The Battle For Gaming Supremacy Encompasses All Warzones
One area where PlayStation have decisively won the latest console war is controllers. Building upon innovations from earlier consoles, like the PS4’s touchpad, the Dualsense 5 includes haptic feedback and adaptive triggers, both of which go a long way into creating a more immersive gaming experience than ever before. The haptic feedback uses localized vibrations so that we can feel, say, individual drops of rain, whereas the adaptive triggers mean that you can feel the tension of a bowstring or a gun jamming.
Both features have drawn rave reviews for the PS5 controller, with fans loving the heightened immersion offered by Sony. In contrast the Xbox Series X’s controller’s main new feature is sending data to the console more frequently to delay latency. While this is no doubt impressive it’s also less in your face, and something a lot of players may not even realize is happening – a couple of milliseconds save doesn’t exactly compare to the ability to know the direction of a thunderstorm based on which part of your controller is vibrating, after all.
And it looks like Microsoft are taking note of Sony’s success, as in a recent survey they asked fans who’ve purchased an Xbox Series X which features, if any, they’d like to see implemented in the Xbox Series X controller. Xbox boss Phil Spencer is just one of many who’ve praised Sony’s innovations, hinting at a very different philosophy between companies and stating “the Xbox controller has kind of become a default, even outside of gaming scenarios”. It looks like Microsoft’s original intent was to focus more on improvements to original features than the creation of new ones, but with the positive reaction the Dualsense 5’s innovations have garnered, it looks like they may be moving past this.
Which gaming moment would be most improved/made more devastating by adaptive triggers? Mine would be The Boss’s death in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. Let us know yours down in the comments.