Curves in the right places

We’ve already illustrated on multiple occasions that the DualShock 4 is a vast improvement over its divisive predecessor, but things were almost very different. Speaking as part of an interview with VG247, Killzone: Shadow Fall’s lead designer Eric Boltjes explained that at one point Sony toyed with the idea of a touch-sensitive controller for the PlayStation 4. Fortunately, the Dutch developer shot it down with a spattering of M82 assault rifle fire.

“When developing the PS4 and our game as well, we held a lot of prototypes, and we played around with them as well,” he told the website. “In one, they had replaced all of the buttons [with] touch-sensitive [panels]. We just said, ‘No’.”

The studio was also instrumental in forcing the platform holder to change the device’s triggers. “We wanted better triggers,” he continued. “They previously reverted inwards where, in a shooter game, that’s not very good, as your fingers slip off. We really pushed them to make triggers that go up.”

Boltjes concluded that the developer’s upcoming shooter is a better game because of the controller improvements. “Everything works now, from response time, the dead-zones, everything is better,” he said. We agree, though we are a little worried that the significantly improved triggers are going to result in more developers mapping the fire button to R2. After over a decade of feathering the R1 button, it’s not going to be easy to adapt.

[source vg247.com]