Aside from that awful D-pad this is something that is almost always overlooked in comparisons of the two controllers. The playstation control measures how hard the top buttons are pressed while the Xbox controller's buttons sit stiff and just register a press as a press. In games you are capable of lightly pressing a button for different effects. This is best illustrated in the HD metal gear games which allowed you to lightly press to aim then hold to shoot. Something that is impossible in the Xbox versions. This could be an inportant feature in many games like a platformer but it wouldn't be there due to the xbox. It annoys me that this is almost never brought up in discusions.

The ps3 controller is my preference especially for beat'em ups, platformers, and fighting games. I have never had a problem with it it being uncomfortable as I hold all my controllers with my fingers rather than my palm (somthing you shouldn't do anyway as it can lead to hand injuries after a certain amount of time).

The depression control is very awkward. I tried it in GT5 Prologue and its so unnatural. You always get the wrong amount of pressure until you keep adjusting till your right. The triggers are much more suited to pressure sensitive.

What other games use the pressure sensitive face buttons? I tried it in Fifa, but again to innacurate. I went back to using the original quick an long taps for Fifa.

Also, shooting with the face buttons in Metal Gear is such bad design. Triggers are where a gunshot should come from. And holding with fingers is just to uncomfortable. Also wit my huge fingers  is an issue.

This was necessary and could end well.

It far more that just that, the only thing that isn't so great about the ps controller is the R/L 2 buttons. So I made my own. Now it's perfect. My fingers touch the back side of the 360 pad, cause there's no open space. That what I hate the most about it, and the off set sticks. I don't care if the are forward or back as long ad they are inline with each other.

I miss this feature on the Vita. In the MGS HD port you use the down button on the d-pad to cancel your aim instead of shooting. it's not a bad fix and i've gotten used to it but I prefer the old way.

Wait, seriously? X360 controllers aren't pressure sensitive? I haven't noticed until now, so that should say something... (maybe just that I haven't encountered any games that require it) I can remember plenty of PS2 games that used the feature to make controls more intuitive. Not as many with PS3... Perhaps the feature is no longer necessary? But that does seem like a very standard feature to be missing.

Yes, the Dualshock is the best for games with abominable control schemes.

It's mainly because last gen the PS2 didn't have triggers and face buttons were used a lot. This gen, trigger usage is everywhere. 

I agree that the pressure sensitive buttons and triggers are nice, but sometimes I wish I could disable it

I agree about holding the controller with your fingers rather than your palm. You don't grasp a controller, your button presses are much more nimble when you rest the controller on your fingers.