggest complaint was the lack of physical feedback.
 
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