DualShock 4

Those of you that prefer traditional analogue sticks over touchpad things may be excited to learn that the DualShock 4 will be compatible with Windows PCs out of the box. As always, Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida confirmed the snippet on Twitter, noting that the peripheral will work fine for “basic functions”. Exactly what the executive’s referring to remains a little ambiguous.

Still, the comment hints at a marked step forward from the DualShock 3. As our friends over at Joystiq point out, many non-Microsoft controllers employ the XInput API to make them register to the computer as though they are an Xbox controller. The manufacturer’s current device doesn’t support that, but Yoshida encouraged followers to wait for a post-release report regarding the DualShock 4. Our guess is that the peripheral will play pretty well with PCs, and the company's merely being coy.

It makes sense, too, as it gives the platform holder a further opportunity to sell PlayStation 4 controllers. Seeing as the unit is actually extremely comfortable to hold, we suspect that there’s going to be a lot of demand from computer players to use the peripheral with platforms such as Steam. The Japanese giant would be silly not to accommodate that – and if the firm’s taught us anything over the past few months, it’s that it’s anything but daft.

[source twitter.com, via joystiq.com]