The PlayStation 4 Slim leaks over the last couple of days have thrown up another interesting wrinkle, with a revision of the DualShock 4 controller coming alongside the slimmed down console. At first glance, it looks practically identical, but there’s now an eye catching lightbar built into the touchpad in addition to the traditional lightbar on the rear of the controller.
It’s a good addition, sincethe lightbar is often used by games to subtly indicate a kind of status change, like turning red when your health is low. Then again, given how vocal people were in asking for a way to turn the lightbar off on the original DualShock 4 and how distracting it can potentially be in low light, you can imagine how people might react if you can’t turn the touchpad lightbar off when playing at night.
As more slim PS4s seem to be getting out into the wild, this came from a number of unboxing and hands on videos that have been posted online, one of which can be seen below. It does seem as though Sony are pushing back, as Eurogamer have removed their video that showed the console booting citing legal advice, and others have been made private or removed entirely.
With the Slim apparently set for a grand reveal alongside the PlayStation 4 ‘Neo’ hardware on September 7th, it’s hardly surprising in this day and age that this is like closing the gate after the horse has already bolted.
Source: NeoGAF
JustTaylorNow
I hope the rubber on the analog stick is fixed & doesn’t wear off easily. That is my only issue with the DS4
MrYd
The was only the first batch of DS4s though, wasn’t it? Mine came off after 8 or 9 months (and one of the sticks stopped recognising “up” as a direction), Amazon happily sent a replacement, and that’s not had issues in 2 years. (And neither has the replacement Sony sent me, because Amazon foolishly didn’t want the broken one back. Sony did, but had no problem giving me a replacement. Which kind of means I got a free DS4 for all my troubles ;)
ron_mcphatty
Just watched an unboxing, that’s a nice looking little machine, I wonder if the Neo is gonna have a cosmetic update? I like the new controller’s light bar on top, shame the console doesn’t have one.
TSBonyman
No light on the slim PS4? .. i guess they didn’t want folks to feel left out so they added another one to the DS4.. ;)
ron_mcphatty
Hah, that’s actually quite smart :)
camdaz
Wasn’t there a article a little while ago that showed a DS4 with extra buttons?
Avenger
Good point. It was a patent that circulated a while back. Happen Sony didn’t feel the need for the extra buttons, or maybe there’s still an elite controller in the mix to compete like for like.
colmshan1990
I’m split on the light bar.
Some games use it well. Others don’t and it just turns into a distraction.
I think I’ll avoid the updated controller unless there are other changes,
Lyts1985
I might be tempted by the updated controller – I quite like the light bar and the way it changes in some games to suit the situation. Killzone used it really well, for example.
DividSmythe
I do like the lightbar across the top of the controller but I’d prefer a bigger battery in the DS4 mainly