The wiggly sticks, the d-compass, the children’s coloured shape pad and the throttle: all of the PlayStation 4 controller’s “basic functions” will be compatible with the PC by default. It might just rumble the Xbox 360 from its perch as de facto controller for our ill-served platform.
Sony Worldwide Studios chief Shuhei Yoshidan told persistent fans on Twitter that the DualShock 4’s “basic functions” would work by default with Windows PCs.
“The analog sticks and buttons will work just fine,” he explained.
But the touchpad will probably require six months of evenings and weekends from some homebrew genius, is what he didn’t have to add.
Yoshidan encouraged PC gamers to “wait for [a] field report after the launch” for more details. The PlayStation 4 is due on 29 November in the UK and elsewhere in Europe, and on the 15th of the same month in the US.
But of course, there’s the shadowy Steam Controller to think about. Valve’s dual trackpad oddity promises haptic magic and a much better fit for mouse-and-keyboard native games than the consoles.
Super Meat Boy’s Tommy Refenes has had a go, and would still plump for the Xbox controller – though for reasons of “familiarity over functionality”. But Creative Assembly found it to be a perfect fit for Total War’s omniscient floatiness.
What do you reckon? Will there still be room for a traditional plastic pad alongside Valve’s charcoal change-maker?