Sony’s upcoming PlayStation 4 gaming console is currently set for a Holiday 2013 release with new additions and features. However, one of the most important components of the console is its revised next-gen DualShock 4 controller, and Sony has recently shed some more light on the new technology.
According to SCE Worldwide Studios head Shuhei Yoshida, who spoke to EDGE about the console, the DualShock 4 doesn’t need any kind of incorporation with the PS Move camera as the controller’s LED bar works in an entirely different way.
To a question about if the light bar on the DualShock 4 encroaches on Move’s features, Yoshida responds: “The light-bar doesn’t require the camera to function. It’s just a different way of identifying the player. In terms of using the LED [as in the Dualshock 3, with] numbers like 1, 2, 3 and 4, it looked a bit odd. The SCEI people wanted some smarter way of doing it, and the use of a full-colour LED came up.”
“And of course, as Rich’s teams pointed out, other than the depth that required the use of PS Move, identifying the precise 2D location of the player can be [done] by camera, if we put the LED bar on the controller.”
So that means it has a dual (or a triple) role because “game designers could use it for some effect. Like when [players are] losing HP, the color could change from green to red. Like in the Killzone demo, if you were watching Steven playing, [that game] has that function already.”
“People were watching the main screen, but Steven was facing the audience, showing how the light bar colour changes as he was hit by the enemy; as he lost hit points the colour was changing from green to red. And when he used the health replenishment, it went back to green,” Yoshida tells the magazine.
The PS4 is expected to go up against Microsoft's next console, which will be revealed on May 21st, this holiday season.