DualSense controller can detect if player is blowing

The PlayStation 5’s DualSense controller can recognize when the player blows into the controller. When players do that, it translates into the game. The feature was shown by Geoff Keighley, who got to try out the controller.

During the Summer Game Fest, YouTuber Keighley presented a demo of Astro’s Playroom, a ‘few hours’ minigame that is installed on every PlayStation 5 by default. In the game a small robot has to walk around and collect coins. During the demo, Keighley was able to use the new console’s DualSense controller.

According to Keighley, the new controller has better speakers with better sound. You can also see how Keighley has to physically blow into the controller, after which a windmill in the game starts to spin. The controller Keighley plays with is white, as seen in videos before, and feels heavier and more robust than the DualShock. When asked whether other colors will also be available, Sony marketing head Eric Lempel, with whom Keighley spoke during the stream, did not answer.

It is the first time that Sony shows the controller of the console in operation. It was previously known that the white controller will have adaptive triggers with which, for example, an arc can be tightened with a certain strength. Players only feel that when they are in the game; they also feel very much like normal triggers. The demo that Keighley played also shows how the touchpad is used more often during gameplay, and the controller uses haptic feedback that Keighley says feels different in different situations. For example, the feedback is different when a player is in a sandstorm than when he is underwater.

The console’s pricing and exact release date were not disclosed during the stream. The PlayStation 5, along with the competing Xbox Series X, will be released in the fall.

Update: This article initially stated that the controller had a separate sensor that could measure blowing, but that is not certain. It is probably a recording with the microphone.