A eulogy for my deceased PS4 controller (2014-2020)

We lost a warrior this week. On Monday night, my DualShock 4 controller, which has been my constant companion for almost six years, fell victim to a spilled water glass. But losing it has made me remember all the great games I played on my PlayStation 4, and just how much fun this generation of games has been.

I was in the middle of my second Red Dead Redemption 2 playthrough when I was setting down my water. Given that I was looking at the game, I missed the coaster and set it down right on the corner of my table. It toppled right over into my hands and purse, with my phone only narrowly avoiding a dousing. I tried to keep the controller working by drying it off (before anyone asks, no I didn’t have a bag of dry rice to dunk it into), and it gamely lasted for another few minute, before it started randomly switching on the share menu. I knew it was a goner.

My deceased controller was the original that came with my PS4 when my parents bought it for me as an early Christmas present in November 2014. I’m not sure how she managed to last as long as she did, considering the amount of wear and tear I put her through. Here’s a picture of what her underbelly looks like, label worn white by years of my frustrated hands putting the Vulcan nerve pinch on her. We had a lot of fun together.

Losing my controller, and subsequently remembering all the good times I had with it, sort of made me relive the entire history of this generation. Given that both the next-generation consoles are supposed to come out later this year, it seems like a good time to look back at all the fun we’ve had. Here’s a short list of all the games that controller helped me to beat:

Grand Theft Auto V

The Last of Us

The Uncharted series (The Nathan Drake Collection and 4 )

Spider-Man

Red Dead Redemption 2

The Witcher 3

Horizon Zero Dawn

Dark Souls 3

Bloodborne

Nioh

Far Cry 4 and New Dawn

Fallout 4

Batman Arkham Knight

Assassin’s Creed Unity , Syndicate , and Odyssey

Shadow of the Colossus Remastered

Dragon Age: Inquisition

Pretty much the entire Kingdom Hearts series ( 1.5 , 2.5 , 2.8 , and 3 )

The Spyro Reignited Trilogy

Mortal Kombat X & 11

Devil May Cry V

Final Fantasy XV

Unravels 1 & 2

Shovel Knight

Death Stranding

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice

Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 , 4 , and Modern Warfare

Most of the Yakuza series

Whether you’re a devotee of Sony, Xbox, Nintendo, or PC, it’s been a damned fine few years, hasn’t it? Sure, we’ve had some duds, but we also had some really good stories and experiences to take with us into the new horizon with the PS5 and the Series X.

Still, while I was sad at the loss of my old friend, it’s not a complete tragedy. Meet the new boss, (almost) the same as the old boss:

Let’s see what mischief I can get up to with this one before the PS5 controller, with its fancy adaptive triggers, comes out.

RIM’s BlackBerry Playbook Still On Course For Q1 US Release

Despite rumours of battery issues delaying the release of RIM’s BlackBerry Playbook, the company has officially confirmed the device is still right on track for a first-quarter release in the US.

RIM took to the stage at CES in Las Vegas to announce that it would launching a 4G-enabled version of its tablet device in the Summer, prompting fears that the Wi-Fi only model would incur a delay also. RIM quickly moved to put and end to speculation in an email to AllThingsD stating:

If you were intending on purchasing one of these devices, your fears have now been put to rest.

The BlackBerry playbook has been demonstrated on the floor at CES and also in a number of short videos which take users through how the tablet operates. With the Playbook expected to launch by the end of March, the rest of the world will need to wait until Q2 to get their hands on one of these devices.

Samsung to announce new 8.9-inch Galaxy Tab as soon as next month

Samsung is set to announce a new 8.9-inch variation of its popular Galaxy Tab tablet computer, releasing it before the summer, reports Korean news agency Yonhap News .

Although the company has not confirmed specifications, Samsung is expected to deliver a second Honeycomb-powered tablet and will be released in the global market via mobile operators, a strategy that was confirmed by a company spokesman.

Local media outlets have suggested Samsung could announce its new 8.9-inch tablet as soon as next month, a move that would see it compete with product announcements from its rivals, most notably Apple and its announcement of its next-generation iPad .

Samsung recently unveiled the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 at Mobile World Congress. The world’s second largest smartphone manufacturer is attempting to appease consumers that have different tablet needs by releasing a new 8.9-inch tablet, adding to its existing 7-inch and 10.1-inch models.

We have contacted Samsung for more information, we will update as soon as we know more.