The rumor mill is working overtime today, as new reports suggest that the primary controller for Sony's PlayStation 4 console will not be the company's classic DualShock. The Japanese video game maker has been experimenting with various new designs for its PS4 controller, and not many of them will look familiar to PlayStation owners.
Instead, multiple prototypes of the new PS4 controller are radically different, sporting an LCD touch screen as well as biometric sensors on the handles.
Contrary to expectations that the console won't be made public until the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), sources also claimed that the system will be revealed in "a matter of weeks, not months."
The news, courtesy of Computer and Video Games, comes from unnamed "senior games studio source working on an upcoming Sony game," as well as "a second source, working in a separate part of the industry but still connected to Sony."
"[Sony is] trying to emulate the same user interface philosophies as the PS Vita," said CVG's second source.
According to Eurogamer, the details match up with what their own sources have told them.
"We understand that as of six months ago Sony was testing a controller that had an LCD touch-screen on the front and biometrics functionality on the back," wrote Eurogamer. "These designs, we were told, have changed almost every month, but are for the controller for the next PlayStation."
If true, it's likely that Sony is planning to incorporate more ambitious connectivity features between its console and handheld systems than previously thought. CVG also said that it's possible the PS3 DualShock controllers will still be supported by the PS4 as a secondary controller, much like the original Wii remotes still operate on the Wii U.
In fact, these details make the PS4 sound remarkably like a Sony version of Nintendo's new console. Last year, the company said that its PS Vita and PS3 were capable of much of the same capabilities as the Wii U, but these details suggest plans to more closely mirror Nintendo's efforts.
Biometric technology, meanwhile, collects data like temperature and heart rate from the player's body as they hold the controller. What that could means for games is unknown at this point, but perhaps it could be used effectively in a horror title or some similarly intense experience. At the 2013 International CES, Valve also expressed interest in biometrics as it stated its intentions to enter the hardware market.
