In the realm of weird gaming news, it was reported by Sony’s lead system architect for the PS4 that the company had an early design of the DualShock 4 controller that measured “skin conductivity.” For those not versed in the industry jargon, the controller would have measured the user’s sweat to detect player emotion.
What exactly Sony was planning to do with that information is anyone’s guess, since they have abandoned the idea in favor of the announced DualShock 4 that will come with the PlayStation 4 when it releases later this year. Still, it is evidence that Sony went to great lengths when they were developing the console.
“We had a long research project where we looked at pretty much any idea we could think of,” Cerny said in a conversation with Stuff. The company considered whether or not the technology would help measure galvanic skin response, which is widely considered the best way to measure stress levels and is utilized in lie detector tests for its accuracy.
Fellow game and software company Valve used similar technology during the development of Left 4 Dead, their widely popular zombie shooter game. The data was used by the developers to make the game more fun – or perhaps more terrifying.
Do you think Sony might have done the same if they had included the technology? Sound off below.
Published: Jul 17, 2013 07:10 pm