Sony Patents Controller With Buttons That Change Hardness In Real-Time

Nearly six years after the DualSense controller revolutionised gaming with its advanced haptic feedback and adaptive triggers, Sony is aiming to push sensory feedback even further. A newly published patent reveals a futuristic concept where a controller's buttons can alter their resistance and tactile feel, becoming harder or softer, to adapt to what's happening in the game.

As per the documents submitted to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the hardness and resistance change is achieved using a magneto-viscoelastic elastomer, a material capable of hardening and softening based on inputs from attached magnets.

"This operation device is provided with an operation member that receives an operation from a user. The operation device is provided with: a contact part that is disposed on the surface of the operation member and receives a force applied by the user for the operation; and a hardness control unit that changes the hardness of the contact part," read the patent description.

By dynamically shifting between hard and soft states, the buttons can match the textures of the virtual world. Sony's designs also indicate potentially utilising fluid-filled membranes to achieve a similar effect, according to a report in Eurogamer. Players might feel buttons stiffen when stepping onto solid rock, or soften when navigating loose terrain.

The development comes at a time when Sony has confirmed that PlayStation 6 (PS6) is under active development. Work on the next-generation hardware and chipset in partnership with AMD has started but no launch window has been teased up until now.

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Ghost Player

Earlier this year, Sony also received a patent for an artificial intelligence (AI)-generated "Ghost Player" designed to assist PS users when they are stuck in a game. The new AI help system is being touted as an evolution of the existing PS5 Game Help feature, which currently relies on static text or pre-recorded videos.

Sony claims that although video game technology has seen many advances in recent years, some players find themselves in need of assistance as games become increasingly complex. Players who are not experts end up quit playing the game or find it hard to complete the tasks. Though some can research the game or look up gameplay, the process is time-consuming.