Controller Comparison - PlayStation 3 vs. Wii 203
ZiakII writes "Engadet has an article comparing the PS3 Controller to the Wii's Controller. From the article: 'The motion control, however, was another story entirely. Whereas the Wiimote seemed to produce different experiences in different games and scenarios, the only title being shown with motion on the PS3 produced one experience: laggy control.'"
Duh (Score:1, Interesting)
one experience with a controller after reviewing one game......
It's this kind of insightful reporting that keeps me coming back.....
Anyone who thinks Sony didn't copy the Wii? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Reason for over patenting ? (Score:1, Interesting)
Sony innovating on Nintendo's design is still innovation by any other name. I know this is a "Sony bashing" thread, but I think the record needs to be set straight: Patents BLOCK innovation.
NB. VisiCalc was the precursor to modern spreadsheet software. It was never patented and many products based on it were produced including Microsoft Excel.
Re:Reason for over patenting ? (Score:3, Interesting)
Poor analog stick placement (Score:5, Interesting)
Every PS fanboy states that the dual-shock is the best controller out there, but when it comes to analog stick placement, it's only because it's what they're used to. Crook your thumbs into the shape necessary to work with the dualshock sticks. Then move them around a little. You'll feel a little fatigue (maybe not much, if you've played a lot with the controller). Then move your thumbs up a little, into the place where the gamecube and xbox controllers have the analog sticks. Move them around again. You'll likely feel less fatigue. That's because your thumbs are in a more relaxed place there, not having to exert any effort to hold it.
It's no surprise that 2 different companies placed the sticks higher up than the dualshock after 2 completely separate bouts of ergonomic research. The thumbs in the dualshock position are already flexing to keep that position. Your most natural position to rest your thumb is on your index finger. If you rest your thumbs on your ring finger, you'll feel the muscles pull because they need to to reach that non-natural state. It's the same state they're in when using the dualshock. You have to exert energy just to keep them at a rest state with those sticks.
The worst part of the design is that it's an example of lazy, "that's the way it's supposed to be" design. It's like the classic story (in software development circles) of the woman who always cut the ends off of a roast before cooking it. When her husband asked why, she said, "that's the way my mom did it; that's the way you're supposed to do it." Later, she asked her mom why she cut the ends off, and her mom told her "because my pan was too small to hold the whole roast." That's the same thing with the design of the dualshock. Those sticks aren't there because of exhaustive ergonomic studies. They're there because they're an afterthought. They were added to the original PS1 controller well after the system's original release, and they were put in the only place they fit. No one wanted to change the rest of the controller around (which is, by the way, a fine controller if you don't use the analog sticks). After they caught on, no one wanted to go back and move them around, because controllers are such an iconic part of console branding.
So that's why I'm disappointed. They had a chance to fix a bad design. It was even more important that they do so today, since most games nowadays use the analog sticks instead of the d-pad. But they didn't, and that's just sad. So now the more frequently used controls are in a harder to reach place, but hey, you can hit that d-pad to change weapons or select from a menu just fine. Oh, and now you can tilt the thing, too....
Re:Anyone who thinks Sony didn't copy the Wii? (Score:2, Interesting)
It doesn't matter who's "copying" who -- do you use Internet explorer? OMG it so COPIED netscape. Get over it.
From everything I've seen (and in fact it was mentioned in TFA) the Sony controller did not work well in Warhawk. Everything I've read has said it was laggy, you could even see that it was laggy during the press conference. As for the fact that it worked better for flight sims, it would seem to me that if you hold the Wii controller sideways (like they did for Excite Truck) that it would have the exact same functionality as Sony's controller. There was even a flight sim for the Wii on the show floor that seemed to control at least as well as Warhawk if not better. Also it's been hinted at that the Wii will also use Gamecube controllers to control games such as Super Smash Brothers, so that shouldn't be a problem.
As for the "Dual Shock copy" that is the Classic Controller it's been said that it will only be used for Virtual Console games, and it really looks more like an SNES controller with two analog stick than it does a Dual Shock.
An no I don't use Internet Explorer. I can't believe that any self respecting member of
Re:sony did NOT rip off nintendo... (Score:4, Interesting)
I would sincerely doubt that Nintendo was thinking about some obscure antique made by Atari when the designed the Wii controller.
There is no doubt in my mind that Sony was thinking about the Wii controller when they hacked motion sensors into the PS3's controller, though.
Definitely a rip-off there.
Re:Wiimote for web browsing - 3D Web coming??? (Score:2, Interesting)
So not all that much hacking left to do...
Accelerometers AND Gyroscopes (Score:2, Interesting)
That is to say, it can sense translation in the x/y/z dimensions (3 translational axes) and it can sense rotation as roll/pitch/yaw (3 rotational axes).
Using purely accelerometers, it would be impossible to accurately detect the rotational axes. The gravity vector would be necessary to determine the rotation of the device. You can break any algorithm relying on an accelerometer to detect the gravity vector by subjecting the controller to translational accelerations - these would interfere with extracting the gravity vector from sensor data, even if you use multiple accelerometers.
Imagine that the sensor knows gravity points downward at 9.81 m/s^2. Now start moving it to the left. You have one vector pointing down, and one vector pointing left. You can assume that the one pointing down is gravity, but what if the controller is tilted? How far is it tilted? You'd have to know which way gravity is pointing in order to subtract the gravity vector.
With a gyroscope, however, you can calibrate the controller when it is obviously only under the influence of gravity. Then, you can use the gyro to decouple the effect of gravity from other accelerations; the gyro lets you know which way gravity is pointing, and some simple vector subtraction leaves you with the translational data.