PlayStation 4 Controller Could Drain Unnecessary Battery Life

Perhaps one of my biggest gripes about the upcoming console for the PlayStation 4 is the controller. Not the redesign, which actually looks pretty comfortable and snazzy with the much-needed new triggers, but the LED-light sensor that may prove to be completely unnecessary.

Shuhei Yoshida, president of Sony's Worldwide Studios, is somebody who actually responds to general people over Twitter. While he may not elaborate, we were able to find out some new information on the lightbar that may be rendered useless in many games now that the camera is not included with every PlayStation 4 unit.

@DN_pro no
— Shuhei Yoshida (@yosp) July 5, 2013

@nanakifirelight yes
— Shuhei Yoshida (@yosp) July 9, 2013

Here's what I don't understand: If developers can choose not to even bother with using the lightbar, then why isn't there an option for users to turn it off? This further proves how useless the lightbar will become for developers; it's the next generation's version of SIXAXIS. Here's what we know about how the lightbar will be used currently.

If multiple Dual-Shocks are connected to the PlayStation 4, the Lightbar will change colour to indicate which controller is assigned to which player. The player one controller will glow blue, player two's will glow red, player three's green and player four's pink. The Lightbar will also be used for in-game functions; in Killzone: Shadow Fall, which IBTimes UK recently play-tested, the Lightbar changes colour to indicate the player's health.

Except the worse part about the lightbar is that the SIXAXIS at least didn't drain battery life. With a next-to-useless light always on, it's doubtful that players will get the 15 or so hours they were able to get with a DualShock 3.

There's no reason for Sony to exclude an option to turn the lightbar off. Hopefully developers will implement an option to turn it off in their games, and maybe Sony will give us the opportunity to turn the damn thing off on the system unless they will actually use it along with the camera.

Considering the company's history of abandoning products, I'm not giving my hopes up.

[Source: IBTimes UK]
[Image credit: Flickr/William Hook]