From the moment the easter egg was spotted in the lead up to the PlayStation 5's launch, it has been clear that the tiny button symbols situated on the bottom of the console's controller was a real labour of love. Altogether, the 40,000 icons form a grippy texture for PS5 users, which in turn makes it a far better pad to hold than previous iterations. There's also a long story behind the feature's creation, as told to The Verge over the weekend.
The design itself went through many iterations as the senior art director of Sony's design center product design group Yujin Morisawa sketched attempts by hand before they were digitised and placed onto prototype controllers. As The Verge puts it, Sony was looking for a design that was "good-looking, textured enough to be comfortable and non-slip, but not so sandpaper-rough that it’d hurt your hands over a lengthy gaming session". Once the hardware manufacturer had settled on the design we all know today, next up was actually the easy part, funnily enough.
Actually applying the symbols to the DualSense gamepad was the easy part — because they’re not applied at all. Each and every one of those 40,000 symbols is part of the controller’s shell, created when beads of molten ABS plastic are squeezed into tiny laser-cut crevices during the standard injection-molding process. The design is optimized to keep the symbols intact as they're popped out of the mold.
It's also worth mentioning that the grippy texture also features on most PS5 accessories, including the media remote, the camera, Pulse 3D wireless headset, and the DualSense charging station. The design even pops up in the excellent Astro's Playroom. Learning how the backside of the PS5 controller came to be is an interesting story, but we really recommend clicking through and checking out some of the other miniture designs Sony considered for the pad.
[source theverge.com]
Comments 19
Yeah i loved it when i checked my media remote and charging station and found the little symbols. Such a good idea. Although the cpntrollers do slip out of my hands like crazy. That may be due to winter making my hands dryer than the sahara desert though.
Fun fact. Turn the charging station upright/on its end and the shape has been designed to mirror the shape of the PS5. Its very cool
Huh, that's pretty cool. I like the texture they give the controller, it feels nice on the hands.
40,000 is a good number.. and a good year.
In the grim darkness of the far future there is only PlayStation.
What a cute detail, and pretty impressive as well.
I never had my controller slip out of my hands still a cool little detail.
That is such an awesome easter egg, can't wait till I get mine.
The dual sense is an innovation to controllers.
With the haptics and trigger force back.
Also the sound speaker is better.
Play Astro bots and it truly shines and makes other controllers seem old and boring.
I love these little neat easter egg touches!
It's a great controller and well designed but after a 2 hour session my hands are starting to ache from it, they never have before. Maybe it's the rough texture mixed with the haptics.
@BowTiesAreCool I had that problem as well, It's bigger than the ps4 pad so I think it was just the muscles in my hands getting 'used' to it. I've not been noticing it so much recently though.
Love the controller and the aesthetics of it. But it does remind me all the time to keep my hands clean.
@Abarth_71
I feel your pain! I'd rather them have spent a little extra time and money on the triggers in general than put these little symbols on. I enjoy the little symbols but they don't outweigh the fact that the Dualsense R2 trigger has just as many issues as the PS4 controller did.
I prefer a smooth non textured surface for the console and controllers. Smooth is more easy to clean, with the contoller smooth feels cleaner.
The light, short handled, smooth DS3 has never slipped out of my hands. The smooth surface of the DS3 only needs an occasional quick wipe of a damp cloth to clean. The textured DS4 needs cleaned every day as the texture seems to scrape off tiny amounts of skin, sweat, and oil from my hands that results in my DS4 feeling like it needs cleaned.
The controller is actually one of the most comfortable things ever. It’s so weighty and solid and soft and grippy and tight and sleek and slender. I really didn’t think Sony could make premium controllers but wow. I don’t know how they can upgrade it.
I thought they were bunch of Xs. But l do like the texture because more of a grip and not slippery. Very nice details
Interesting.
I thought it was all down to a patient bloke with a very small chisel.
Very comfortable to my hands. With the DS4 I needed a skin and couldnt stand the stick feel on my thumbs so I needed thumb grips too.
Sometimes I pick up the DS4 and it feels like a light toy in comparison.
I think those controller skin and grips sellers must be annoyed and will struggle this gen
I love that Sony went with the White color and textured symbols. I have never paid attention to the hardware console much at all. I continue to pay attention to the way PS5 and accessories looks for a few seconds every time I turn it on. With my headphones draped across the top and the charging station pressed up to the front of the console it all goes together very well.
This is the kind of detail, also all over Astrobot, that makes me tremendously sad about the un-Japan-ifying of Playstation. It was this kind of Japanese attention to detail and symmetry that made Playstation special all along.
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