Last week, I spent seven hours at a London preview event where I unboxed and tried out 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:PlayStation’s upcoming accessibility controller for PS5, the Access Controller. While it’s a great fit for me personally, I am very aware that constraints in its design mean that itꦬ won’t be the right fit for every disabled gamﷺer.
If its core design suits your ne🅰eds, it’s a fantastic device. If not, your customisation options feel needlessly limited.
PS VR2 Review - An Expensive Glimpse At The Future ꦬ
The PS VR2 is the perfect combination of console accessibility, casual playabil♑ity, and technical proficiency. But the price tඣag will make many wary
Set to retail at £80🐻 in the UK when it launches on December 6th, the device features a ring of customisable buttons, with𓃲 a joystick placed on one side. The controller can be oriented with the analogue stick at any of the four basic compass directions, the joystick shape and distance from the buttons can be swapped, and each button can be changed in size, shape, and mapped input. The controller also features four 3.5mm input ports for players to connect their own external buttons, switches, and sticks.
While a single Access Controller doesn’t feature enough buttons and sticks by itself to fully replace the functionality of a 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dualsense controller, it can🥂 be paired with a second Access Controller, a DualSense, or both as part of building an accessible gaming layout for different gaming titles and individuals to suit their specific needs.
My first impression upon seeing the device in person was how much smaller it is than promotional renders first indicated. It basically feels like a slightly longer, circular PC mouse, meaning that I was able to comfortably rest my thumb and four fingers across buttons at the top of the device, while resting my wrist on an additional button input ဣon the bottom, and press the large central controller button with my palm without moving from that default position.
While a robust setup wizard exists to guide you through mapping button functions on the Access Contꦺroller, very little guidance is given to players on how to lay out their own button confꦯiguration. This feels deliberate, as a big part of my early hours with the device was spent experimenting with different layouts until I found one that worked for me.
Thankfully, tweaking setup on the fly can be done quickly and easily, with a short hold of the controller’s profile button returning to the setup wizard, and key caps a breeze to replace by pressing a low resistance button to remove a latch, allowing magnets toඣ help guide new caps into position.
I’m a gamer with a disability that impacﷺts my fine motor control, which is getting worse with time, along with joint pain issues that intermittently impact my use of my hands. I found that within a couple of hours I was able to create a single setup that felt natural across most games I tested, with only minor tweaks made to tailor my setup for a few specific♈ titles.
While there was undoubtedly a bit of a learning curve to using the Access Controller, it wasn’t nearly as steep as I expected it to be. I generally gravitated to using my left hand to control my left analogue stick and the L and R (1 and 2) buttons, while on the right I removed most of the lower half buttons from the controller to more comfortably rest my hand, placing the rest of my face buttons at the top. I would sometimes reposition my buttons, such as placing light, medium, and heavy attacks in a more natural position in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Street Fighter 6, but generally I was able to use one setup for games ranging from 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Gran Turismo 7 to 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Horizon: Forbidden West.
The controller supports storage for up to three custom controller p🎃rofiles at once, which can be swapped between on the fly during gameplay. I generally didn&rs♎quo;t make much use of this, sticking to one profile which I tweaked depending on which games make most common use of which buttons, but it was useful if I wanted to create a custom single-handed control scheme for certain titles, or for games like Street Fighter 6 I knew I’d want to return to.
The ability to bring the Access Controller to a friend’s home and know it’ll hav♊e your button configuration stored on it as default is really nice for ease of setup. It also opened up options for one-handed play of more complex titles, by storing a pair of control schemes which let me toggle one analogue stick between left and right stick functions.
It also supports a few♌ welcome software options which should become standard on PS5. Players can set any button to act as a toggle, switching between held and upheld states with a button press, which is great for gamesꦬ that don’t offer that functionality in their settings. Additionally, one button can be mapped to two simultaneous controller inputs, meaning one double width button can activate four inputs with a single press.
The Access Controller has been in development since 2018, the same year the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Xbox Adaptive Controller was released, and it's clear some inspiration was taken from that device’s packaging. The box for the Access Controller similarly features no cable ties, and easy to grip loops on any elements that need lifting.
However🍃, t🅺his is where the similarities with the Xbox Adaptive Controller end.
The Xbox Adaptive Controller and Hori Flex for 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Nintendo Switch are both console accessibility contro𓆏llers that are, fundamentally, hubs for external input devices more so than standalone controllers. The Xb✃ox Adaptive Controller features large A and B Buttons, and while the Hori Flex features most buttons you’d find on a Switch, it lacks analogue sticks out of the box.
It’s clea💧r that the PS5 Access Controller is trying to set itself apart as a full controller solution that stands on its own without needing external input devices, as demonstrated by the device only featuring four 3.5mm ports (eight on a pair) compared to the 20 or so ports on the Xbox Adaptive Controller. In my experience, it does largely achieve its aim of functioning as a standal🐠one controller. A pair of them was perfect for my needs. The problem is, if it isn’t a good fit for you, that limited number of ports is going to be an issue for customisation.
If you can’t hold a DualSense controller and incorporate it into your setup, you’re already going to need a pair of analogue input switches for certain gam🅰es, as the controller’s buttons are all digital. If the resistance on the buttons is too stiff, you can’t replace them all with low resistance external buttons. If you need more than eight inputs moved to custom positions separate from other inputs, you’re out of luck.
I personally love the PS5 Access Controller. I can see myself picking up a p🍰air at launch, and them being a excellent plug and play option I can intermittently grab and use without setup or cable management. For me, they’re going to be pretty wonderful.
The issue is that, by not including enough ports for external peripherals, the device’s design is going to shut out anyone whose needs vary too much from the controller’s core features. The fact that PlayStation didn’t provide any external buttons at the event, meaning you could only test them in your setup if you thought to bring your own from home, suggests external devi꧙ce use isn’t something they th🌄ink is going to be necessary for many players. I disagree with that assessment.
Given that the PS5 Access Controller has five years of development perspective beyond the release of the Xജbox Adaptive Controller, I had hoped it would be a step forward for hardware accessibility on console. If it had shipped with a larger number of 3.5mm input ports, it would likely have been easy to recommend. Instead, it feels like a step sideways, offering something that for me is wonderful, but is less useful for other disabled gamers than its competition.
Right now, if you’re a disabled gamer who’s looking to pick up their first console alongside an accessibility cont✅roller, you need to know what your setup is going to look like. If a pair of customisable button circles with attached sticks won’t need much alteration, the PS5 and Access Controller is a great choice. If you need something more drastically customisable, I can’t recommend it over the Xbox Adaptive Controller.
