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4. SIXAXIS function
When I first heard that the PS3’s controller would feature the motion sensitive technology, SIXAXIS, I must say I was rather skeptical. I remained so for a long time, as I rightly felt this was a token response to the Wii’s brilliant motion sensing remote. And initial games for the PS3 either implemented it quite poorly or made no use of it whatsoever.
But soon developers started to think of better ways to take advantage of the combination of an existing control scheme and an additional motion sensing function. Hence, last year the glorious Heavenly Sword showed how much fun the SIXAXIS can be with controlling Nariko’s ability to hurtle swords and cannon balls at enemies, and Kai’s missions of arrow sniping were just the icing on the cake. Other worthy uses of the SIXAXIS are the aircraft controls in Warhawk which actually allow for much better air combat when properly mastered. And then there are the helicopters and boats in GTAIV which are so well suited to the tilt function.
Lastly the fluid and graceful control of the many evolutionary organisms in the PSN download, flOw, can never be matched by analogue sticks or mouse movement. Whilst the Playstation 3 version was a port from the PC and PSN platforms, thanks to SIXAXIS controls it has truly owned this title.
5. Rumble Feature
You would have to be very new to gaming, or have been living under a rock until March this year, to have not heard the biggest lament about the first PS3 controller, the SIXAXIS. By far the most missed feature of the Sony controller was rumble. There’s no need to go into detail about why the SIXAXIS didn’t ship with rumble, but it sure did leave PS3 gamers with a nagging feeling of what was missing. Yes the motion control was cool, but without rumble it didn’t complete the picture.
Thankfully the DualShock 3, as the name suggests, does feature rumble technology along with the SIXAXIS’ motion control. The result: brilliantly implemented vibrations for new and existing titles without an impact of any of the existing controllers features. Driving, fighting and first person shooters all work well with the new rumble technology; although Infinity Ward are still too lazy to release a patch for Call of Duty 4, despite other third-party studios retro patching their games.
Best of all are the newer PS3 titles which take the rumble to a whole new level. Any gamer who was suckered into “finishing the fight” in Halo 3 will know of the monotonous constant vibrations that tile featured. Bungie seemed to have one frequency of vibration, and one power setting: full on! It was either on or off; no subtlety and certainly no thought. And boy did it force many of us to switch the feature off completely in the last few levels. Metal Gear Solid 4, however, has taken rumble and vibration implementation to a whole new level. There are over 50 different types of rumble used in the game, all of which match Snake’s onscreen interaction with props, environments and people. Slight spoiler alert: The Triumph motorcycle and the Rex stages and cutscenes stand out in my mind as perfect implementations of the DualShock 3 and its rumble feature. Surely the same can be done on the 360 Wireless controller, but I am yet to experience it!
Conclusion
Although the Playstation 3 was off to a slow start in many areas, including the rumbleless SIXAXIS controller, with the release of the DualShock 3 it has once again asserted its authority as a quality hardware maker of peripherals. The DualShock 3 is the most expensive of the current gen console remotes, but its features are arguably the best and, when you consider that all the add-ons the WiiMote and 360 wireless offer come standard in the DualShock 3, it actually is the most cost effective.
No matter the gaming genre, the DualShock 3’s performance undoubtedly rocks!
Fuchal
NextGEN Gamers
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Look out for our 5 Reasons the WiiMote Rocks early next week! |
