Button config. of PlayStation Arc revealed

Sony’s full fledged answer to motion-control gaming beyond the Sixaxis will be on its way to the PlayStation 3 later this year with a healthy number of exclusive games. The system will make use of the PlayStation Eye, what we’ve previously nicknamed the ‘Wand’ and an additional wireless controller that’s similar to the Wii’s ‘nunchuck’. We can now reveal the button configuration of each controller within the ‘PlayStation Arc’ set.

You may remember dual-wielding of the PlayStation Wand during Sony’s first presentation and later Capcom using the Wand and a Dualshock controller to play a motion-control version of Resident Evil 5. These occurences have apparently influenced Sony’s decision to produce a ‘nunchuck-like’ controller to support the Wand and make their answer to the Wii more useful for party and hardcore games.

We brought the rumour of this addition to you last month and now we can contribute the button configuration of both the Wand and ‘nunchuck’. The updated information comes from the same NeoGAF poster and though his comments cannot be taken as outright confirmation, he’s digging himself a very big hole on the forum if he’s lying. Ichinisan claims that he has seen the latest pictures of the PlayStation Arc and describes them in the following paragraphs:

“Nunchuck has an analog stick at the front, below that X and O and below that a D-pad. Underneath is L1 and L2. Its actually long, not like the Wii Nunchuk.

“As for the Wand it has one very big button on top and then all four facebuttons (X,O,Square and Triangle) and underneath is a big trigger called T.”

The doubling up of X and O across both contraptions is presumed to allow gamers to play with just the Wand for certain games. He further comments on the device’s responsive as heard from a developer contact:

“It is highly responsive and accurate (the quote I heard was ‘Like a quick Wii remote that’s right every time!’)”

Since these photo’s are now trickling out from Sony, we’ll make a prediction that we’ll see their full colours at the Game Developer’s Conference next week.

Readers Comments (42)

  1. Sounds great if it’s true. I hope the design will be changed to a more fitting one (not the one they showed up in E3).

  2. So it WILL have an stick ?

  3. You guys really need to stop taking your news from NeoGAF. Don’t make us take action.

    • Patrick Steen March 7, 2010 @ 17:18

      @Anon – We have fully credited the source and have also pointed out its reliability. Many gaming news sites discover their content on NeoGAF and other forums, where NeoGAF is one of the biggest gaming forums on the internet – attracting enthusiasts and developers alike – Dyack, Jaffe, Naughty Dog, Insomniac, Geoff Keighley, and recently Sony Santa Monica all post on these forums and they are a useful source for confirmed news and rumours, as such this is. We will find out soon enough whether this report is accurate, at GDC next week. Now, could you explain who “us” is. We doubt this is “NeoGAF” as we have properly credited the forum. So please enlighten us.

  4. Moocows111111 March 7, 2010 @ 16:55

    ““Nunchuck has an analog stick at the front, below that X and O and below that a D-pad. Underneath is L1 and L2. Its actually long, not like the Wii Nunchuk.”

    Don’t think we can press those d pad buttons with just one hand =/ seems like the guy is just faking it. remember the picture where the ps3 controller had like 20 buttons everywhere? that is what i’m thinking about right now.

    • Patrick Steen March 7, 2010 @ 17:30

      @Moscows – How do you use the d-pad on your Dualshock? Surely you just use your left hand to use the D-pad, L1 and L2, and the left analogue stick? That’s what this nunchick will be like – just think of the Dualshock split in half, but with an extra X and O on the left side.

  5. @ 4 Take action ? Stop acting like a /b/tard

  6. Nah, I mean more like the wii-mote and less like a di**do. Something inbetween, but it’s just to wait and see what they come up with.

  7. Wondering if I should go ahead and buy a PSEye now and wait for the wand. I can’t think of any games I’d want to use the Eye for, though.

  8. I was sold on Analog stick

  9. Patrick Steen March 7, 2010 @ 17:51

    @ReneidKlein – EyePet? You could get the bundle.

  10. VofEscaflowne March 7, 2010 @ 18:00

    @ReneidKlein

    Do like me and buy it for the sole purpose of getting a platinum trophy in Burnout Paradise.

    Well okay, I also bought it for LittleBigPlanet but that was just to try and make myself feel good that I didn’t just spend 25$ for a trophy.

  11. Moocows111111 March 7, 2010 @ 18:03

    @ Patrick Steen lol Its Moocows XD

    But this is how the description describes it
    (Trying to map it out using the comment section so forgive me if I mess it up and it looks like garbage

    (o) <—Analog

    (x) (0)
    ^

    \/

    That would make the “nunchuck” pretty long, and given the fact that when operatiing the analog it would be a stretch to reach to the “down” on the D-pad

  12. Moocows111111 March 7, 2010 @ 18:04

    Oh damn guess I messed up, the “right” and ” left ” disappeared but I think you can make it out XD

  13. sounds great to me! dont screw this up, Sony!!!

    @moocows11111: that was a terrible uhhhhhh making-out-of-the-arc lol

    but its all good

  14. hope the design is good, is it just me who love the normal design?
    a simple wand is cool the problem is all the buttons 😀

  15. Not a Wii rip-off. /sarcasm

    No, but seriously, I hope this brings games like Madworld and HotD to PS3. At the same time, I hope the Wii doesn’t lose those devs.

  16. Sony, don’t mess it up. I think that motion controller is a way better idea than Project Natal. I think Project Natal is going to fail.

  17. I see there going to have allot of games for it so that’s great, but I’m worried about how much it will all cost

  18. @DevilDogA99: yeah thats what im worried about too 🙁 if its too expensive then ill wait for a price drop…as will many others…..which MAY have the arc fail (and perhaps in turn the Natal will win if MS plays their cards right)

    I hope Sony will be reasonable with its costs….and their games better better be damn good if Sony is going to price them at the standard 60. ALSO the Arc bundle better come with a few games! and not those ghetto Wiisports games, I say that one RTS FPS Tank game and the other demos shown at E3 (but the finished versions) and perhaps 3 or 4 more or something….

  19. VofEscaflowne March 7, 2010 @ 22:23

    @Dr. Moogle

    Why shouldn’t it be released with a Wii Sports-ish bundle? It’s a great way to get it out to the market fast as they can. Of course, having it be sold separately would be necessary as well but look at how popular Wii Sports, or even Wii Play is. It’s a great value to get a controller and a free game for a few dollars extra. They’ll need to get the Arc out to as many people as they possible can if they want developers to give it any serious thought for their games. Wii Motion+ is barely being used by third party developers as it is.

    Ideally, bundle it with a few games right at launch. A FPS (Killzone 3?), LittleBigPlanet with the new point functions (have this available as DLC as well for those that already own the game of course), and a mini game/Wii Sports type bundle. I think that’s a good way to reach a big market right out of the door.

  20. Yup, a Wii sports kind of thing would be nice but I guess it wouldn’t attract your average wii gamer.

    I hope we do get a dual shock, just split in half. Why, because then you would have a two purpose controller that works on motion only games AND standard games. That way, it would justify the price.

  21. @vofescaflowne: see like i mean instead of a simple sports bundle, bundle the Arc with the complete versions of the E3 09’s demos along with 3 or 4 other games (which actually can be sports….i was just hoping that not ALL the games would be sports)

    With that (the RTS tank game) id reach both the hardcore AND the casual. But yeah, i wasnt saying anything against a nice casual bundle, but they need like 1 or 2 little games for the core gamers as well. + the pricing of course!

    @Dreamer_Lion: see now with the bundle i speak of, itll be sure to attract the Wii gamers. They’ll see how damn precise tthe Arc is, along with some innovative games or applications (ie the block demo at E3 09)

    about the DS dealio…itd be AWESOME to implement it in the Arc! i just hope they dont wait months later THEN put the rumble into the newer Arc models :\. But think about it: Heavy Rain was really great, and the DS3 set the mood in beautifully, with a controller in both hands, im sure devs will be able to make some truly realistic feeling games (what i just said is worded oddly…..meh)

    but yeah, rumble would be AWESOME….actually, itd be nice if they patched HR to be compatible with the Arc!

  22. copy copy copy! sony will always copy what n does! damn sony can never let n by them shelf w/were they go really. sony suck! these are the same company that talked shit about n wiimote and name but now that n doing good, they decide to copy there route! hell w/u sony and all the sony fanboys out there because u all no u did talk smack about wii and its wiimote but now soon u’ll be hold a wiimote copy cat n ur hands. suckers! thats why sony is n last place cos it dont no where to go n the video game world any more, all they do is copy and turn it around to make it there own and try to inovate!

  23. XxTYxCRAZYxX March 7, 2010 @ 23:39

    i tried 2 imagine the control layout and it looks complicated but i want 2 proven wrong and see wat it really looks like by picture and not describetion sorry 4 spelling

  24. LOL @ neo

    wow dood learn2grammar/spell. it was a bit hard to read through all your rubbish but meh, its all good. I love how these ignorant bastards generalize all of us as sony fanboys LOL

    well anyways everyone copies from eachother…its just the way things go.

  25. I can’t wait to use this accurate baby O My GOD Sounds great.

  26. Wii gimmick done well. Way to go.

    Hate the Wii control because it’s unacurate. Can’t really say I’m damn excited about this though.
    And neo, shove that Nunchuk up yours if you love it so much. Probably will give you more pleasure than playing with it.

  27. omg i cant wait

  28. I really hate this sloppy journalism displayed right here. Nothing was “revealed” at all, this is a rumor and nothing more. The deceiving headline was probably written that way just generate traffic. The author acts like the NeoGAF post is fact. I hope all the authors on this site aren’t this bad.

  29. None of this matters if there isn’t any compelling software to back it up, so I’m trying to reserve judgment on both Sony’s doo-hickey and Natal until I see what games will launch with them. Though I’ve gotta say, so far both just seem like “Me too!” gimmicks.

  30. Patrick Steen March 8, 2010 @ 15:35

    Now I just want to post this to show that not only were we right to report on this story from NeoGAF, we were the first too. This story has since been reported on by VG247, TheSixthAxis, TechRadar, MCV, Gizmodo, Product-Reviews, Destructoid, Spong, CVG and others.

    Not only was PS Uni a day before all of these folks, we brought you the rumour of the ‘nunhuck’ add-on in the middle of last month – a headline these websites are only just approaching.

    So, hopefully you can see you’re in the right place for the exclusive news that makes its way around the web hours later =)

  31. Moocows111111 March 8, 2010 @ 15:41

    @ Neo Seriously, this place is for mature discussions, we don’t want some kid that never grew up yet to run his immature mind across our screens.

    @Thorzilla Don’t even retaliate, your just stooping down to his immature level.

    So in response to Dreamer Lion’s post , I believe there is a motion controller idea on youtube, where the dualshock 3 is actually slip in half and it was used as a motion controller, it was a pretty sick idea, If I can find the video then I would gladly share it with your guys.

  32. @Patrick: the University is very well connected as far as I know. ;]
    @Moocows: sorry I was just leaving that comment as an I don’t care.

  33. I like the sound of this numbchuck thing. Even with a good motion controller u still need buttons to do certain actions and with both together i can see the wand working well and hopefully as the source says very accurate in timing and precsion will mean it will be awesome

  34. Patrick Steen March 8, 2010 @ 17:00

    @Peter – We presented this as a rumour a month ago and again highlighted that this was not confirmed in this article, as well as explaining why this is now closer to truth (plus we happen to know more than we let on in this article):

    “We brought the rumour of this addition to you last month and now we can contribute the button configuration of both the Wand and ‘nunchuck’. The updated information comes from the same NeoGAF poster and though his comments cannot be taken as outright confirmation, he’s digging himself a very big hole on the forum if he’s lying.”

    We will find out in the next couple of days at GDC, so feel free to talk us down when/if this turns out to be false. And as previously stated, the rest of the internet followed this article, believing its validity and the source’s sincerity.

  35. VofEscaflowne March 8, 2010 @ 17:45

    @Patrick Steen

    Is the fact that NeoGAF is so strict the reason why this is taken so seriously from that forum or does the user in question already have some sort of reputation for leaking information? Not that I’m doubting it, in fact it pretty much makes sense for them to release it, but I’m just wondering what caused this article to even go up in the first place. Surely there must be a lot of rumors running around that place.

  36. Patrick Steen March 8, 2010 @ 17:52

    The user has grown respect over the past month on the forum and has much more to lose than to gain from revealing fake specs of a product that is to be revealed to the development community at GDC this week.

  37. David Macphail March 8, 2010 @ 19:12

    Wow, looks like we have our very own Wii fanboy troll in Neo on this site. Seriously, i know the Wii has a ridiculous lack of AAA games but is this all you have to do with yourself? Freaking hillbilly. The Arc is the Wiimote done right, simple as that. Sony are showing that you can appeal to a wide audience AND have good games at the same time, something Nintendo completely failed to do with the Wii.

    This is why Nintendo lost the last 2 generations – they don’t think long – term. The PS3 is going to last for at least another 6 years, the Wii is obsolete already.

  38. about neo: indeed, i would have to say the Arc is the Wii done right (as david macphail states), they already failed by having a gimmicky (enough for me to return the Wii) Wiimote and nunchuck sensor and having to patch it up with the MW+

    and now the arc comes in and crushes all the MW+ had to offer.

    meh

    the only thing id want sony to do is make a 1st party …party game like smash bros! but then again their 1st party games arent as well known as Nintendos :\

    Sam Fisher, Crash, Spyro, Ratchet and Clank, Sackboy, Jak and Daxter, and ummm…..thats all i can think of 🙁

  39. Well seems to be that source is right, PlayStation Move is out and fact are to be seen?

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