Lazy Fingers on the PS4 controller? Not any more
When you play video games on your PS4, your thumbs are doing most of the general work. The rest of your fingers are just relaxing around on the back, so why not get them to take some weight off the thumbs? That appears to be the logic behind the DualShock 4 Back Button Attachment that Sony has just publicized for the PlayStation 4.
The small accessory, which looks a bit similar to a rebreather, pins to the bottom of the wireless PS4 controller. As the name proposes, it adjoins three back buttons – two paddle-shaped buttons on the sides, and a big round one in the center that’s also an OLED screen.
The two side buttons are completely customizable, so players can plan up to 16 different actions to them. This basically sums to choosing which of the buttons on the front of the controller you want to allocate to the back. That could be pretty convenient if you’re tired of the finger gymnastics of things like pushing the thumb stick in while angling it upwards to make your character run.
The Back Button Attachment attaches two new paddle-shaped buttons that can be modified to different inputs, as well as a round center button that’s also an OLED screen
So you remember what each button does, the OLED screen in the center will show the sign of what’s currently assigned. If you want them to do diverse things in different games, you can also put up to three profiles, swapping between them swiftly using the middle button.
Because it fastens over the bottom of the controller, the attachment conceals the headphone jack. So Sony has included a new port on the bottom of the attachment, allowing audio pass through. The company says that the attachment is well-matched with any and all PSVR and PS4 games.
The Back Button Attachment is a good, if not completely new, idea. Sony has already fiddled with inputs on the back of its devices with the touchpad on the rear of the PlayStation Vita, and Microsoft put same customizable paddles on the back of the Xbox Elite Controller. Still, it’s a wanted addition to the already-great DualShock 4 controller.
The Back Button Attachment will be available in the US on January 23, 2020 for US$29.99. Check it out in the video below.
