Yeah, I forgot about the "Orbis Vita" thing. My bad. In that case, they might make a traditional Dualshock with a few new details. Japaneses hate the number 4, because it means "death" (shi) or something. So the PS4 probably will be called Orbis.

PS: Nowadays things are looking more like "Orbis Mors" than anything else.

I hope not, in most generations I've had the Nintendo and Sony offerings. I like to have one of them to give me the more 'traditional' gaming experience. Even if it would be the better option businesswise (then they should ignore me of course), I personally would want them to just go with a normal control scheme since Nintendo already gives me the 'out of the box' experience.

Also, your signature is nothing but the absolute truth .

As much as I'd like to see a complete redesign of the basic shell that's been largely unchanged since the original PS1 Dual Shock controller, if I had to guess, I'd say about half of all Playstation users are really attached to the design, so any radical changes would only alienate half the potential user base, making minor improvements the safer design approach.

If the same basic 15 year old design is used, then the following wouldn't be bad ideas:
1. Improve L1/R1 trigger buttons: no "mushy" feel, stronger springs, more of a positive feedback, trigger-like feel with progressive resistance that increases the further pressed. Change the shape of the trigger buttons from convex to concave.
2. Change the analog stick nubs from convex to concave.
3. Smooth out some of the harder edges for better ergonomics (analog stick housings, shoulder button housings)

Of lesser note: may as well improve the force feedback to utilize improvements in technology.

Looking at the controller now, there's nothing really wrong with, all of the buttons are in good places. Perhaps they can add a touchscreen on the back of the controller like the Vita.

1. Weight. The addition of the forcefeedback motors adds a fair amount of weight balanced in the grips. The SixAxis feels a bit too light compared to the DS2 which is why some people complained about how "cheap" they feel people have a tendency to associate more weight with better quality. 

The motors also give the controller better balance the way it sits in the hands.

Other than that, it has the same vibration force-feedback that was used in the DS2. 

I still have a couple SixAxis controllers myself from 2007. One's beat to hell and cracked and the other is generally only used when being used as a secondary controller. 

I don't understand that complaint. I hate the Xbox 360's analogues. It's so uncomfortable pushing my thumbs down on the rims of the sticks and my thumbs always slip over the concave area because there is no grip. Your thumbs aren't supposed to stay in a set place on the analogue stick, they're supposed to roll around it, which they can't do very well on concave analogue sticks.

More vibration for the ladies :O

What Andre said about the rumble, but also SixAxis (I find) holds charge at least twice as well as DualShock.  I have one of each, rotate between the two and tend to notice SA lasts a lot longer.  The lack of rumble isn't something you really notice, I agree, only on very specific games (for example, the Motorstorm series use rumble a lot).

Yes, rumble usually takes quite a bit out of the battery, strange that they would put in the same kind of battery then. Personally I never have any issues with 'low' battery life. I almost never empty the battery during play as I don't have playsessions that are long enough, even on devices that don't last long like newer handhelds.

The controller itself works perfectly (as a type, but also quality of build). The weight really was the thing that I found 'off'. Now that I realise the SixAxis doesn't have the rumble feature built in, it actually makes sense. Before that, all controllers I got since the PS1/N64 era had it (or something else to add weight), so naturally were heavier. I like it best that way, so you know you're actually holding something and I agree heavier things are associated with better quality; I do that too. If the DS3 is back to the old weight then that's perfect! Definitely shouldn't change that for DS4 .