IGN have been allowed to have a play with what is essentially the final PS3 hardware. Despite being mostly positive about the console, one bit sticks out – the controller.
Although much the same as the PS2 Dual Shock 2 pad, only without the “shock” as Sony wouldn’t stump up money to appease the rumble technology patent holder, the “SIXAXIS” pad holds some other more nasty shocks. Firstly, it’s cheap and plasticky, but more important than that are the new L2 and R2 triggers. Hurrah for Sony finally realising that analogue triggers are ace and all, but they’ve already broken them. They’re convex (not concave like every other pad with them ever) and slippery. So your fingers slip off them with easy. In addition, they’re stupidly placed so you can’t actually press them with your fingers properly. Genius.
And that isn’t all! It isn’t mentioned in the IGN article, but it now appears that in order to “bind” the new pads wirelessly to the PS3 console, you have to connect them up with a cable each time you turn the console one. Yes, that’s right. The wireless controllers need to use a wire. Excellent, Sony, just excellent.