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Forums - Sony Discussion - Sony's DualShock 4 light bar can't be turned off to save battery

outlawauron on 09 July 2013
riderz13371 said:

  1. 20h

    Can games developers choose to turn the light off on the DS4?

     Expand
  2. 15h

    yes

      Hide conversation
    10:52 PM - 8 Jul 13 (GMT-07:00) · Details

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Cthulhu on 09 July 2013

I never thought this would be a problem to anyone..... anyway on PSmove the light turns off by itself when not needed, maybe that is the case with DS4 too



Adinnieken on 09 July 2013
Ajescent said:
slowmo said:
I don't see how this isn't considered an annoyance because it blatantly will be. You guys do know its ok to admit the tiniest negative don't you. Its really not a deal breaker though and they could probably change it in a later revision if people do complain.

By the way, to the query regarding playing in the dark, I game on a projector and my room is always blacked out but I don't consider this a problem giving the light bleed I get from my screen anyway.

Does anyone know exactly how "bright" the bar will be? I don't think this has ever been established. People are acting as if it's brighter than the bat signal.

As someone said before...your tv projects light so playing in the dark is not a complaint.

Based on the demo videos, it seems evident that the DS4's light bar is bright and could potentially be seen on the TV while playing.  It'd be light a light shining brightly behind you in a dark room.  It won't wash out the room with light, obviously not that bright, but based on the demo, it definitely shows up on a TV screen.

The Xbox One's Wireless Controller also uses three IR LEDs.  So while Kinect can see the light, you can't.



Adinnieken on 09 July 2013
Cthulhu said:
I never thought this would be a problem to anyone..... anyway on PSmove the light turns off by itself when not needed, maybe that is the case with DS4 too

No, but developers can turn it off.



Adinnieken on 09 July 2013
riderz13371 said:

  1. 20h

    Can games developers choose to turn the light off on the DS4?

     Expand
  2. 15h

    yes

      Hide conversation
    10:52 PM - 8 Jul 13 (GMT-07:00) · Details

Yay!  So Sony puts the onus on developers to implement a feature that probably should have been implemented by them in the first place.



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J_Allard on 09 July 2013

I am sure if we bitch enough when it releases, they can put the ability in via update.



ethomaz on 09 July 2013
riderz13371 said:

  1. 20h

    Can games developers choose to turn the light off on the DS4?

     Expand
  2. 15h

    yes

      Hide conversation
    10:52 PM - 8 Jul 13 (GMT-07:00) · Details

Ohhhhh no. it's already debunked.



Adinnieken on 09 July 2013
ethomaz said:
riderz13371 said:

  1. 20h

    Can games developers choose to turn the light off on the DS4?

     Expand
  2. 15h

    yes

      Hide conversation
    10:52 PM - 8 Jul 13 (GMT-07:00) · Details

Ohhhhh no. it's already debunked.

That's not a debunk, ethomaz.  That's a work-around. 

If a developer doesn't switch off the light, which is likely an easy thing to do, then it'll still be on. 

Like I said, this is Sony putting the onus on developers to do something it should have thought of in the first place.  I mean if developers have the ability to turn it off, you would think Sony would to.  Like in a global settings properity page.



Ajescent on 09 July 2013
Adinnieken said:
riderz13371 said:

  1. 20h

    Can games developers choose to turn the light off on the DS4?

     Expand
  2. 15h

    yes

      Hide conversation
    10:52 PM - 8 Jul 13 (GMT-07:00) · Details

Yay!  So Sony puts the onus on developers to implement a feature that probably should have been implemented by them in the first place.

Why is it such a big deal? Everyone is acting as if the light will be brighter than the sun and blind you if you even THINK of looking directly into it.



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Adinnieken on 09 July 2013
Ajescent said:
Adinnieken said:
riderz13371 said:

  1. 20h

    Can games developers choose to turn the light off on the DS4?

     Expand
  2. 15h

    yes

      Hide conversation
    10:52 PM - 8 Jul 13 (GMT-07:00) · Details

Yay!  So Sony puts the onus on developers to implement a feature that probably should have been implemented by them in the first place.

Why is it such a big deal? Everyone is acting as if the light will be brighter than the sun and blind you if you even THINK of looking directly into it.

I don't think it'll be a huge deal, nor have I made a big deal of it.  I whether or not you have the PlayStation Camera, the DS4 light bar still could be a distraction, especially in a darkly lit room if you don't have a means of turning off.  That aside, if developers do make it possible to turn off the light in their game, then cool.  None issue.

But Sony could have easily said, "You will have the means to turn it off and if game developers need to use the features of the light bar, they can enable it."  But they didn't and the reason they didn't is because the DS4 was never meant to work without the PlayStation Camera.  From the get-go, it was designed with the PlayStation Camera bundled. 

Subsequently, the bigger point here isn't the light bar, but did Sony capitalize on negative critisicm of Microsoft and their decision to include Kinect in every box to remove the PlayStation Camera?