Sony has filed a patent for a controller that can adjust its temperature. MeinMMO author Dariusz Müller is certain that he will never want to hold the device in his hands.
What is this patent? Sony has reportedly filed a new patent. It is said to be a controller made of elastic and deformable material, which is described as gel-like according to the online magazine Exputer.
In addition, the controller should have the ability to adjust its temperature. The temperature can then be adjusted, for example, on the basis of information that the controller receives from a game.
In this regard, the patent states:
The shape or hardness of the elastic members (handles) changes in response to a process performed by the information processing device, such as a game, allowing the user to experience the material of a virtual object, for example […] to present as a haptic sensation, to convey the temperature of the virtual object as a feeling of warmth/coldness or something similar.
via patentscope.wipo.int
This means that if you get hit by a Molotov cocktail in a shooter, the controller’s gel-like material will get warmer. On the other hand, in a snow biome, the controller could get colder.
While DualSense Edge for PS5 cannot change temperature, it does have additional buttons:
DualSense Edge for the PS5 in the unboxing – our first impressions of the Pro Controller in the video
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The solution to a problem that never existed
Do you still remember the feeling when you were sitting in the living room with your friends and playing a game – in the classic way in couch co-op? Whenever a level was completed or a match was over, the controller was passed on.
I’m almost sure everyone had that one buddy you never wanted to get your controller from. The input device was always disgustingly warm and sweaty when it was that player’s turn.
Exactly this feeling of the warm and sweaty controller is what I think of when I think of the patent. A gel-like material that gets warmer in my hands when I cross a lava flow in ARK… So I’m holding warm goo in my hands while gaming – who doesn’t imagine that feeling to be beautiful?
Of course, every gamer is also a fan of cold hands. Who wouldn’t be happy if Mei freezes you in Overwatch and the temperature of the controller suddenly drops?
Alright, joking aside. I never want to hold this controller in my hands. Any idea of it scares me and I don’t know who would want such functions. That sounds to me like solving a problem that never existed.
I value other properties in a controller, such as additional buttons (so-called paddles), reduced weight or the ability to freely assign buttons.
MeinMMO editor Maik Schneider feels the same way, he is still enthusiastic about his latest acquisition:
I paid €280 for a PS5 controller and damn I would do it again