About the Batarang...

[Mochan]

After contemplating a career in crime fighting, I took a good look at the PS3's controller and realized the rationale behind the... crime-fighting shape.

The extended lower base is designed to keep your hands in a more natural position.If you put your hands together in front of you they will naturally that M-shaped arc, and as far as I can tell the batarang fits perfectly into that arc.

Unlike with the Dual Shock and other controllers where you will tend to raise your wrists up a bit as well as your fingers to go over the shoulder buttons. It seems Sony put more thought into the ergonomics than any of us thought. But of course we'll see when we actually get our hands on the... Batarang.

[Gadfly2317]

After contemplating a career in crime fighting, I took a good look at the PS3's controller and realized the rationale behind the... crime-fighting shape.

The extended lower base is designed to keep your hands in a more natural position.If you put your hands together in front of you they will naturally that M-shaped arc, and as far as I can tell the batarang fits perfectly into that arc.

Unlike with the Dual Shock and other controllers where you will tend to raise your wrists up a bit as well as your fingers to go over the shoulder buttons. It seems Sony put more thought into the ergonomics than any of us thought. But of course we'll see when we actually get our hands on the... Batarang.

I surely hope its more comfortable; the dual shock is an ergonomic abonimation and forces your hands, thumbs and fingers into all sorts of unnatural positions.

[thelastword]

Well I've been meaning to start a thread on the controller for a long time now, but perhaps it's time to get some feedback on this;

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b392/anubis_g/mandohobbit8ky.jpg

I must say that I like changes. The dual shock 2 is overall the best controller I've used, now I've played quite a few racers with my controller S and I just don't like using the triggers for my racers even way back to dreamcast days. Neither do I like keeping my thumb depressed on the mound like buttons of the controller S for acceleration. That dang thing indents my thumb. For fps though the xbox controller is simply the best, but overall based on the games that I play, I do prefer my dual shock.

Having said all of that though, I 've heard quite a few negatives towards the ps3 controller. (Of course mainly from xbox fans who wanted to slam the ps3 in some way, when they read it's specs against their 1.5 console) but let's not concentrate on that for now, OK Bots. The thing is, I always thought the boomerang was cool, change is good, Duh! WELCOME CHANG3 should be telling enough.

In the pic however, the controller does appear a bit smaller than what we've seen before, the handles don't look all that long and it looks quite manageable IMO. I like it. It was about time we got something a little different and so I'm not complaining. Another thing, I'm of the opinion that a slightly larger one would be made for Shaq et al. but to me it does'nt look bad at all.

[Cuddly Knife]

Maybe it's because of the gloved hand, but the controller looks insanely small to me. The analog sticks look smaller when comared to the regular buttons, and it looks like the triangle and O buttons are slanted towards the back. Kind of crappy for us gamers that like to use our fingers instead of thumbs on the face buttons. Is that thing going to have four shoulder buttons? Of course, what am I thinking, but it looks like they might be a little cramped with how the triangle and O buttons are placed. It also looks like it might be funky to handle when your hands get sweaty.

[Mochan]

Man, that DOES look small. I hope it doesn't get too cramped, for an Asian I have pretty large hands.

I don't mind the X and Tri buttons being a little high; as I was saying the natural position of the hand and fingers has your thumb resting nearer your 4 other fingers. Rather than force you to extend your thumb downwards, keeping it closer to your palm theoretically should be a good thing.

That said I wish the Japs woudl stop with their idiocy of making the O and X buttons their default set, and making the O button their select button! It's the hardest button to press on dual shock and yet they make it the primary button!

At least the Americans had more sense and used another button, but then they decide to use the X button (which is dumb because instinctively X is the "cancel" button! That's why it's an X). I hope the Square button becomes the default select for both versions! I am so sick of playing a Jap game and getting used to O then playing an American game and having to switch to X mode.

Anyway if it's really that small, I am dreading how the shoulder buttons will be placed. And if it's that small, the ergonomic benefit I mentioned might not be emphasized.

[Mochan]

One problem I am beginning to see might be for people who like using their fingers to tap the face buttons for whatever reason (in a game like Tekken, for instance, I prefer using my fingers so that I can pull of double button presses fluidly, and unlike in the Famicom days, my fingers simply press faster than my thumbs do these days). I might be hard to hold the controller if I decide to use that configuration.