PS3 controllers: play and toss [update 1]

by Kevin Kelly on Oct 18th 2006 7:38PM

A report from the Japanese site Broadband Watch has new details about the PlayStation 3 controllers (if you can read Japanese, check out the link). The report states that the PS3 controller has to be connected via an included USB cable in order to pair it with the console. Okay, no big deal right? However, the report goes on to say that this might have to happen every time the controller loses power -- read is turned off or the charge dies. This is a larger pain, having to find the cable, haul it out, reconnect, pair the controller, and then disconnect the cable and put it away. So, it might be a hassle, but it won't kill you.

Oh, one more tiny thing. According to the report, the rechargeable battery inside the PS3 controller can't be replaced once it reaches the end of its recharge life-cycle. That means you have to toss it out and get a new one, like the iPod (although third-party battery replacement units have popped up on the iPod so those aren't totally trash once they go). Surely similar solutions will pop up for the PS3 controllers at some point, or else that landfill in New Mexico will find a ton of dead PS3 controllers next to the thousands of E.T. Atari 2600 cartridges.

[Via Gaming Edge]

[Update: A contact at Sony let us know that the controller does not need to be paired to the console with the USB charging cable; you can pair it by simply pressing the red PlayStation button. They did confirm that the battery would not be replaceable, much like the iPod's; however, how many of us can't remove a couple of screws and get a new battery off eBay?]

Source

Tags: battery, controller, iPod, PlayStation 3, PS3, rechargeable

Reader Comments (93)

BIAS!

Well the controller with the bad battery may not be a total loss. I would just charge it up as much as you can and take it to EB/Gamestop for a trade in. Then just use your trade in credit for a new controller. However this is still a bit of dirty pool from Sony.

I love how Sony keeps doing such stupid non-owner centric things to their console. Maybe they should learn from Nintendo and Microsoft on how to be client centric and not arrogant.

PS3 sucks.

knew about the first part, didnt know about the battery though. dang.

Cant you just play with the USB cable plugged?

Like it matters, it's not like the battery will completely die out fast.

This would truly suck, however, I can't imagine Sony would ship the console with that crazy song and dance.

I'm def a 360 fanboy and even I think Joystiq is biased against PS3.

Um, every time the controler loses power would only be when its charge dies. And then you would have to plug it into the PS3 to charge it anyways, no real problem there.

And if the battery dies, well that does suck. You can always make it the plug in controller that your friends have to use when they come over.

Hmmm, jeez, that sounds suspect. You can't replace the battery? How many times can the controller be charged before it's expected to die for good? PS3 is definately a "wait and see" investment.

Wow....

Sony has definitely become waaayyy too big when this kind of shit is happening.

Joystiq is definatly not bias. They posted many times about the problems with 360 when it came out. They are simply pointing out what is wrong or potentially wrong with the PS3.

Also, what they mean by losing power does not mean when the battery dies, it means every time it is turned off.

Make a lot of Playstation themed 3-d artwork.

You could make giant sculptures from the trashed conrtollers...

it's called recycling.

They better be cheap as hell.

Um, Joystiq didn't make this news up, so it is hard to call them biased.

Anyway, gotta poke holes into Jude Andrews' theory. GameStop and EB won't take them in when they find out the used ones keep coming back defective. Yes, they're slow, and it took them a long time to stop taking PC games for trade-in's, but this kind of thing will have a more direct impact on business.

Thats weird. the dev kit ps3 controllers have instructions for replacing the battery.

LMAO!. I love it, hearing bad news for Sony that is. If people spout out all the time about how biased Joystiq is against sony, then piss off over to www.ps3fanboy.com. Joystiq aren't biased against sony, the report all the new that comes thier way. You Sony Fanboys just cant stand the fact that since E3, there has been NOTHING but bad news for the ps3. It's not joystiq's fault the system sucks ass and is about to have a dodgy launch. Blame Sony for all the bad news that floods through here, not Joystiq.

This article made me appreciate 1000x more how much effort MS put into the 360. There's few concessions made by Sony to provide a true user-friendly console experience. Can't even check your friend messages without exiting a game, hah. Eff them.

RELIABLE SOURCE PLEASE? most of us cant read japanese and the stance of this site against the ps3 is suspect.

You guys do realize that with bluetooth, you can have automatic pairing between the devices, right? Therefore, if this is something that wasn't activated in the OS they reviewed, it could easily be turned on in future firmware updates. Secondly, until we know how many charges the battery holds, it may not prove to be a real problem. You always have the option of purchasing a third party controller or using the wired solution when you are close enough to the console. If the controller last for 3 or more years this isn't really that big of a deal in my opinion.

How is this Biased? If it was positive news would Fanboys still talk? You must take the good with the bad.

LET'S REPLACE THE CONTROLLER WITH A PINEAPPLE!

Some of you might recognize my name as a frequent poster on Nintendo topics.

That's because I am a Nintendo Fanboy.

But this story seems bogus to me. And seriously, the seeming anti-Sony slant needs to be curbed. They screw up a lot, sure...but let's have the console speak for itself when it's released in November.

This seems so stunningly ill-conceived. Did they hire the N*gage designers away from Nokia?

I'll reserved judgement until the product actually ships. You'd think the extremely common wireless keyboards and mice in use today would have set a standard for this sort of thing.

The issue of having to bond the controller to the console if the battery goes dead isn't necessarily a big deal. You're going to need to recharge the unit frequently enough that the USB cable is not going to be store stored haphazardly by anyone with any glimmer of intelligence. So long as the controller is designed to provide a low power warning that allows the game to be paused and the cable put in place, how often are most people going to let it run down to zero signal strength?

This so sad. The moment 360 had hiccups the PS Fanboy laughed. The moment they hear bad news or just plan bad business stance, they cry that Joystiq or (Insert website here) is completely biased.

I've owned almost every console out there including playstation in both generations. Fanboy I am not. It just sickens me to see a company that had a very prosumer attutude sticking it hard to the legions that made them what they are.

It's all BS. Thanks for posting crap that stirs up more bad press for the PS3 Joystiq... I've about had it with crappy news sites...

quote "the report goes on to say that this might have to happen every time the controller loses power -- read is turned off or the charge dies."

Ok first of all... "is turned off" is entirely a joystiq interpretation.

And secondly... Where is the Sixaxis off switch? I have never heard of it before... it makes sense that it would have one.. i just haven't seen it.

thirdly If the joystiq interpretation doesn't hold true then that would mean that you only loose the connection when the battery dies... Which in effect is that so unreasonable?

I currently have had a sony walkman mp3 player with a lithium rechargable battery for 2-3 years.. And it doesn't have an off button. The closest thing to off is suspend, but it still keeps enough charge to keep the song and time that i left last. Is it so hard to believe that the controller has a similar suspend function where it keeps just enough charge to keep the ps3 bluetooth link?

Hmph. While the battery would probably last long enough to outlive an average console's lifespan, this does seem to fly in the face of their "next ten years" thing.

"I'm def a 360 fanboy and even I think Joystiq is biased against PS3."

You hear that Joystiq? Even opposing fanboys think your ridiculous with PS3 hate. Sad...

Regardless, I still have much respect for Joystiq in their ability to report on things of this nature. But when does the bad news end for Sony? Does anyone think the skies will clear on November 17th and all clouds of doubt will disappear?

Joystiq may have not made the news up... But they knowingly posted a ridiculous rumor. Like Sony is stupid enough to do that when the Wii and 360 controllers let you change the batteries... Joystiq is sad to even bother with such a stupid rumor.

The lack of replaceable rechargable batteries isn't so bad really... I mean by the time the batteries will be dead, I assume the thumbsticks will be loose and the buttons no longer terribly responive... As it is I am so picky I get new controllers every 6-8 months anyway, so this won't crimp my style. How many gamers will really stick with a controller so long that it reaches the point the batteries die I wonder?

Wait till VC starts posting the PS3 annoyances after it ships then you can start complaining about Joystiq's so-called bias against the PS3.

Thanks Joystiq for spreading another bad rumor...

No shlt, this is Kevin Kelly, the same fanboy who always posts shlt like this. Someone must has a wiimote us his a$$hole.

"Wait till VC starts posting the PS3 annoyances after it ships then you can start complaining about Joystiq's so-called bias against the PS3."

Joystiq's source is not that reliable. And, how stupid does a company have to be to do this? It's obvious Sony wouldn't do this.

I don't think having to pair them up is a problem. I only have to pair my bluetooth headset with my cellphone once. My phone can recognize my headset without it having to be paired again everytime the headset's battery dies.

And the same with pairing my cellphone with my computer.

Ok, first off the original site (and I am fairly fluent in Japanese) says only when the controller loses power (literally when the power source is lost), meaning it completely dies (says nothing of the controller turning off, which is ludicrous to even suggest), and you'd think there would be a low battery warning or you plug it in once a week.

As for battery life, without knowing the MaH and voltage of the battery I can't know for sure, but by the time it needs replacing (meaning it doesn't hold at least a 20 hour charge or so) you are talking likely 1,000 charges, meaning probably 25,000 hours (or almost 3 years) or worst case 20,000 hours (or a little over two years) of non-stop play. Plugging it in once a week or more would substantially increase these numbers.

It also says charge time is 2.5 hours.

I can already see PS3 annoyance #1067 The PS3 gloss finish is too shiny. Then PS3 delight #001 It plays some games I guess. That is my exaggeration but something tells me to look for many PS3 annoyances.

while i agree even sony is not this stupid i must ask b33 one thing, what if its true, will you still stand behind sony like a blind fan?
i mean they have no real xbox live killer but you say 'so what its free'
if it turns out to be true you'll just say 'so what they last 400 hours per charge and i needed a backup controller anyways'

"Ok, first off the original site (and I am fairly fluent in Japanese) says only when the controller loses power (literally when the power source is lost), meaning it completely dies (says nothing of the controller turning off, which is ludicrous to even suggest), and you'd think there would be a low battery warning or you plug it in once a week.

As for battery life, without knowing the MaH and voltage of the battery I can't know for sure, but by the time it needs replacing (meaning it doesn't hold at least a 20 hour charge or so) you are talking likely 1,000 charges, meaning probably 25,000 hours (or almost 3 years) or worst case 20,000 hours (or a little over two years) of non-stop play. Plugging it in once a week or more would substantially increase these numbers.

It also says charge time is 2.5 hours"

Thanks for the translation... But what guarantee do we have that the source is a reliable one?

Let's see, here are the various annoyances of the 360 Joystiq posted:

1 - VGA Cable distorts graphics

2 - 360 Headset is cheap, flimsy, and has terrible headphones

3 - Xbox Live is incredibly slow downloading

4 - Saves are non-transferrable

5 - Red rings of death

6 - Miserable texting interface

7 - 360 scratches disks to hell

8 - Plans to keep HD for those who only have Windows Media Center PCs

9 - Power brick is way too large

10 - Trailers don't have rewind/fast forward features

11 - Unable to download multiple items (fixed recently)

12 - Terrible download UI

13 - Xbox Live community is immature

Yes, Joystiq is a 360 fanboy and hates the PS3.

Yeah, the PS3 annoyance topics will have kids screaming about a bias, but the 360 annoyance topics had them dancing.

Much like the Wii annoyance topics will.

You see, the reason why they keep fanboys like Kevin Kelly as a blogger is because he can bring in the hits.

Things stay quiet for a bit, then Mr. Kelly thinks ... hmmm, I'll run this random Japanese site through google translation.. use my hom-hum journalistic skills, and lo and behold, a breaking news story.

LT: Is that all we got to? We could have done a dozen more! :)

Also, let it be know, we're the only outlet on the internet -- nay, in the world -- that's been critical of Sony's latest and greatest. Besides us, it's all roses. I swear!

"while i agree even sony is not this stupid i must ask b33 one thing, what if its true, will you still stand behind sony like a blind fan?
i mean they have no real xbox live killer but you say 'so what its free'
if it turns out to be true you'll just say 'so what they last 400 hours per charge and i needed a backup controller anyways'"

I'd be pissed if it was true. Mainly because it'd make no sense not to allow customers to open up the battery compartment and replace, even if it did last a long time. But I personally don't believe it. And the Sony online service doesn't need to be a xbox live killer. As long as it runs smooth and lets me play games online, it'll be alright.

How is this article biased? This is just dumb. And Joystiq can't be biased for reporting something this stupid and shitty on Sony's part. If you're going to give me wireless, give me freedom. Don't make me have to connect the cord for purposes other than charging.

NIMH batteries take about 2-4 years before they start loosing alot of charge time. After that you will be recharging them alot more. And usually there are advances in battery technology so you can upgrade the battery (case and point xbox360 controller battery)

Sony should make people able to use AA batteries, or atleast upgrade the battery!

lithiums are even worse for longivity

ROFLMFAO @ SONY!!!!!!

SONY YOU FAILED AT LIFE!!!!!!!!!

I would rather plug in a dead Rat than use this garbage you call a "NEXT-GEN" controller....ROFL!!!!!!!

Sony congradulations!...you just won yourself a oneway ticket ride to FLOPVILLE!!!!!!

ROFL!!!!!!!!

"ROFLMFAO @ SONY!!!!!!

SONY YOU FAILED AT LIFE!!!!!!!!!

I would rather plug in a dead Rat than use this garbage you call a "NEXT-GEN" controller....ROFL!!!!!!!

Sony congradulations!...you just won yourself a oneway ticket ride to FLOPVILLE!!!!!!

ROFL!!!!!!!!"

Your grammer and intelligence fails.

Oh my god, Optimus Prime, how did you peg me so well? Yes, I sit with the current hit count at Joystiq on my desktop all day, and when it gets dangerously low, I reach into my grab bad of crappy stories, and toss up a controversial post. Man, if only I spent that time instead looking for stories that might interest our readers. Thanks for the lesson!

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PS3 controllers: play and toss [update 1]

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