Less than a week before Sony's expected PlayStation 4 announcement, an alleged photo of the console's controller has hit the web. The PS4 controller, it seems, has been struck by an ugly bus.
The photo, obtained by Destructoid, resembles the standard DualShock controller. However, the analog sticks have ridges and the center of the gamepad is dominated by a rectangular screen. Also, there's a blue light on the top of the controller. Is that a sensor for Move motion control?
A report from January suggested that the PS4's controller would be radically different than those of preceding consoles. A touchscreen was one of the rumored features. That explains the screen on the pictured controller, then.
The controller looks a bit clunky. Stretching the controller out to accommodate a touchscreen just makes it seem a bit too long. Also, why is there a speaker in the middle? To be fair, it's possible that this is just an earlier prototype and isn't indicative of the final version. Hopefully the gamepad that ships with PlayStation's next console is a tighter, rounder package like the DualShock 3.
Sony's "See The Future" event will occur on February 20th. We'll see if any additional information leaks out before then.
