Putting aside other issues, what the ******** is up with Sony and their PS3 controller designs?
First we have the boomerang design, which no one liked. I understand the concept, being more ergonomic, but a 3rd party already tried that and it failed.
Now we have the Dual Shock v2.5 which is just basically a Dual Shock that lacks the rumble feature in favor of motion sensoring. I guess thats fine, but the problem is that they ignore any and all complaints about the current controller and add the motion ability that no one really asked for and is a pretty blatent rip off at this point. Still wireless standard, which is nice, but it seems weird.
See, I don't know about anyone else, but I'm still a fan of the rumble feature overall. Losing it is kind of a bummer. Nothing to get distraught over, but I found it useful when used right.
Secondly, they still have the damned Dpad. I'll give Nintendo having it, most old games would make use of it if just for nostalgia sake, but I think almost all PS2 games use the analog stick almost exclusively. Only a few even use the Dpad, and it's mostly for menus.
They should replace the Dpad with the nub they use on the PSP, you know, the one people actually praised and said was far more comfortable than the analog stick they currently use? Then simply make that the main source of control. A textured trackball, how hard is that? Hell, it would even be easier to click. The R3 thumbstick could remain the same, or change in the same pattern. I suppose it wouldn't really matter either way, it's fairly distinct and mostly used to change camera angles anyway.
Where the left stick is now could be changed to a Dpad if they felt it was nessessary, but it would probably be vestigal. If they left it the same, however, it would be familiar enough to people who prefer it, and still serve function as a selection stick if publishers so chose. Having a left stick and right stick menu could certainly prove useful, or whatever they wanted. The biggest change I could think of would be to make it so they don't stand up as much, something slightly more akin to the C-stick on the gamecube. The damned n****e stick.
I'd like to see the controller get a different grip texture. Something that allowed the skin to breathe to reduce sweating, but still provide a firm grip, primarily on the sides and back of the controller. I find that to be more of a problem than the ergonomics of the controller, with the exception of pressing down the sticks.
The only way I see around redesigning the controller any other way would be to remove the sticks entirely and make the controller "twist" in the middle to make a Y axis tilt, then combine that with the motion sensoring. The extra room could be used for a larger battery, extending play time, or trying to reoncorperate the rumble feature.
But it seems impractical, overall.
Man, why do consoles this generation suck so badly? They certainly have nice points, but they all have some really odd flaws.
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