Sony has unveiled their DualSense Edge controller. It is the first modular controller officially released by Sony for the PlayStation console.
As a brief review, Sony’s very first PlayStation controller, the DualShock, was seemingly patterned on the SNES controller, with a small switch of its d-pad to a segmented d-pad with its own original patent, and an extra pair of side buttons, which are analog triggers. Following the Nintendo 64’s lead, Sony added two analog sticks at the bottom sides of the d-pad and buttons respectively, and Sony has kept this layout through all generations of PlayStation.
In fact, for the most part, the design of the PlayStation controller has stayed unchanged. It was virtually identical for the first three PlayStations. Sony did add some interesting new ideas like motion controls, and attempting to ditch DualShock itself, for the PlayStation 3, but fan reaction eventually led them back to licensing DualShock and mostly abandoning motion controls for themselves.
The DualShock 4 was Sony’s first major attempt to really innovate again, adding a touchpad and lights as a form of sensory feedback. With the DualSense, Sony went all out with features like haptic feedback, dynamic adaptive triggers, and now, with the DualSense Edge, Sony has added a layer of modularity.
There are two levels of customization for the DualSense Edge. You can replace physical parts, and you can modify settings on the controller itself, without having to use a separate program. On this end, Sony follows the lead made by companies like Microsoft and Gulikit, but it’s likely fans won’t be complaining that they didn’t come up with these first.
On the physical level, you can replace the analog sticks, and the analog stick caps. You can switch around the back buttons, with different shapes available for those buttons. The adaptive triggers now have toggles so you can adjust their dead zones. Its USB braided cable comes with a unique connector housing that locks to the back of the controller for a secure wired connection.
Lastly, there are two extra buttons at the bottom of the analog sticks, that are not remappable buttons, but enable you to change settings and even swap around different control profiles, which leads to our discussion on its non-physical modifications.
On a programmable level, you can do things like create controller profiles, program the back buttons, change the sensitivity and dead zones of the analog sticks, change the adaptive trigger stops and dead zones, and as mentioned above, change settings and controller profiles on the fly. Of course, Sony also cites features that already exist on the regular DualSense, including audio controls, haptic feedback, and the fact that the triggers are adaptive themselves.
Sony is bundling all these items with the DualSense Edge:
- DualSense Edge wireless controller
- USB braided cable
- 2 Standard caps
- 2 High dome caps
- 2 Low dome caps
- 2 Half dome back buttons
- 2 Lever back buttons
- Connector housing
- Carrying case
Most interesting among these features is the fact that the analog sticks can easily be replaced at all. Of course, the DualSense, much like other video game controllers, have been struggling from noticeable stick drift. Sony isn’t the first to offer replaceable analog sticks but they may normalize this as an option for controllers in the industry moving forward.
Source: PlayStation Blog
