The PlayStation 5 will now probably be less than three months away and so far it has managed to get much more interest than its main competitor, the Xbox Series X made by Microsoft.
Analysts believe that the PlayStation 5 could outsell the Xbox Series X by a margin of two to one. Sure, so far Sony has been able to ‘sell’ the benefits of the generational leap better than Microsoft, and choose, for example, to develop exclusive first-party PS5 titles from the get-go.
Sony has focused on highlighting the enhanced ‘sensory’ experience provided by the PlayStation 5, thanks in particular to the Tempest Engine 3D audio and the DualSense controller’s custom triggers and haptics.
The latter may be the most exciting innovation enabled by the PS5 hardware, according to many third-party developers who have already waxed the potential of DualSense haptics, pointing out that it could produce brand new sensations at games. Take a look at a selection of quotes we have selected from the news.
Young Horses Games President Philip Tibitoski: Rather on almost every console that has vibrations or clutter, it’s a fun feature that can sometimes make things more immersive, but I have not really felt anything so complicated and sensitive as the haptic feedback from DualSense.
In our game, being a first person, running on different terrains, jumping in and out of water or running in bugsnax, you can feel the difference between running on grass versus running in water versus running on sand or snow. There’s weather in our game and when there’s a thunder and things of that nature, you can feel where the sound is coming from through the vibration.
We also use the customizable triggers. Different skins have different functionalities and some of them are best exhibited, tension in such triggers or clutter in them to make you feel like you are actually using them.
Bethesda sr. VP of Marketing and Communications Pete Hines: I tried the haptic feedback and custom triggers on this thing and was very impressed. I think games with them will do some fun things.
Supermassive Games Managing Director Pete Samuels: You mentioned the PlayStation 5 DualSense controller and its features and we’ve been having some conversations for a while about how we’ll use that.
The very tactile thing – as much as we can convey what you would expect the character’s experience to be directed back to the player, I think the better attachment you feel to the characters.
Techland Lead Gameplay Designer Tymon Smektala: I absolutely love the DualSense controller. It’s a great design, as futuristic as we should expect in 2020 – the sci-fi times we are already living in. As for the shape, we have to see how it will fit in the hands, but look at that I get very good vibes – I think it has a chance to be one of the best in history, just great enough, but neat & funky at the same time.
I also think the haptic feedback and custom triggers could be real game changers, much more than people right now expect.
Director of Codemasters Development Robert Karp: On the PS5, for example, you have the customizable triggers that can have some really interesting implementations – especially for racing. There’s a lot of excitement and buzz about it.
You will get different feedback based on different surfaces, we have many different surface types. The haptic feedback gives us the opportunity to do something new and different, help to increase the immersion and the feeling.
Arkane Lyon Game Director Dinga Bakaba: […] something we’m really excited about is the DualSense controller. It has a lot of fun features, with the feedback from the haptics and the active triggers. We are a first person game, we appreciate a lot in our games and can really feel the weapon in your hands, the reaction to it, how it reloads, how it reacts to the charge … I think that every game designer in the world who got their hands on DualSense thinks it’s a wonderful toy, and I think gamers will enjoy those features as well. For us, it’s again a fun opportunity we’m excited about, so between power and the controller, it’s very, very exciting.
Counterplay Director Keith Lee: What’s exciting about the DualSense controller is the fact that it has stereo vibration in terms of rumblers, such as resistance on the triggers, so one of the things you can do is to first sensation of you making weapon that hits another weapon and how it resonates.
The fact that when you glide across the ground, depending on the surface of the material – you might be slipping on gravel or sand or water – the way the vibrations work feels just like those surfaces. That it is much more powerful in terms of making that experience.
TeamKilla Media co-founder Micah Jones: For example, we will make any cannon shot that vibrates the side of the hand that would hold the handle of the gun, vibrating the controller dynamically according to where the enemy hits you. We’ll take the player to doors that have the possibility of rear-end explosions and the character will place his left hand on the door and when it gets hot the controller will vibrate on the left side of the controller to warn the player of an explosion when that door is opened.
Tango Gameworks Game Director Kenji Kimura: You have to experience it right away, because this is very difficult to explain, but the DualSense Haptics and custom triggers felt so good that it surprised us. We could feel and experience the various actions and attacks like never before.
Truth be told, we’re long overdue for a control update. Motion controls went fast out of fashion (although they found their natural habitat in Virtual Reality games) to the Wii generation, while the DualShock 4’s touchpad and light bar didn’t really add much to the experience.
Nintendo brought an updated ‘HD Rumble’ system to its Joy-Con Switch controller, developed alongside Immersion Corporation, the same company behind the DualSense haptics. As is often the case with Nintendo, HD Rumble has so far mostly only been used well in first-party games.
With the PS5’s DualSense, it seems like many third-party studios are already fully on board exploiting the full potential of the highly programmable speech-spiral actuators, which could add another much-needed immersion to our daily gaming experience. . After all, as recently announced by the CEO of Immersion Corporation, we are now in the realm of reduced returns when it comes to rigorous visual improvements from hardware generation to hardware generation. So it’s more important than ever to find other ways to increase the enjoyment of playing a game on a shiny new hardware such as the PS5 and add added sensations that allow users to feel the surfaces on which their characters run, or the weapons which they are holding, certainly fits the bill. We can not wait to try the DualSense ourselves at Wccftech, that’s for sure.
What about you? Let us know in the comments too and vote in the interview!
