DualShock 4 compatible with Windows

The DualShock 4 will be compatible by default with Windows PCs, says the president of Sony Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida.

While the PlayStation 3 controller required special drivers and software to function on Windows machines, Sony has decided to follow Microsoft’s lead and make the PS4’s gamepad compatible out of the box.

When asked via Twitter if Sony would be supplying Windows drivers for the new DualShock, Yoshida replied that “the analog sticks and buttons will work just fine.”

Asked if this meant compatibility by default, he said “yes, for basic functions.”

This probably means that the touchpad and share button won’t work, but that’s hardly relevant on a Windows machine that already uses a mouse or touchpad.

This might seem more relevant to consumers, but the recent news that Valve is manufacturing its own gamepad that uses two touchpad in place of analog sticks means that the battle for the living room is looking increasingly like a battle of input devices.

Microsoft is pushing a combination of input devices, support touch through Smartglass, motion control through the Kinect that now comes standard with the Xbox One, and the traditional twin-stick gamepad.

Sony is focusing on the controller itself, fusing a motion control element and a touchpad onto a DualShock controller that is still recognizable as the successor to the original unveiled with the PlayStation 1.

Valve has taken the touchpad a step farther and, in addition to the two that replace the analog sticks, a third touch screen will be available that could help significantly with the interface problems faced by many games available on both consoles and PCs.