Sony’s rollout of information about the PlayStation 5 was weird even before the coronavirus pandemic sidelined any plans for big video game events this spring and summer (E3 was canceled, but Sony wasn’t going to be there anyway). The first real information we got came from a Wired article last year that read more like a controlled leak than a big announcement, but a few months later, Sony made a more exciting announcement by tweeting about some of the exciting stuff the PS5 will be able to do. (It wasn’t technically all that exciting, since it was just a tweet, but you can’t deny that it was more exciting than a Wired article.)
Now, in a post that still insists that the PlayStation 5 will be available by the end of this year even though this whole pandemic thing has caused massive setbacks and delays in every possible industry, Sony has shared the very first look at the PlayStation 5's all-new controller. Called the “DualSense,” it looks like something a stylish alien would have on a little shelf in their alien house. Or maybe some kind of penguin? Let’s go with “alien penguin spaceship.”
And before you ask, no, Sony did not get rid of the terrible, terrible, terrible little speaker that was inside the PlayStation 4's DualShock 4. However, it did (sort of) get rid of the blindingly bright light on the back, even though a laser cannon like that would make perfect sense on a spaceship. Instead, the lights have been moved to the front of the controller, which will make them much more useful as a trap to blind someone if they’re playing your PlayStation without permission. As for what is probably a more pressing question: The name apparently comes from a new focus on “the sense of touch within gameplay,” with “adaptive triggers” that will feel different based on what you’re doing in the game, like driving a car on gravel, pulling back the string on a bow, or snapping Sub-Zero’s neck.
That’s according to a blog post that has a bit more detailed information on what to expect from the DualSense, including some promises about battery life and how it apparently feels smaller than it looks. Oh, also, it’s white. That means the actual PlayStation 5 console—which we still haven’t seen—might also be white. Microsoft’s new Xbox, the Series X, is just a black monolith, so Sony putting out a white thing with curvy lines would be kind of cool. Or maybe it’ll just be another black rectangle that says “PlayStation” on it. All we know is that Sub-Zero is a chump.