TGS 2005: PS3 controller still a "conceptual design"

by James Ransom-Wiley { Sep 16th 2005 at 5:15PM }

Despite hopes of playable PlayStation 3 games, GameSpot reports that the only PS3 controller at this year's TGS was sealed behind a Plexiglas window. A sign next to the controller read, "conceptual design." It looks like Sony isn't entirely committed to the boomerang-look, which has drawn its share of criticism from fans. Indeed, perhaps those sly devils threw this mock-up out there to lure Nintendo into playing its cards first…

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

nik @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

it better not be the real one because it looks like a sex toy

ManicDVLN @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

I don't think we will see any drastic changes of the PS3 controller, unless Sony wants to delay the PS3 even further. Pretty much both companies are now trying to finalize their hardware, not go back to the drawboards.

So I doubt this is some kind of conspiracy of Sony. Besides, Sony is to stubborn to change anything to please their fans. Their arrogance is larger than earth.

JD @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

I assumed as much. I hope the console design is still conceptual too otherwise I'm going to put off getting one until the PSthree.

Sean O. @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

It wouldn't be the first time they'd copied Nintendo... more like the umpteenth.

Blue Balloon @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

throw like boomrang! woohoo! What a fun! Ooops. I broke it.

Dignan17 @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

"Indeed, perhaps those sly devils threw this mock-up out there to lure Nintendo into playing its cards first�"
They played their cards when they were ready. It's been months since we saw this controller, and I highly doubt that Sony is going anywhere near the territory that Nintendo is.

Besides, didn't they say at E3 that the controller was not the finished design?

semi @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

on all the pics of ps3 and controller there were big letter typings saying "subject to change" or something...so you never know..

Finished.Law.School @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

It may look like a sex toy but it also looks more useful and effective for game play than what Nintendo spit out.

(Not Impressed) Dmitri @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Oh. How great. So basically, Sony doesn't know wtf to do. They could change the controller, or they could not.

Yet they do this as the Revolution controller is revealed.

Hmm. Do I smell another Nintendo ripoff from Sony?

kojo87 @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

bastards... now there gonna rip off Nintendo's ideas just like always. rumble pack, analog stick, wireless controller, memory card...

Fuzz @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Awwww, no batarang? Where is the fun in that? Maybe the designs for the batbelt wern't working out, so they had to go back to the drawing board. Maybe they will decide that ripping off the Spiderman font for the name was a bad idea too.

Mac @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

even if sony goes with this controller (which i dislike) there will be plenty of 3rd party controllers.

Mza @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

You know logitec, or Mad Catz will make one more like the traditional dual shock. So, I am not too concerned.

pspimp @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Good, maybe it will look like that intec one with the big red track ball!

b @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

I bet they're gonna copy nintendo. Unoriginal, uninspired Bastards.

AbleJames @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

To article poster: No, Sony doesn't have any cards up its sleeve. It just wanted to rain on the dumbfounded awe that Nintendo has just put the world in.

AbleJames @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

To article poster: No, Sony doesn't have any cards up its sleeve. It just wanted to rain on the dumbfounded awe that Nintendo has just put the world in.

FEEZY @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

nintendo's controller looks better than that silver-curved-penis-wannabe.

id buy it, when they change it.

RageOverdose @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

The PS3 controller won't be really different from previous designs. They already played that Gundam game using a standard PS2 controller, just the ergonomics will change. Eventually, they may release a mock up of Nintendo's controller, if it gets big. Then all the Sony fanboys who said the Rev. controller was gay will love the new PS3 mock up...

If possible, I'll just stick to my PS2 controllers.

Sendai @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

bitch bitch bitch....you know you'll all buy the PS3 regardless of what controller it uses. Besides, as #4 stated, they are so obviously copying Nintendo....lol.

Dull @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

What it looks like that the Nintendo controller made Sony's controller look bland.

so then they quickly posted that card �conceptual design�.

Randall @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Its funny...it looks just like a 3rd party controller for the original Playstation.

Remember the Alps Gamepad for the Playstation (Model No. INT001). It was a larger size controller with rubber grips along the bottom of the handles. If it had the two analog sticks (the original PSX controller did not have this until the N64 was released), it would be exactly the same.

Of course, this isn't really the final design.

funkonaut @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Ya know, after Nintendo's unveiling, I'm no longer interested in the PS3 or 360. I'm ready for something new. If developers don't jump all over the Revolution then they're really stupid. Or greedy. Look at Microsoft. They don't innovate at all, and look at all the money they rake in. Apple innovates all day long and doesn't make quite as much money as Gates and company. Greed only keeps you going for so long before everything comes crashing down...

jacob patrick @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

throw like boomrang! woohoo! What a fun! Ooops. I broke it.

oops indeed blue baloon:
i think you just cost yourself $80 bucks.

anyway you know sony are planning on ripping it off i just hope nintendo has secured lots of patends to protect themselves.
i have nothing against ps3 i think it might be great
but if sony does the dirty and steals this i'll arange a boycott.
is anyone with me.
ill call it boycott plagerism.

zsavior @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Jacob I am with you there, it is time the gamers to start standing up for innovation. If nintendo has the balls to create it we should show some support rather than watching sony steal their innovations. They do it with games (Viewtiful JOe, Resident evil 4, Killer 7) they do it with systems (rumble pack, analog stick) and nobody says anything then sony rides their parapaganda horse down the block and attacks nintendo for being childish and gimmicky (Phil Harris) while they are planning on ways to copy ideas to just put with the sams stagnant games. Time for the gamers to fight back and say innovate on your own or bugger off! Maybe if they had started innovating Apple wouldn't be kicking the shit out of them with the IPOD forcing them to try to compete with an inferior media device like the PSP, try creating sony you just might make some cash and gain some respect.

Rare Hare @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

"Oh. How great. So basically, Sony doesn't know wtf to do. They could change the controller, or they could not.

Yet they do this as the Revolution controller is revealed.

Hmm. Do I smell another Nintendo ripoff from Sony?"

you obviously have no idea what the hell you're talking about. sony has said that this controller is a CONCEPTUAL DESIGN ever since BEFORE nintendo even revealed their console design at E3. it's ALWAYS said CONCEPTUAL DESIGN.

"To article poster: No, Sony doesn't have any cards up its sleeve. It just wanted to rain on the dumbfounded awe that Nintendo has just put the world in."

again, it's always said CONCEPTUAL DESIGN. they aren't jsut starting this. joystiq happens to have made a post about it, but sony has changed nothing they've done. so tell me how they are reacting in any way to nintendo's controller unveiling.

"bastards... now there gonna rip off Nintendo's ideas just like always. rumble pack, analog stick, wireless controller, memory card..."

they aren't ripping off anything.

A. Sony used system based memory cards FIRST (sega dreamcast and n64 used controller based)

B. SONY HAS NOT DEVELOPED A FIRST PARTY WIRELESS CONTROLLER... companies like logitec and mad catz make them, so how can sony be ripping that off?

i really wish you guys would just TRY to get a grasp on what you're talking about before you go running your mouths.

LINES @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Oh ya... Sony sure rips Nintendo off like crazy. *COUGH COUGH*... What the hell are you people talking about? If Sony copies that hideous controller, i'll buy the PS3 drive to Sony headquarters, light it on fire and throw it at the door, and then run up and piss on the flaming pile of shit to put it out.

LINES @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Amen brotha #25. Spread the word.

Spartacus @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Rare Hare:
Though your points are valid, they are not totally accurate. Sony DID rip off Nintendo's controllers in the following areas:

1. Analog joystick (N64)
2. Rumble Pack (N64)
3. Shoulder buttons (SNES)
4. 4 button layout (SNES)

In all fairness, many OTHER companies copied Nintendo in this area as well, Microsoft included, but Sony was the first, paving the way for the rest. MS innovated the shoulder buttons with dual analog triggers, copied the N64 (and 1 upped them) with memory/expansion slots on the controller, had built in rumble pack and made the controller much more ergonomic (though the N64 controller was as well).

Manoel Neto @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

To #28: Microsoft didn't create the analog shoulder buttons. Were you living under a rock when the Dreamcast was released?

Rare Hare @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Spartacus:

you give MS props for '1-upping' nintendo's designs, but you forget..

n64 had the rumble pack. SONY was the first company to come out with a controller that had built in rumble. (in the dual analog controllers they developed for the PS1!!)

shoulder buttons. sega actually used that idea of nintendo's first with the dreamcast. SONY 1-upped them by making there be 4 instead of just 2 shoulder buttons.

analog stick. SONY was the first to 1-UP nintendo with not 1 but TWO analog sticks.

4 button layout. give me a freakin' break here. do you really call that an innovation? arcade games have had 6 or 8 button layouts for a long time. and again, sega 'ripped it off' first with the dreamcast.

[pwnt].

GuyManDude @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

"A. Sony used system based memory cards FIRST (sega dreamcast and n64 used controller based)

B. SONY HAS NOT DEVELOPED A FIRST PARTY WIRELESS CONTROLLER... companies like logitec and mad catz make them, so how can sony be ripping that off?"

A. A memory card is a memory no matter where its inserted.

B. ...FOR THE PREVIOUS PLAYSTATIONS, FOR THE PREVIOUS PLAYSTSTIONS!

Rare Hare @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

well, for this coming gen everyone is going wireless.. you can't expect sony just to sit bakc and stay corded so that they won't be "ripping anyone off".

think, idiot.

ps. i am not a sony fanboy. although i play my playstation more than other consoles, i own all 3 current-gen. i do like sony, but my whole point in this thread has been that i wish people would just accept the evolution of the gaming industry in stride rather than jumping immediately to "MY COMPANY PWNZ0RS URZ!!!1!11!".

there was no point in everyone trashing sony at all in this thread. all i can see is that it's a bunch of Nintendo fanboys who wanna try to make excuses for the gamecube sticking to last place this gen.

the next gen is here, nintendo seems to be coming through with an awesome product. just take that and leave the rest alone.

Spartacus @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

My bad on the Dreamcast omission. Yes, it DID have analog triggers. My point I was trying to make was simply this: Neither Sony nor MS has been near as innovative in controllers as Nintendo. Sony and MS simply borrow an idea and "upgrade" it. This isn't bad per se, but it can't be denied. And my point about the 4 buton layout was simply this: take the SNES controller, add two more shoulder buttons and two palm peices and you have a PS1 controller. AN improvement? Yes. Original? No. MS did the same thing. They added ergonomics (despite what people say, the original xbox controller was one of the most ergonomic controllers to date, just oversized) and borrowed ideas from everyone else while improving upon them. Nintendo seems to be the only one willing to go out of a limb and risk a new idea, which has hurt them in the past. Time will tell how the "gyroscopic wand with infinite attachments" idea flies...

Kletus @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Rare hare, you fail. Let's look at this choice quote:
4 button layout. give me a freakin' break here. do you really call that an innovation? arcade games have had 6 or 8 button layouts for a long time. and again, sega 'ripped it off' first with the dreamcast.

Yeah, because the Dreamcast came out before the playstation. Do you not remember the Playstation? Seriously. Later on, you said Dreamcast ripped off the shoulder buttons first. Once, again, that was the PS1. BTW

Sony had memory cards before Nintendo. Guess what, they still weren't the first.

Oh, and whether or not Sony has ripped off the idea for first-party wireless controllers in the past is irrelevant, because they're certainly doing it with the PS3.

donkamero @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Why do people always have these sily arguments about people ripping of things like this, nobiody is ripping anyone off, cant remember if it was sega nintendo or sony who used cd-roms first, but would you people say the next people to use them ripped the first off (if you used logic no)- times had moved on, technology had advanced so peopl went with it, same with anologue, memory, rumble, number of buttons, wireless, its life thats what happens, why get so worked up about it? its not worth worrying about. Why not enjoy the consoles for what they are?

donkamero @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

LaughingTarget @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Nintendo also developed the D-pad and the N64 rumble pack was released with Star Fox 64, about 6 months or so before the DualShock made its debut. Though that doesn't matter. In the world of capitalism, the first guy isn't the winner, it is the guy who markets it best.

As much as I love Nintendo, Sony won this one as they managed to convince millions they were the first ones to come up with all the stuff they have in a standard controller when not a single bit of it was innovative. Sony was noisy, Nintendo just sat around and didn't do anything.

Zura @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

#24 im so with you on the boycott.

Although sony may not copy the design, im sure they are going to copy the technologies used in the revolution's controller. If Sony does copy it, no more respect for them. Dam man. I'll be cool if they copy it in PS4, but if they did copy nintendo again no more respect for Sony.

Rare Hare @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

KLETUS: "Oh, and whether or not Sony has ripped off the idea for first-party wireless controllers in the past is irrelevant, because they're certainly doing it with the PS3."

i'll say it again. do you HONESTLY expect sony to sit back and NOT go wireless with their controllers?? i mean, seriously.

look, here's the thing.. i LOVE nintendo. i am IN LOVE with their new controller. i'm not arguing against it.

why can't you guys jsut understand that whether one company "rips off" another company doesn't matter, because all it succeeds in doing is making the video game industry better as a whole.

nintendo creates the rumble pack, sony puts it into the controller itself. result: it's now an expected feature that we all benifit from.

nintendo adds a joystick to their n64 controller. sony adds 2. result: it's now a staple for any controller, and we all benifit from it.

microsoft puts a built in hard drive in the xbox. hardrives are now planned for and expected from next-gen consoles. we all benefit.

see? it doesn't matter who comes up with the idea first. it's how that idea is utilized to move the industry forward. just try to understand that.

Spartacus @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Rare Hare:
CORRECTION- MS DID put a HDD in the Xbox, however it is NOT planned for in next gen consoles (whether or not it is expected is a different story). MS is again putting one in their console (and offering a stripped down version without one as well), however Sony and Nintendo are not. Sony has said one will be available as an add on (much like the PS2) that will not be used for gaming, but for media storage as they are trying to market their machine as a "super" computer. Nintendo's offering may have some built in flash memory, but not a HDD and so far there has been no announced plans for such an add on (though not much is known about the consolein general).

This proves that innovation is NOT what corporations care about, profit is (big surprise, I know). A HDD costs money. Though innovative and useful it may be, corporations would rather profit from CHEAP innovations (or just lie and CALL it innovation) than offer you a truly better product. As much as I respect Nintendo for all they have contributed to the industry, MS and Sony are selling me superior hardware at a loss while Nintendo is selling me inferior hardware at a profit. You can tell me until you're blue in the face that Nintendo's console will look just as good as the other two, but money speaks louder than words. A console that costs $150 to produce will not perform as well as a console that cost $475 to produce, plain and simple. IF, and that's a big IF, Nintendo's new fangled controller ends up being vastly superior to the current game pads, MS and Sony can simply offer them down the road leaving Nintendo with nothing more than an underpowered console that tested the waters and paved the way for their success (and some 1st party games). Ethical? Not really. Smart? Yup. Sony and MS did what every other console in history has done, they offered improved hardware to ensure the next gen games look next gen and play next gen. Nintendo saw this path was expensive and chose to lure customers in with a new, and cheaper, alternative, but if that incentive is simply made available on the other two consoles Nintendo will be in a really tight spot. I still think Nintendo is a good company and a true innovater, I also think that they will do ok in this round, I just think they put too much stock in a periphrial device which can be easily copied...

Rare Hare @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

um, Spartacus: "Rare Hare:
CORRECTION- MS DID put a HDD in the Xbox, however it is NOT planned for in next gen consoles (whether or not it is expected is a different story)."

i never said that a built-in hard drive was planned for any console.. but hard drives (removable and seperate) are CONFIRMED for both the ps3 and the xbox 360. so don't go trying to "correct me". what i said was true. hard drives are expected for next-gen consoles.

Spartacus @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Rare Hare:
I assumed you meant hard drives as STANDARD features, since that's what we were talking about- innovations that became industry standards. To me standard means it comes in the box, not is an optional upgrade that may or may not even be used for GAMING... No need to get defensive. Your statement sounded like HDD's are planned for all next gen consoles, which is not the case. Analog josticks- industry standard. Rumble packs- industry standard. Shoulder buttons- industry standard. Hard drives- NOT industry standards. That was my point.

Rare Hare @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

if that's what i meant i would have said it. not getting defensive, simply defending my point.

ps. sony brought the console dvd playing ability to the gaming industry. forgot to add that earlier.

Zach @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Stupid people! The people of Sony are profit masterminds! No matter what it looks like, we will all be playin with it. Oh, and Doesnt X-box have wireless controls, a memory card...etc.

Gizmo @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Hmmmm....Keep in mind all the next gen systems will have the new video cards, im sure revolution will have SOME games that look as good as the others. look at cube as opposed to xbox. some games looked as good and cube was cheaper. No doubt ps3 and xbox360 will be faster. But im sure revolution games will look just as good.

Gizmo @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

AJ @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

"well, for this coming gen everyone is going wireless.. you can't expect sony just to sit bakc and stay corded so that they won't be "ripping anyone off"."
Xbox 360 has wired controllers for the core package.

this is what Nintendo did first and everyone else copied
1-Multiple face buttons(NES)
2-Shoulder buttons(SNES)
3-Rumble/Force Feedback(N64)
4-Wireless controller(GCN)
5-D-Pad(NES was first consol but originally on the game and watch)
6-Analog Control(N64)

All of these are going to be in all 3 of the next generation controllers except the revolution controller won't have an analog stick.