All posts tagged: DualSense

‘Saros’ Shows Off the PS5’s DualSense Tricks

‘Saros’ Shows Off the PS5’s DualSense Tricks

Spoiler for the very first thing you see in the upcoming game Saros: It’s a bunch of words. The letters type out one by one onto the screen, spelling out some world-building that gives context to kick off the game’s story. I don’t remember what any of it said, because I was so focused on the tactile vibrations coming from the controller in my hands. There is a sharp haptic buzz for every letter, and it immediately feels very clicky-clacky. From the very beginning, Saros makes its intentions clear—this is a story you’ve got to feel. Since the launch of the PlayStation 5, Sony’s DualSense controllers have enabled haptic feedback that developers can use to make the controller vibrate in just the right way to communicate the feel of what is happening on the screen. Maybe it’s letters typing across the screen, little patters of rainfall, or a big rumble when shooting a gun or whacking something with a melee weapon. Adaptive triggers add resistance to the main triggers, meaning the difference between feathering the …

Hyperkin The Competitor Controller Review: A DualSense Copycat

Hyperkin The Competitor Controller Review: A DualSense Copycat

The most immediately striking difference is that Hyperkin’s product swaps the typical Xbox approach of asymmetric thumbsticks for the PlayStation’s horizontal layout. It also separates the D-pad (it’s one piece inside the pad, but splits its cardinal directions so each appears to be its own button), while the ABXY face buttons are spaced slightly further apart. Where the DualSense’s touchpad would sit, we have the Xbox home, menu, view, and share buttons, all blended in rather smartly. An LED ring around the home button just about echoes the lights running the periphery of the DualSense’s touchpad, although it’s really more of an inversion of the regular Xbox controller, where the home button itself lights up. The Competitor’s thumbsticks come equipped with thumbcaps that mirror the PS5’s, an outer ring with a convex central point, but a pair of Xbox-standard concave caps are included. These easily pop on and off, and can be mixed and matched, if you were so (strangely) inclined. There are two areas where this departs from both the standard Xbox and PlayStation …