DualShock 4 Light Bar to be "always on"

[Haze]

You won't be able to turn off the light bar on the DualShock 4 controller to save battery power, according to Sony's Worldwide Studio boss.

Taking to his Twitter, Shuhei Yoshida confirmed that the light bar would always be on despite the fact that it's largely useless without the additional PlayStation Camera peripheral.

Source: DualShock 4 Light Bar is Always-On - IGN

Doesn't really bother me as I think it looks cool, what about you guys?

 

[lindbergh]

Well, I generally don't like lights on my mouse. I find it very unpleasant whenever I see it. Probably the same would be true with this new Dual Shock controller. But since the light would not be facing my face, then that's okay I guess. Still it irks me that there won't be an option to switch it off.

 

[DrRipley]

I don't get what the supposed effect they are doing this feature for, if I had to guess it would probably be for finding controllers easier. I tend to use my PS when I'm already in bed and about to sleep, though, and I usually use it to turn off the TV before I actually sleep and I think this would be a little bothersome. I suspect many others will probably find this to be the case as well. Additionally, wouldn't it just drain the battery unnecessarily, especially if you plan on leaving your console alone for a while? I'll wait and see before I make my judgement for now, but I'm still confused as to what the purpose of this is.

 

[Haze]

I'm pretty sure the light was to be focused on the Playstation camera. There is one little thing I think might be a issue and I suppose it wouldn't be that big of a deal, but maybe the reflection of the light against the TV when you're playing games? Could be a little distracting...

 

[yesovi91]

This isn't going to be too much of an issue since you're looking at your television or monitor rather than down at your hands.

 

[God]

This really won't annoy me when I'm playing as I would be looking at my television, though it might get annoying to me because of the fact that I leave my consoles on until night(just easier to me,since everytime I go to play again that time, I don't need to waste time going through loading screens and all), so the battery might easily run out.

 

[RawF0rce]

This won't bother me my TV is up high enough that the light won't reflect off the TV. The controller itself looks very nice.

 

[Joel]

Lights and whistles are kind of the thing now a days. I think it'll actually make it look cooler anyway. I know its beefed up and all, but the PS 4's consumption of power is probably less then the PS 3 or at least on par with it. If you have to chose amongst things that are always on, this is the item that they can go ahead and leave on if they want to. It'll also provide a good night light in those moments where you can't see a thing.

 

[Nymph]

Clearly, that feature is aesthetic and so doesn't really have bearing on functionally unless there is something planned for it to be used for, say, camera control as another user suggested. I feel that would be very awkward to control and get used to this way, though, so I doubt that's its function if there exists any at all. They are looking for battery and power efficiency this time around likely because the entire online thing is going to eat up a lot of bandwidth, driving up costs for players to stay online - and they probably know this. Glare at times might be an annoying issue, but I'm sure you'd have to position it at the right angle to really notice it. All in all, I also think it's a cool addition and it doesn't bother me.

 

[Joel]

I'll say this much. There's a lot about gaming that's not cool to girls sometimes. With this you'll be able to have something out that will look a little bit cooler and more awesome than your average game controller. I mean this is kind of a silly post honestly, but I can't tell you how helpful it'd be to have something that's so pleasant looking you don't even really have to clean up that much. Its just part of the decorations!

 

[Pickicool]

It does not bother me that the light bar is still there?
LEDS do not consume a lot of energy.

This is not a small detail like this that make me miss the PS4. It's a bit like 1,2,3,4 lights dualshock 3. It does not matter.

In addition, it is aesthetically beautiful.