While everyone is hyping over the new Xbox, Sony announced an official attachment for its Dualshock 4 controller called the Back Button Attachment. As the name suggests, it adds extra buttons to the controller around back — specifically a pair of paddles to the back of the controller.
Yes, instead of revealing the DualShock 5 (honestly, we were expecting it sooner rather than later), Sony announces an attachment for the current-gen controller. Mounting this gizmo on the backside of your controller using the port on the bottom will allow you more buttons! Who doesn’t love more buttons?
These left- and right paddles can be mapped to 16 different actions, and three presets can be programmed. The round OLED display shows what each button is mapped to at that moment. Pushing on the lower part of the screen apparently allows you to remap the buttons as you see fit. The gizmo also has a passthrough for the audio jack, because that’s kinda important.
Keen on one?
It’s suspicious seeing Sony launch brand new hardware for a console that is so close to the end of its lifecycle. We can’t help but think that this is some kind of R&D scheme to figure out if their customers will pay a bit more for the functionality. TBH, we feel very comfortable with the current state of the DualShock 4, and believe there are other features Sony can implement that aren’t more buttons…
Remember when Wired’s Peter Rubin had an in-depth chat about the PS5 with Sony’s Mark Cerny? According to that report, the new controller looks a lot like the DualShock 4, with the main change being the addition of haptic feedback. Rubin didn’t mention any back pedals, so maybe that isn’t the case.
Keen on one? You’re gonna have to import it — the Back Button Attachment will only launch in the US and Canada in January 2020, and will retail for $30 (R430).
Source: PS Blog
