E3 Monday - Sony PS3 Controller - Images
Below are images from the demonstration of the new wireless PS3 6DOF (6 degree of freedom) controller. Pictured is the controller itself, which looks pretty much like a PS2 controller, and then two scenes of the controller’s tilt being used to control the increasingly famous Sony rubber ducky.
The idea of a 6DOF controller built into a standard console controller is intriguing. However, in demonstrating the device in a game (a specially modified version of combat flight simulator Warhawk, the control of the jet using the controller tilt seemed very difficult and cumbersome.
I think of how it is I play video games. I rest my elbows and/or arms on my thighs, and with the exception of some spontaneous body English (typically in response to something jumping out at me in game on the screen), I don’t move the controller very much, but do typically have it at a comfortable angle for my hands.
Adding the controller’s orientation to the equation of controlling a character’s actions in a game would seem to make game control very challenging and complicated indeed. I would hope that game developers would make 6DOF input optional, or at least selectable between thumbsticks and 6DOF input.
On the bright side, the 6DOF input mechanism would mean couch potatoes like myself would give various seldom used muscles in our arms more exercise.
