Final PS3 controller, launch line-up at E3 - Harrison

By Games Industry.biz Published 23 March, 2006

More on digital distribution, too.

The PlayStation 3's final controller design and the console's line-up of launch software will be unveiled at E3, Sony Worldwide Studios head Phil Harrison said yesterday.

Speaking at a press luncheon, Harrison also said that Blu-ray disc "will be the primary distribution method for the triple-A games that you will see on the PS3," but that the "eventual shift" to digital distribution would be at a pace set by the consumer.

Sony wants to deliver episodic content - "whether it's game, music, television - or perhaps some combination of those" - through downloads for PS3, Harrison said, as part of a move to "push beyond the traditional gameplay we see in retail".

He also dismissed suggestions that the one-year gap between Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3's respective launches was a disadvantage, reminding those assembled that Sony has reached a market-leading position without ever being the first platform to market during a generation shift.

Having outlined Sony's plans for PlayStation 3 online and digital distribution, and demonstrated several real-time game demos before lunch, Harrison was meeting with the press to answer questions relating to the particulars of his presentation.

Asked if it would be fair to assume the games demonstrated during his keynote (see our previous coverage for more details) are launch titles, he said, "All of that will be answered at E3," but was reluctant to speculate further, other than to say, "I think it's fair to assume that the ones we showed you are going to be more advanced."

Another topic raised was the PlayStation 3's controller. The design of the prototype shown at last year's E3 has proven controversial, and Harrison reminded everyone of its prototype status in response to question about the impact of the Immersion lawsuit, which had "no impact" on the decision not to show the controller at GDC. "The controller will be revealed at E3," he stated - something later reaffirmed by Sony a spokesperson.

The Worldwide Studios boss would not be drawn on hardware issues, protesting, "I'm in charge of the software studios, not the manufacturing plant." Although he did say that Sony's production rate of one million units per month "is the fastest we've ever had."

Sections of the press have reacted with concern to Harrison's reluctance to comment directly on recent reports that the PlayStation 3 hard disk will be bundled with the console - following Sony boss Ken Kutaragi's revelation last week that it will be required. However Harrison has always chosen his words very carefully, and this reluctance is more likely out of a desire not to tread on his colleagues' toes than to create confusion or contradict previous statements. He did say, however, that, "Every single game will support a hard drive."

For more on the contents of Harrison's GDC keynote, http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=63536 and commentary.

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Comments (49) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • SlackMaster #1 6 years ago

    Hmm so it won't be a bannana boomerang thing anymore...

  • lennon #2 6 years ago

    Im confused about the HDD issue. If all games on a system need one then surely a games console has to ship with one. If it is going to then why not just say so.

    Thank goodness the controller is going to be redesigned.

  • urban #3 6 years ago

    FINALLY they admit its changed....

    woopness most definatly

  • Blerk #4 6 years ago

    Dualshock 2 with the d-pad and left-stick switched over. That's all you need to do.

  • smelly #5 6 years ago

    My money is on a controller which looks like a tv remote control.

  • megastar #6 6 years ago

    that would be a nightmare for me blerk - im a dpadder on pro evo still.

  • SeesThroughAll #7 6 years ago

    A controller with a touchpad area between the sticks, as well as with the D-pad and left stick switched. :p

  • Cabelo #8 6 years ago

    The HDD has been confirmed as being in every one by now... jeez, that was two days ago y'jerks ;)

    Also Smelly, don't ever change :p

  • bivith #9 6 years ago

    look. another PS3 article!

  • Beano #10 6 years ago

    "FINALLY they admit its changed.... "

    It has always been a prototype... I wouldn't be surprised if it still looks like a boomerang and changes are minor.

  • kalel #11 6 years ago

    "Dualshock 2 with the d-pad and left-stick switched over. That's all you need to do."

    Personally I'd go for some triggers instead of 4 shoulder buttons, and analogue sticks that actually work properly would be a nice bonus also. Otherwise yes.

  • kangarootoo #12 6 years ago

    @SeesThroughAll

    "A controller with a touchpad area between the sticks, as well as with the D-pad and left stick switched"

    I'll see that and raise you a controller with a touchpad area between the sticks, the D-pad and left stick switched, a little stand for your online headset when its not in use and a little hook to keep your takeaway bag safe in transit.

  • drumbaby #13 6 years ago

    I'd be more than happy with a DS2 that's wireless out of the box, and obviously with some kind of Immersion dodging technology in it.

  • kangarootoo #14 6 years ago

    @bivith

    "look. another PS3 article!"

    Isn't that like going onto the Gardeners World website and saying "look, another effective management and recovery from greenfly damage article"?

  • BartonFink #15 6 years ago

    On the controller all they really need to do is .... errr
    Aw screw it just copy the 360 controller and make it black. Sorted.

  • bivith #16 6 years ago

    Yes, if they posted 4 articles on it in one morning ;)

  • BartonFink #17 6 years ago

    No they posted 3 late yesterday and 1 today :)

    EG wove Sony ... we all knew this what's the problem?
    Edited by 1 at 23/03/06 @ 12:51

  • Flying_Pig #18 6 years ago

    He did say, however, that, "Every single game will support a hard drive."

    Doesn't mean that everygame would require a hard drive though.... My money would be on a HDD as standard, as how else would you get developers to support it. It would also be essential for delivery of online content etc which Sony seems so keen on

  • Fubdub #19 6 years ago

    Well, I've only tried the X360 controller on a demopad, but I wasn't all that impressed and frankly I think that unless they have something really interesting to add, like the touchpad that's been suggested, they ought not to change it too much. It's not a bad controller as it is now.

  • Rambaldi #20 6 years ago

    "push beyond the traditional gameplay we see in retail".

    i.e. "make more money by killing the 2nd hand market in retail"

    Fucking arseholes.

  • SeesThroughAll #21 6 years ago

    I'll see that and raise you a controller with a touchpad area between the sticks, the D-pad and left stick switched, a little stand for your online headset when its not in use and a little hook to keep your takeaway bag safe in transit.

    I'll top that with a controller with a touchpad area between the sticks, the D-pad and left stick switched, a little stand for your online headset when its not in use, a little hook to keep your takeaway bag safe in transit, and a small screen on the area between the pad and the face buttons, along with a compact UMD deck underneath, for watching UMD movies in your controller ;).

  • Rambaldi #22 6 years ago

    What's wid all da controla bashin?

    A poor workman always blames his tool, eh? ;)

  • groovychainsaw #23 6 years ago

    The joysticks on the dual shock are AWFUL though - they ought to at least 'borrow' microsoft's for that...

  • alpha-0ne #24 6 years ago

    if games require blue ray discs surely 20gb, 30gb , 40gb is just too big for a single downloadable game? even with super fast connections even a hd of 200gb would be small

    sony mangement need to talk to each other is the HDD required or not, every game suports it means if its there the game will use it, if harrision doesnt know noone will hes the head of the software group

  • JonFE #25 6 years ago

    "Dualshock 2 with the d-pad and left-stick switched over. That's all you need to do."

    So, Blerk, I guess MS managed to do something right in the first place after all :)

    Joking aside, don't you think that such a change would upset loyal PS users too much? Being accustomed to the Xbox (and less the GC) controler myself, I'm really not confortable with the DualShock design. I'd assume the same would apply to DS-addicted fellows.

  • Blerk #26 6 years ago

    The 360 pad is brill, Microsoft didn't just get it right they got it spot on.

    As a long-time DS user I can honestly say that I don't get confused and/or annoyed when I play Cube or Xbox games. With 99% of games using the left analogue stick for movement it really needs to be where the d-pad is these days.

  • JonFE #27 6 years ago

    @Cabelo: unless I'm mistaken, the confirmations you talk about has been made by Sony spokesmen anonymously (at least the ones I've read). Unless I hear it straight from the horse's mouth (purdon the expression) I remain sceptical.

    I am quite sure that they need to keep their options open and have the luxury to release two SKU's, if the logistics point to that direction. They started to ship the 'core' PSP without any storage device, after all; what makes you confident the PS3 will be different?

  • jiveguy #28 6 years ago

    Yeah, they should just rip off the 360 controller, I don't think anyone important is going to complain.

  • Stormflood_UK #29 6 years ago

    Maybe the controller will be a bowl of liquid and a rubber duck. Beat that Nintendo!

  • OnlyMe #30 6 years ago

    On the topic of two triggers instead of L2 and R2 - I was convinced it was the way to go, until I tried PES5 on the X360. I thought that now that the "black and white" buttons are made into shoulderbuttons, I reckon it would be even better to play PES with the X360 controller than the PS2 button. I was wrong, I gave it a lot of time but using a trigger instead of normal should button to run just felt plain wrong.

    So I'm not sure the triggers are the way to go afterall, it certainly makes it less of an allround controller, and while they may be perfect for racing games, they just feel awkward for most everything else.

  • JonFE #31 6 years ago

    Blerk,

    I really doubt Sony will copy Microsoft's design, although it would certainly be a welcome change in my book :)

    Roll on E3...

  • tiddles #32 6 years ago

    A controller with a touchpad area between the sticks

    SimPaedo, anyone?

    /coat

  • smoison #33 6 years ago

    Well after reading what everyone prefers, D-pad, or without, Xbox or Duel-Shock sylte.

    I am convinced no matter what they release, loads of people are going to complain. Hell I can't stand the Xbox Sticks, but like le GC one and Duel-Shock D-pad.

    D-Pad FoReVeR

    Edited by 1 at 23/03/06 @ 13:36

  • kangarootoo #34 6 years ago

    @bivith

    LOL, fair point. But then there is a lot going on in Sony land right now.

  • Kami #35 6 years ago

    They're switching the left stick and D-Pad around?

    Oh no, Sony don't steal ideas, it's just the format that everyone else uses... pure coincidence that Sony thought that one up...

    OK, sarcasm aside, I am glad to hear the pad is changing... the "boomerang" looked awful, uncomfortable and reminded me of those cheap Time and Tiny PC controllers you could get for next to no money and lasted about two weeks.

  • SwedBear #36 6 years ago

    I'm a bit curious about all this talk about digital distribution of games. I understand that smaller games like the Live Aracde games on the 360 fit well for download ... but complete PS3 games? Wouldn't it take way to long to download them even over a fast broadband-connection?

    Although come to think of it, you can already get Oblivion from D2D (Fileplanet) for the PC and that is 4 Gb. But I would expect a proper PS3 game to be larger ...?

  • JonFE #37 6 years ago

    Kami, we won't know if they'll switch stick'n'pad around until E3, where the final design will be shown. For the moment it's more like wishful thinking :) The "batarang" seems out, though.

  • BartonFink #38 6 years ago

    Why the heck would you expect a 'proper' PS3 game to be larger than a PC game?

    PC games have been doing high definition content for many a year now.

  • el_pollo_diablo #39 6 years ago

    integrated Tivo?

    That would shift a few machines for sure.

  • Tonka #40 6 years ago

    I think Sony are a bunch of chickens if they abandon the batarang. Surely they came up with that design because they thought that it was an improvement. If they remodel it just because people think it looks stupid that's just, ehrm, stupid.

  • ManicDrunkMonk #41 6 years ago

    I agree that they just need to:

    1. Switch the D-pad and left-stick around

    2. Make the Analog sticks a bit less 'cheap' feeling. i.e not spongy!

    3. Change the R1 button to being a trigger, although I see this as being unlikely it would improve the feel of FPS games on Playstation.

  • YourMessageHere #42 6 years ago

    They better still be doing the "supports generic USB mice & keyboards natively in all games" like they originally said or I'm not getting one. Hell, I'm probably not getting one anyway, but still, the one thing that most prevents me from liking consoles is that you have to use a pad. I hate pads. This would be so easy to do and it makes so much sense.

  • SwedBear #43 6 years ago

    BartonFink: yeah, you're right. Still a lot of GB to download. But with episodial content and better broadband I guess it's no problem.

  • chronom4n #44 6 years ago

    don' forget guys and gals that the xbox controller template was copied from the Dreamcast. dreamcast had twin analogue triggers, an analogue stick and a memory card slot X2. All MS did with it was change the size and added an extra analogue stick and make all the buttons analogue/pressure sensitive. And they made the actual size of the controller smaller (well the controller 's') is smaller. did anyone forget the size of the original controller. it baffled me as to why they created such a big controller even though they said that 5000 people playtested it.
    something to do with the size of american hands. my view is that it was 5000 microsoft employees! and the weird thing with the original DC controller was considering how the japanese have small hands, it was absolutely HUGE!! the thing to remember is that any controller has to feel as though it is an extension of your own hand(s). and to a greater or lesser extent all console manufacturers fill this criteria. but in some ways, for racing games, the xbox wins it outright (because of the triggers, they allow accurate acceleration and/or deceleration simultaneously) and in other games like pro evo (where all the buttons are in close proximity of each other and allow complex moves to be used) the Dual shock wins it outright because the gamer does not have to think about where the buttons are. haven't had a go on the gamecube yet so forgive me if i have not raised the pro's of that controller . Another point before i forget is Tekken franchise. perfect button layout if you are using all 4 shoulder buttons. would tekken be the same with any other controller? i do not think so!

  • SeesThroughAll #45 6 years ago

    chromnom4n, forget it. A lot of the people who post in PS3 articles are MS fans who like to accuse Sony of copying everything from MS, and also like to believe that MS invented everything IT related - if it wasn't for Microsoft, we would still be staring at text terminals, etc. Silly, I know.

  • El_MUERkO #46 6 years ago

    i'd just like sony to say 'ever ps3 comes with a HD but not every game may require it' then we'd all know where we stand

    as for the controller, copy the 360, its sweet (and in turn a copy of the DS2)

  • chronom4n #47 6 years ago

    seethroughall, are you trying to say that i am an sony fanboy? all i am trying to get across is that SEGA managed to create an quality controller and all ms did was to tweak it and fine tune it. And.. definitely if it wasn't for MS, i agree with you we would not have an online community, things to look forward to and for me i have a balance in gaming. So I TOTALLY AGREE that if it wasn't for MS creating the LIVE infrastructure than i would have been out of gaming a long time ago. And they have set the benchmark for others to follow. Would i consider buying a PS3 if it did not have any on-line capabilities? HELL NO WAY ON GODS EARTH WOULD I CONSIDER BUYING ONE! I do not get it why people are so addicted to one console. for me i have to state this again. Xbox has done for me is to create a BALANCE in gaming. I have met some good and bad types of gamer and have shared my thougths and advice to people around the world. best example i could give was after an F1 race i go on to find my friends on LIVE who share the same interests so we can chat while gaming. i suppose i am saying that companies need each other so they can have ideas bounce off of each other.

  • SeesThroughAll #48 6 years ago

    chronom4n, you got me wrong mate. I really was criticising the MS fanboys and their claims. Pointing out that everything nowadays is, in fact, always copied from somewhere to those people will prove unfruitful. That was my point.

    Sure thing, competition is what keeps things moving, no question about it.
    Edited by 1 at 24/03/06 @ 13:49

  • chronom4n #49 6 years ago

    seethroughall, muchos gracias. i actually do agree with you on the fact that there are many MS fanboys out there. take for example some of the gamers out there on LIVE. it amazes me that some of them have not bothered to have a go on the PS2 and yet the PS2 offers some of the most varied tastes in games. e.g. god of war, katmari damacy, ico, gt, and the list goes on. So yes even though i did not pick it up earlier on about your criticism on the MS fanboys, i do agree with you. anyone out there who thinks that 'their' company creates the best thing since sliced bread needs to seriously rethink the way they judge things.