[HN Gopher] A look inside the SNES, PS5, and Xbox controllers wi...
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       A look inside the SNES, PS5, and Xbox controllers with CT scans
        
       Author : taylorbuley
       Score  : 203 points
       Date   : 2023-06-30 17:10 UTC (5 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.scanofthemonth.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.scanofthemonth.com)
        
       | sethbannon wrote:
       | Perfect combination combining the wonders of youth (video games)
       | with the wonders of adult age (understanding and building
       | technology).
        
       | spondylosaurus wrote:
       | Remember those translucent DualShock controllers for PS2? There
       | was nothing cooler than watching the little motor spin around
       | when you activated rumble in-game. I'd love if Sony put out a
       | similar style DualSense for PS5.
        
         | Firmwarrior wrote:
         | You can get a translucent replacement chassis for pretty much
         | any game peripheral and put it on yourself, just hit up
         | AliExpress with $3 and a lot of patience
        
       | cubefox wrote:
       | One thing they didn't make quite clear here is that the Xbox
       | controller is considerably less advanced than the PS5 controller.
       | 
       | The PS5 controller has "linear resonant actuators" (previously
       | introduced in the Switch, and in the iPhone before that) which
       | provide a much more fine-grained rumble feature than the older
       | method which is still used in the XBox. The newer feature lets
       | you feel e.g. that the character walks over sand, rubble or
       | grass. The PS5 controller also has actual force-feedback triggers
       | (which simulate e.g. a bow or a gun), while on the XBox there are
       | only simple rumble motors. The XBox controller also still lacks a
       | gyroscope (e.g. used for more precise aiming), which other
       | controllers have for many years now. A really outdated piece of
       | hardware, in contrast to the base console.
        
         | kwanbix wrote:
         | I have both an XBOX Series X and a PlayStation 5.
         | 
         | Maybe I am too old, but I hardly feel any differene.
         | 
         | I am not saying it is not there, I am saying I cannot feel it.
         | 
         | The only difference is in the triggers, where you have to press
         | more or less on the PS5.
        
           | mustacheemperor wrote:
           | If you start playing shooting games with gyro aim, you'll
           | definitely feel the difference - because it's not even an
           | option on Xbox.
           | 
           | As far as the haptics go, the degree to which cross-platform
           | games use them really varies. Cold War had cool haptic
           | triggers so you felt the recoil kick, but I don't think that
           | was included in MW2. Some exclusives like Returnal leverage
           | the advanced haptics in a really impressive way, too, but I
           | don't think we'll see that in many cross platform titles.
        
             | tkanarsky wrote:
             | Yeah, the pack-in toy title Astros Playroom for PS5 is
             | probably the gold standard for Dualsense haptics
             | implementations. It's legitimately immersive, and turns the
             | game from a 'meh' generic themed platformer into an
             | actually compelling game. I was surprised at how much fun I
             | was having pulling cords and stomping little bug things.
        
             | kwanbix wrote:
             | What do you mean by giro aim? Moving the controller in the
             | air to aim?
        
         | nullify88 wrote:
         | One of the things I like about the Xbox Pad when used with a PC
         | is that when a wired headphone is plugged in to the controller,
         | the pad appears as a new audio device and routes the audio to
         | your headphones. I use the pads via the wireless dongle (Via
         | virtualhere from my Shield), but may work via wired usb or
         | bluetooth.
         | 
         | As much as I agree the PS5 controller is better technically,
         | the xbox pad works better with a PC. Compatibility wise, not
         | many games take advantage of the haptic feedback triggers.
        
           | rectangleboy wrote:
           | Interesting. I get this controller headphone port feature
           | when using the PS5, it's too bad it doesn't carry over to PC.
        
             | seaal wrote:
             | It does work on PC when plugged in via USB. Bluetooth
             | support for controllers on Windows is terrible without 3rd
             | party programs like DS4Windows.
        
         | mustacheemperor wrote:
         | >The XBox controller also still lacks a gyroscope
         | 
         | This is the big one for me. For me it is such an improvement in
         | both "feel" and in my real performance that I cannot go back to
         | a system without one. When MW2 released without gyro support, I
         | played briefly but wound up putting it down until that was
         | added in an update.
         | 
         | The PS4 controller had a gyro too that was essentially never
         | utilized. I was really hoping this would be the gen when all
         | the major vendors included it, but Microsoft, alone, opted not
         | to.
         | 
         | The speakerphone built into the controller is great too. I can
         | run all the game audio through my hifi, and still talk to my
         | friends on in-game voice chat without using a headset.
        
         | madrox wrote:
         | Owning both systems, this makes a noticeable difference when
         | playing games. All other things being equal, if I get a choice
         | of which system to play a game on, then I choose PlayStation
         | for the controller alone.
        
           | Freedog35 wrote:
           | Yeah difference is so notable between! Surprised they didn't
           | discuss that more.
        
           | nyjah wrote:
           | That's how I feel. I like both controllers, but the
           | PlayStation controller for me is the most 'next-gen' thing
           | about the consoles.
        
         | Solvency wrote:
         | And yet the PS5 controller is worse at the most fundamental
         | thing: physical ergonomics. The Xbox controller is so much more
         | comfortable to hold and play with it doesn't even count.
        
           | dontlaugh wrote:
           | For some. I can't use the Xbox one for long without pain. The
           | position of the left trigger is particularly bothersome.
           | 
           | The PS3 controller was indeed uncomfortable, but for the past
           | two generations the two competing consoles are on par. Some
           | find one more comfortable, others the other.
        
             | Ruq wrote:
             | Must be related to hand size or something, because I find
             | the Xbox controller considerably more comfortable than the
             | Playstation Controller
        
               | dontlaugh wrote:
               | I'm sure that's a factor, but not the only one. I have
               | friends with similar hand size that don't match me and
               | others with different hand size that do.
               | 
               | Ultimately they're both very good, which is a big
               | improvement over previous generations.
        
         | darknavi wrote:
         | I haven't picked up a Dual Shock controller in probably 5
         | years. How does the "heft" feel these days? I was really put
         | off by the PS4 controller (DS4?) because of the super light,
         | plastic-y feel.
         | 
         | Compare that to a Xbox Elite controller (different price tier,
         | I know) and it feels like a cheap piece of junk.
         | 
         | I assume with all of this new tech the PS5 controller is a bit
         | heftier but I was surprised how much just the weight made a
         | different for me.
        
           | yokoprime wrote:
           | I love the elite controller, best gaming peripheral I've
           | owned. Melts into the hand and has back paddles
        
         | dmbche wrote:
         | I'm not certain how outdated it is. I'm certainly happy with
         | it, and I imagine it adds workload to the console.
        
           | katbyte wrote:
           | well it is objectively outdated based on the different tech
           | and capabilities.
           | 
           | now as to if these are something you want or need is another
           | question.
        
             | darknavi wrote:
             | Not to be stuck on my old ways too hard but didn't Sony
             | make it so you can't play PS4 games on your PS5 without an
             | actual PS4 controller?
             | 
             | That sort of thing really puts me off the changes, although
             | I accept that it pushes innovation forward.
             | 
             | I enjoy being able to play OG Xbox, 360, and current-gen
             | titles with the same controller.
        
               | tyfon wrote:
               | No, you can play PS4 (and PS3/2 via emulator or
               | streaming) games just fine with the DS5.
               | 
               | There is one exception, you can't play a PSVR (1) game
               | that requires the camera to track the light bar on the
               | controller with a DS5, but that's very few games and for
               | technical reasons (the DS5 does not have the light bar)
        
         | mrbonner wrote:
         | The ps5 controller, just like the PS4 controller, are succumbed
         | to the dreaded stick drifting issue. I play Call of Duty and
         | this stick drifting issue has made me own more than 4-5
         | controllers for each generation. At this point I have a
         | conspiracy theory that Sony intentionally not fixing this. My
         | friends in the Xbox camp say they never experienced this issue.
        
           | ProfessorLayton wrote:
           | What makes this situation even more frustrating is that
           | analog sticks have been around for a long time now. I still
           | have controllers from the PS2/GC/Xbox era that work just fine
           | after all these years and countless hours of play, and have
           | no drift whatsoever.
           | 
           | Even the earliest analog sticks like the N64 (Which used LEDs
           | for tracking) didn't suffer from drift -- although it did
           | wear out considerably mechanically!
           | 
           | I just bit the bullet and replaced my Joycon's sticks with
           | 3rd party hall-sensing ones, which have worked great so far.
        
             | araes wrote:
             | Even more frustrating, its not even that difficult to fix.
             | All they need to do is implement a renormalization routine.
             | 
             | If you find your controller is drifting, then the console
             | just needs some menu where you put the stick to a bunch of
             | reference locations, and then the stick maps outs its own
             | response and renormalizes. "This is neutral." "This is
             | upper-left as far as it goes." "This is..." ect... Maybe
             | even with fine grain mapping adjust if the player really
             | wants control over drifting behavior.
        
               | djmips wrote:
               | In my experience this would not solve the issue.
        
               | zerocrates wrote:
               | The Switch has this but when the sticks get bad it's
               | often not fixable with that kind of calibration.
        
           | cubefox wrote:
           | Yeah, the same problem exists on the Switch. The console
           | manufacturers should have switched to more expensive Hall
           | effect sticks, which are not affected by this problem. I
           | think the XBox controller also doesn't have them, but maybe
           | they use simply higher quality parts here.
        
           | bonestamp2 wrote:
           | It might be a coincidence, but I bought the DualSense Edge
           | and while I think it's overpriced, the sticks seem much more
           | precise. Does anyone know if the Edge is using hall effect
           | sticks? At more than double the price of the regular
           | controller, I'd hope they're using higher end sticks. That
           | said, at least they can be replaced easily and relatively
           | cheaply ($20) on the Edge.
        
           | electroly wrote:
           | I've had two Xbox controllers ruined by stick drift. Both
           | camps are shipping cheaper non-Hall effect sensors in their
           | controllers.
        
           | zerocrates wrote:
           | I'm pretty sure all the manufacturers have this problem
           | pretty much equally, at least on their "normal" controllers.
           | Nintendo worse probably just due to the very constrained
           | available size.
           | 
           | You see users of all the consoles anecdotally reporting drift
           | problems. I haven't experienced personally any drift on my
           | PS4 or PS5 controllers, nor an Xbox controller used for a PC.
           | I did have it happen pretty significantly on a Switch Lite.
        
         | c-hendricks wrote:
         | A fun thing about the Dual sense rumble is that it's just sound
         | data. One time u changed my PC to output to the controller,
         | thinking it would use the speaker, but it just played the audio
         | via vibrations.
         | 
         | (I'm not sure if that's just how all "linear resonant
         | actuators" work, just found it neat)
        
           | SSLy wrote:
           | It is, you can find the rumble WAV's (well, AIFF's) if you
           | dig enough through iPhone OS dump
        
           | MBCook wrote:
           | That's how the one in the iPhone works as well. I remember
           | people's surprise (myself included) when it was discovered.
           | Teardowns revealed a second audio amp that wasn't attached to
           | the speaker and that's how it was discovered to work.
        
         | robotnikman wrote:
         | As much as I like the playstation controller, the layout has
         | always been awkward for me. The layout of the Xbox or switch
         | controllers always felt more easy to use for me.
        
           | jareklupinski wrote:
           | i think the xbox layout is better for more hand types, but
           | certain people seem to never be able to switch from
           | playstations layout
           | 
           | my thumb joints still ache from beating ape escape
        
           | imstate wrote:
           | opposite for me. I can't stand the xbox analog stick
           | placements. I think it's good to have different options so
           | people can choose what works for them.
        
         | vlunkr wrote:
         | The PS5 controller is pretty cool, however, I'd probably trade
         | in most of that functionality for the battery life of Switch
         | Pro controller.
        
           | beltsazar wrote:
           | Unless you constantly play more than 6 hours straight without
           | rest, the mediocre battery of PS5 controller is not really a
           | problem. Much less so if you have the official charging dock.
        
             | vlunkr wrote:
             | I know, it's not a huge deal, but buying a separate dock,
             | or dealing with yet another thing to charge all the time is
             | annoying. So personally I prefer longer battery life over a
             | bunch of fancy features that are likely only going to be
             | used in Playstation exclusives.
        
       | hamedsargolzaee wrote:
       | [flagged]
        
       | devindotcom wrote:
       | This is definitely cool but if you want a more comprehensive
       | teardown of the NES, SNES, N64 and Gamecube controllers, this is
       | the one:
       | 
       | https://www.fictiv.com/teardowns/nintendo-controller-teardow...
       | 
       | I just love how overbuilt the old controllers are. I still have
       | my original SNES and controllers and as far as I can tell they
       | work as well as the day they were made despite decades of abuse.
       | One has bite marks... not sure if that was the dog or me playing
       | The Lion King.
        
         | auxym wrote:
         | I seem to remember N64 joysticks were somewhat fragile. Many of
         | my friends as a kid had controllers with a joystick that had
         | lost all springiness and barely responded to input.
         | 
         | I have not are that on any other controllers, even cheapo
         | xbox360 clone controllers from AliExpress.
        
           | willcipriano wrote:
           | The kids call it stick drift today, its a big problem on the
           | switch I heard.
        
             | [deleted]
        
             | msk-lywenn wrote:
             | The n64 joystick gets a bigger and bigger deadzone. It's
             | different than drifting, in fact it's quite the opposite:
             | on the n64 you have to push harder to move your character
             | while with the drifting you struggle to get it not to move
        
             | alanbernstein wrote:
             | IIUC stick drift essentially means the center dead zone
             | moves away from the physical center. The N64 joystick
             | problem was different and worse: with wear, the center dead
             | zone would _expand_ , to the point that the extreme
             | position values could not actually be achieved. So, instead
             | of walking slowly when you want to stand still, you are
             | unable to run at full speed.
        
             | falsenapkin wrote:
             | With the Switch it's more specific to the sticks on Joy-Con
             | and presumably the Switch Lite. Drift affects other
             | controllers as well including Xbox/Playstation.
             | 
             | What makes the Joy-Con sticks so horrendous in my
             | understanding is 1) they're tiny 2) the shrouds protecting
             | particle ingress into the sensor compartment is wildly
             | inadequate. Rather than the stick having a very large
             | hemisphere under the primary casing and surrounding the
             | sensor compartment, whereby particles that manage to fall
             | in it are directed into the case cavity, the Joy-Con sticks
             | have this dinky paper thin rubber skirt that floats on top
             | of a convex hemisphere on the sensor housing. In use, this
             | skirt can expose the sensor compartment directly to air or
             | it can pick up particles on the housing and drag them into
             | the housing.
             | 
             | I recently found Hall effect Joy-Con sticks on Amazon and
             | am giving those a go right now. This issue is something I'm
             | overly invested in as I think the combination of
             | independent controllers and some fine details in how
             | Splatoon (twitchy shooter) manages motion controls yields
             | the best control scheme for a shooter even compared to
             | mouse and keyboard. Unfortunately outside of the concept
             | the devices are horrible.
        
           | bc_programming wrote:
           | The "return to center" behaviour of the N64 Control Stick is
           | provided by a spring that pushes up against a plastic bowl
           | which is underneath the stick. The stick itself slots through
           | two curved plastic pieces for each axis, and the upward force
           | basically forces the stick to 'center' at the lowest point of
           | the bowl. The issue is as others have described. There
           | actually never was any lubricant, so over time the bottom of
           | the stick and the bowl just erode away. Eventually it reaches
           | a point where the bowl is eroded away enough that the spring
           | is no longer able to force the stick back to the center, and
           | it just sort of flops in the dead space eroded in the bowl.
           | 
           | Nowadays, one can get replacement parts, and fairly easily
           | restore/fix the problem. Add in a bit of PTFE lube or lithium
           | grease and it greatly extends the lifespan of the replacement
           | as well. Used to be able to get rather fancy steel bowls and
           | analog sticks which significantly reduced the wear even more.
           | 
           | The more 'standard' thumbstick design has a similar self-
           | centering mechanism. They are actually susceptible to the
           | same problem. However, two things contribute to it being
           | witnessed less frequently, I suspect. The first, is that the
           | "bowl" in those sticks actually has lubricant which greatly
           | reduces the wear, and the second is that the mechanical parts
           | tend to outlast the potentiometers; that is, the sticks start
           | to drift before you get the "floppy stick" problem to begin
           | with and then you stop using it or replace the stick, and
           | therefore it doesn't actually see enough wear to cause the
           | floppy stick problem.
        
           | Jach wrote:
           | Modern joysticks feel more fragile in some ways. In the N64's
           | case, game design evolved to not have us abuse them as much
           | anymore. Palm blisters from playing Mario Party's rotate-the-
           | stick-as-fast-as-you-can minigames were pretty common... But
           | the controllers lasted a while, even the third party ones,
           | even if eventually they started showing problems. I wanted
           | some nostalgia years ago on an emulator and tried that with
           | an xbone controller, one match of tug-of-war was all it took
           | and I found myself having to solder in a new sensor. Since
           | then if I get the urge again, or some other game needs me to
           | rotate fast to win, I just lose.
        
           | Gamemaster1379 wrote:
           | N64 controllers had an issue where once the lubricant dried
           | out the joystick began grinding it's contained bowl into
           | dust. It's not a springiness issue as much as it is a holder
           | destruction. Massive design flaw.
        
             | libele wrote:
             | kitsch bent makes a very good (injection molded, i believe)
             | clone of the whole assembly. the controllers i did a few
             | years ago actually only needed the bowl replaced. with a
             | bit of silicone lubricant dabbed onto the places where
             | plastic grinds together, they feel practically new again.
             | 
             | worlds apart from those awful gamecube style sticks that
             | make playing quite a few games impossible.
        
         | nicetryguy wrote:
         | You may want to open it up with a phillips head jewelery
         | screwdriver (they don't have the lockout screws) and clean the
         | scum off of the pads and button areas. If the rubber pads are
         | still springy, then you are in good shape. I can tell you as a
         | Heavy Retro Console User (with a beautiful Trinitron CRT) that
         | the rubber pads will eventually lose their springiness... there
         | isn't much you can do for that and there are no suitable
         | replacements... but i will vouch that those worn out
         | controllers have given me more than their fair share.
        
           | Lammy wrote:
           | Pardon my pedantry, but any cross-head crews in old game
           | consoles are likely to be JIS, not Phillips, and using a
           | Phillips driver makes it likely to strip every single screw:
           | https://www.agcoauto.com/content/news/p2_articleid/300
        
       | sdf4j wrote:
       | > Nintendo established the blueprint for gamepads in 1985 with
       | the iconic rectangular Nintendo Entertainment System
       | 
       | I'm pretty sure they did it two years before with the famicom
       | gamepad.
        
         | chrisco255 wrote:
         | Right, but Famicom is just the Japanese name for the NES,
         | which, as you say, debuted in Japan first.
        
           | msk-lywenn wrote:
           | Op is right, the famicom/nes was released in 1983
        
             | chrisco255 wrote:
             | I concurred with the 1983 release date for the Famicom/NES
             | in Japan. Just pointing out that it's really the same
             | system.
        
           | cubefox wrote:
           | The NES actually had a pretty different shell, removable
           | controllers, one audio channel less, and some other hardware
           | differences.
        
             | chrisco255 wrote:
             | Yeah a different shell catered for the American market and
             | certainly some minor differences, and despite regional
             | incompatiblity, the NES & Famicom have the same core chips
             | and instruction set.
        
       | nicetryguy wrote:
       | I appreciate the in-depth look but i will say that it really
       | isn't necessary and these things are completely openable,
       | cleanable, operatable, and repairiable in most cases. I have
       | opened, cleaned, operated on and repaired many of them. (except
       | for the rubber pads, if they go ...you're kinda fu...deged)
        
       | TillE wrote:
       | The SNES controller is a beautiful thing because it's literally
       | just a bit shift register wired up to the buttons. Super simple
       | to emulate it, make an adapter for it, or be compatible with it.
        
         | jonny_eh wrote:
         | Not to mention is still very comfortable, especially for its
         | size. And it's basically the pinnacle of 2D controller design
         | when it comes to functionality.
        
           | msk-lywenn wrote:
           | Best 2D controller is the Japanese saturn one. Better
           | ergonomics, six face buttons and even shoulder buttons.
        
             | jonny_eh wrote:
             | Too big, SNES's d-pad is better. The 6 face buttons on the
             | Saturn is better only for Street Fighter, a single game. If
             | you're that into Street Fighter, get an arcade stick.
        
       | bartislartfast wrote:
       | you can just open them with screwdrivers I'm sure.
        
       | MichaelEstes wrote:
       | Does anyone know how accurate these are to the raw data a CT scan
       | produces, it looks really clean, has it been touched up any
       | significant amount or is this actually the quality of the
       | machines?
        
         | lostlogin wrote:
         | I'm a radiographer, but haven't done CT in a long time.
         | 
         | These look cleaned up, as the metal artifact from dense things
         | is minimal.
         | 
         | I've scanned things then converted the Dicom file into a format
         | suitable for printing (I'd broken a part of a coffee grinder).
         | These images look like the item when moves to a 3D print in
         | format.
         | 
         | Side story: finding out what's inside things is what CT is for.
         | We used to scan the chip packets before loading them into the
         | vending machine. We sort out the ones with prizes inside.
        
         | guhidalg wrote:
         | I've seen slightly better scans from the Lumafield machine I
         | have access to at $DAYJOB, but only slightly better. The scans
         | shown here are very high quality.
         | 
         | You don't get access to raw data, assuming you mean something
         | like individual X-ray images. The service runs the tomography
         | on some cluster in the cloud and you get access to the
         | reconstruction through a web app.
        
           | endisneigh wrote:
           | Radiologist?
        
             | guhidalg wrote:
             | No, I am a software engineer at a writing instruments
             | company... long story.
        
               | endisneigh wrote:
               | Oh interesting. The writing instrument company needs
               | scans this good?
        
               | guhidalg wrote:
               | Yes, and I wish it was even more accurate :)
               | 
               | Doing metrology on production parts normally means
               | disassembling them and putting them under the microscope
               | or X-raying them, but sometimes there are problems that
               | only manifest when the pen is assembled and closed.
               | There's a lot of geometry that isn't visible externally
               | in a pen, more so in certain markers. The writing systems
               | are very sensitive to manufacturing tolerances, and out
               | of spec parts are perceived by users as a bad pen or
               | marker (which we don't want). With a normal X-ray, it is
               | very difficult to resolve internal geometry deep in the
               | assembled pen with any degree of accuracy.
               | 
               | CT scans allow us to examine internal geometry non-
               | destructively and they are relatively fast to run. The
               | scans shown in that blog post I would guess took about
               | 6-8 hours of scanning + 1 hour of reconstruction to
               | generate. Once you start the machine, it's completely
               | automated from there, so you don't need a technician or
               | an engineer sitting at the X-ray machine (which BTW is
               | running Windows XP or something worse) takings images of
               | parts.
        
           | GranPC wrote:
           | The scans you see on this website are from Lumafield
           | machines, so that does check out.
        
       | amelius wrote:
       | You can do this yourself. Just bring a USB drive to the airport
       | and ask the TSA officer for a copy of the images.
        
         | ComputerGuru wrote:
         | I would hope that data can't be just copied to a USB. I would
         | like to believe it is destroyed automatically except with an
         | override authorization code from a couple of managers but I
         | know better.
        
           | autoexec wrote:
           | When TSA employees were busted for saving pics of women going
           | through their nudie scanners they were saving the images on
           | their cell phones if that makes you feel better.
        
         | Hamuko wrote:
         | Are they going to give me copies? Do I need to threaten them
         | with GDPR?
        
           | kube-system wrote:
           | The TSA DGAF about GDPR
        
         | hyperific wrote:
         | That sounds like a major security liability
        
           | partiallypro wrote:
           | You can see what the agents are looking at just going through
           | a security line.
        
       | asdkfjhsifhsjd wrote:
       | kinda of a let down.
       | 
       | CT scan and just focus on the big huge unavoidably obvious stuff.
       | 
       | The biggest change in feel and game play from the SNES and the
       | newer controller for example is the lack of plate under the dpad
       | and other things that are awsome to see with a scan like that.
       | Yet they ignore all that.
        
       | FloatArtifact wrote:
       | It's a shame everything used to come with a diagram. Now we
       | resort to CT and x-rays.
        
         | CSMastermind wrote:
         | Blame intellectual property theft. I'm sure there's a right to
         | repair angle in there as well but my guess would be that it's
         | mainly driven by IP.
         | 
         | I had a friend who worked on electronics about 20 years ago.
         | Suddenly they were facing a flood of reverse engineered devices
         | coming out of China. The build quality was lower than their
         | official devices but it was hard for customers to tell the
         | difference and they were undercutting them on price enough to
         | crater the companies revenues.
         | 
         | Enforcing patents and other IP was basically a non-starter even
         | when they tracked down the shops in China.
         | 
         | Eventually they ended up just partnering with them and selling
         | the lower quality and cheaper versions of their devices because
         | they couldn't compete and all the work they had done to design,
         | test, prototype, etc was written off as a loss.
        
         | autoexec wrote:
         | At least controllers usually are pretty easy to open up and
         | teardown. When I read the title my first thought was "why not
         | just use a screw driver to see inside?"
        
       | WhereIsTheTruth wrote:
       | DualShock controllers are the best, tactile, haptic feedback and
       | gyroscope
       | 
       | Nintendo's joycons also pretty novel, you just clip them on your
       | console in/out and you unlock new ways to play, OP should have
       | included them too, I'm curious now.. a shame its build quality is
       | one of the worst of this decade
       | 
       | Xbox's one is pretty basic and conservative, wich is a shame..
        
         | PretzelPirate wrote:
         | I don't want controllers to keep changing. I love the Xbox
         | controller.
         | 
         | I also have a PS5 and a switch, but those controllers don't
         | feel good in my hand. The PS5 haptics don't add much IMO, but
         | hurt battery life enough that I'd rather just turn them off.
        
           | spondylosaurus wrote:
           | Most games don't take advantage of haptics, but the ones that
           | do have been pretty cool IME. The physical feedback made web-
           | slinging in the new Spider-Man super fun and engaging, and
           | Returnal used trigger pressure to switch between your
           | weapon's main firing mode and secondary firing mode (and used
           | audio/haptic feedback to let you know when the secondary mode
           | was off cooldown).
        
           | autoexec wrote:
           | My main complaint with the PS5 controller is that it's a
           | terrible remote control for streaming services. The triggers
           | are constantly being activated just by setting it down on its
           | back and if it falls on its front the sicks move causing
           | video to fast forward or rewind. It seems to fall off the
           | arms of chairs and couches easily too. When you're holding it
           | like a controller though it's fine.
           | 
           | My minor complaint is that it came with two internal
           | microphones, but thankfully it's very easy to open the
           | controller up and rip them out.
        
           | Macha wrote:
           | Luckily, the Xbox controller fundamentals have changed
           | relatively little since the move from the Duke to the S
           | controller during the life of the original xbox. I say
           | luckily, because I feel they got pretty close to the optimum
           | design around then, and later enhancements have been about
           | mostly shuffling the battery components around.
        
           | WhereIsTheTruth wrote:
           | Well, I use a controller to game and interact with the game,
           | the most ways to game, the more fun I have
           | 
           | Hence why I bought a Nintendo Switch, the premise is: to have
           | fun
        
             | autoexec wrote:
             | The only reason I've put off buying a switch is because the
             | controllers are so bad. Even assuming they've finally fixed
             | all the issues with drift and wireless, the controls are
             | cramped and the buttons so so tiny!
        
               | WhereIsTheTruth wrote:
               | The build quality is indeed very poor but the mechanic
               | actually is pretty fun, similar to the Wii, it can be
               | used for exercising, perfect gift for seniors
               | 
               | No other console manage to deliver like Nintendo did with
               | both the Wii and the Switch
               | 
               | Sony/Microsoft have a lot to learn, hopefully their next
               | gen include a portable device with original mechanics
               | 
               | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqSMxb9txSw
        
         | verisimilidude wrote:
         | It feels like Xbox also serves as a reference controller for
         | PC. Viewed from that angle, basic and conservative makes sense.
         | 
         | I still really like the XBox controllers for their ergonomics.
         | They've been refining that same basic design for a long time.
        
       | hyperific wrote:
       | Finally scanofthemonth makes it to the front page of HN
        
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