General PS5 Stuff

Really? Personally thought the DualShock 4 was pretty good and the Dualsense is much the same, but an improvement in most ways.

Playstation hasn't really mixed it's controller up drastically since the original DualShock, but, to me, it is very much a case of "if it ain't broke...".

Edit - also, "since dual sticks were standard" would include the original Xbox controller. I never used it myself, but weren't those notoriously terrible?

The correct controller layout is of course the Wii U Pro controller

I'd say the Xbox controller is great as a controller can be. However the Dualsense is the best controller Sony has made for all its consoles.

DualSense is pretty much perfect for me, has a bit more solidity than the DS4, which was orders of magnitude better than the DS3 which was not good.

The Series controllers are the best there’s been I think. I’ve got the FH5 one with the rubberized back grips and it’s perfect.

I've only used friends' Xbox controllers in the past (long time ago now) and never got on well with them. To be fair though, I only would have used them briefly, so maybe just hadn't acclimatised to them. I was also put off them by Microsoft all but forcing their use on PC. I stubbornly refused to cave and always used a Logitech controller on PC, before getting a PS4 and getting an extra controller that I could use on PC. Then the PS5 bundle I got came with an extra controller.

Only non-dualshock layout controller I've used for any extended time since two sticks became standard was the Wii U pro controller. To be fair, I got used to that. It wasn't a great controller, but it was fine. For the Switch, I use an 8bitdo, as I found the Switch pro controller had a terrible d-pad. Tried it with Tetris 99 and got a lot of ghost inputs.

I did have a quick glance to see if you can get third party PS5 controllers with an Xbox layout. There are a few, but all seems to be really expensive.

Edit - and definitely agree with Bongo about the cost. Pricing for controllers now in general is insane.

Agree that the dpad is like cutting yourself with knife if you're using it for anything other than as a way of selecting things. Just bring in the Mega Drive or Saturn dpad to your joy pads you morons.

Now they are so expensive, they really should be obliged to make them easier to maintain. I’m sure most faults aren’t mechanical, just that the users are dirty bastards so the sticks should at least be easier to get to.

I could probably have fixed mine but I just thought ‘fuck that’ after watching a tear down video.

I've always figured the reason the PS Controller sticks are where they are is because the pad originally didn't have any sticks. They put the dpad exactly where your thumb naturally rests when gripping the controller - so the stick had to go somewhere less natural. Made sense too, because it was a long while before analogue became the normal input. But it made sense to move that left analogue up once it became the dominant input.

Not sure what changed on the dualsense to make it less comfy for some though. The shape has changed a bit and it's a little bigger overall. The edges are a bit more rounded and less steep, and I think maybe it's more of a stretch to reach the analogue stick now?

It's honestly not too bad imo, just a little fiddly. One of mine had pretty bad drift recently and was able to sort it without needing to replace any parts (I did initially make it worse on the first teardown though, lol)

Yes the Dualsense battery is terrible. Moreso if you have headphones plugged in which I commonly do. For the 70 quid asking price it is a joke.

The battery on the Switch pro controller is incredible. I swear I never have to charge the thing, just runs on Nintendo magic. Shame the triggers are poor.

I had to replace a 2 year old ps5 controller due to drift on the right stick.

Camera would just rotate in fast circles constantly. Added an extra dimension of difficulty to Elden Ring.

Never had that on any Ps3 or PS4 controllers which i used extensively and still work to this day!