The Reason For Why The PS3 Controller Sucks The Way It Does

Believe it or not, a lot of time actually went into designing the PS3 controller that we’re all familiar with today. We’ve had largely the same controller for PlayStation consoles since the release of the very first one nearly way back in the late 90′s and that’s fine, we’re pretty used to it by now. But what if the controller that started it all was completely different to the one we’ve come to know?

Teiyu Goto, who has worked on the design of every PlayStation console to date, tells an interesting story of how the PS1 controller may have just looked like a flat SNES-type controller rather than have the now standard protruding grips which have been used on just about every controller made since. This was on the cards because of the SNES’s success and Sony didn’t want to do anything too radical but rather make the transition feel ‘right’ and comfortable for SNES gamers.

“The Super NES was a huge hit at the time, and naturally we wanted SNES gamers to upgrade to our system,” Goto said.
“That’s why the management department didn’t want the controller to be a radical departure, they said it had to be a standard type of design, or gamers wouldn’t accept it.”

However, Goto deified ‘management’ and designed the controller that we’ve come to know today which he then showed to then Sony president Norio Ohga who loved it. ‘Management’ was still unsure about his “crazy” ideas and sent Goto back to the drawing board to design a flat pad controller.

“They told me that the grip design was simply no good, that gamers wouldn’t like it,” Goto said.

“We did wind up switching to a flatter controller design, and that survived all the way to the point where it was time to start making molds.”

Whether this actually happened or not, the following is a true underdog achievement story. It happened as Goto was presenting his new design to ‘management’:
“Ohga was totally livid at me, ‘This is no good! Change it! What was wrong with what you showed me earlier?’” Goto said.

“It was a huge boost for me, him saying that in front of everybody — it made me feel like I had it right all along.”

And that’s why the PS controller were the designed the way they are. It’s interesting to thin k about where we might be if Goto had not gone  with his radical idea because just about every gaming controller these days follows that basic blueprint of 2 protruding grips, it’s become so standard that we don’t even think about it. Where would we be had Sony started out with a flat SNES style controller?

What’s ironic is that what ‘management’ said all those years ago is ringing true today because while the conventional PS controller may have been good for a while, it is actually pretty damn uncomfortable and far less ergonomic than the Xbox 360 controller which also uses the protruding grip blueprint but has improved on it. Sony has stuck to the same outer design since PS1.

What many people also wonder is where the random symbols (X, triangle, square, circle) came from. They’re not all that random actually and each has a great deal of thought put behind it.

“Other game companies at the time assigned alphabet letters or colours to the buttons. We wanted something simple to remember, which is why we went with icons or symbols,” said Goto.

“I came up with the triangle, circle, X, square combination immediately afterwards. I gave each symbol a meaning and a color.”

“The triangle refers to viewpoint; I had it represent one’s head or direction and made it green.”

“Square refers to a piece of paper; I had it represent menus or documents and made it pink.”

The circle and X represent ‘yes’ or ‘no’ decision-making and I made them red and blue respectively.”

I’m a PS3 fanboy through and through but great as it is and as much as it has done for console gaming, the PS controller needs an upgrade. It needs to move on and become a little more ergonomic and less symmetrical.

[Source: CVG]