Since the PS3, DualShock controllers have a nice, round home button between the analog sticks that you can easily press to quickly return to the console’s main menu. The PS5’s DualSense changes that. I detest it.
Rather than a small acrylic clog with a PlayStation logo on it, the DualSense’s home button is a fully miniature PlayStation logo. It barely rises above the surface of the plastic; you don’t feel the button right away when your thumb scrapes the bottom part of the controller to look for it, and the edges poke you when you finally do. It’s camouflaged entirely in black, almost as if the controller’s main button – the one that turns on the console and lets you exit games – isn’t found, used, or in the least wanted to be enjoyed.
See, redesigns are always a tough pill to swallow, especially when they follow the back of pretty decent ones that you’ve gotten really used to. I’ve spent seven years with the DualShock 4 and the PS4’s menu system, neither of which I liked, but both of which have taken on a familiar warmth after thousands of hours of treatment as extensions of my own mind and body. A few months into the life of the PS5, I’m still annoyed by the weird design choices. I don’t see that I don’t bring things like the DualSense home button right to the home screen, and that the button itself will soon be masquerading as a slice of iconographic flair rather than a practical interface.
Im not alone either. Here’s how Kotaku freelance editor and Rock, paper, shotgun co-founder John Walker explained to me about Slack DMs:
What strikes me is that it resembles branding, not a means of interaction. Several times I completely forgot it’s a button, then I assumed that the reason I can’t find the menus I’m looking for is because of the complete mess of the new dashboard, rather than having a completely different one. part of the overlap have forgotten Möbius interface.
I agree this doesn’t make much sense on my part – it’s in exactly the same place as the round button marked “PS” on the previous controller, so I don’t really have a good excuse. But god, there is something so profoundly foreign about the fact that it is now this peculiar relief glyph. The semiotics screams “DON’T PRESS ME!”, Before realizing how unpleasant it is as a tactile interaction.
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The knob is also a big buzzkill when it comes to DualSense adjustment. Kotaku senior reporter Mike Fahey recently had controller modder Colerware send him a DualSense in pink and black. The thing looks sharp and speaks of the flexibility when it comes to personalizing your PS5 controller, other than the home button. “The only downside to customizing the DualSense controller is that you can’t really do much with that damn PlayStation logo button,” he wrote. “Whatever color you paint it, it still is what it is.”
The rest of the controller is excellent. The triggers are so ergonomic that I sometimes forget that I am pulling, except when the haptic feedback is activated and I can feel the tension growing when I pull an arc in Astro’s playroom. The grip feels better than the DualShock 3 or 4 ever did. Reducing the size of the light bar is an energy-saving relief. The analog sticks feel more substantial, although time will tell if they really hold up better than their chintzy predecessors.
In so many ways, the DualSense is a monumental step forward from the previous generation. Too bad the button I touch first every time I turn on my machine isn’t one of them. Maybe Sony will solve it with a DualSense Pro.