A patent filed by Nintendo suggests that they’re working on Hall Effect style joysticks for the Switch 2 that would eliminate stick drift almost entirely.

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[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Title seems odd, hall effects already exist, they aren't creating something new. Also, love my DS5 to death, best controller I've ever used.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

I think it's saying a patent about hall effect sensors specifically relating to Nintendo and Switch style implementations. Obviously it's not for the concept at large that's been around for decades.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I loved my Dualsense too, and then the left stick started drifting so badly, it's completely unusable now. It's only about a year old, too. I blame Sekiro. Both my DS4s still work fine though, and they've seen much more use and abuse.

[–] HeyJoe 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ps5 controller was just as bad... I'm on my 3rd now and most of my friends are on their 2nd. I also had 1 switch controller go bad as well, but I also don't play switch as much. This entire generation had the best controllers but also the worst problems I have ever had. Prior to these 2 systems I have never had a controller break before and I'm going back to original NES days.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I was talking about the PS5 controller. My DS4s (the PS4 controller) are holding up much better. At least the internals. The rubber on the sticks wore off, and I had to replace the tops. That was much easier than the 14 contacts-per-stick I have to de-and-re-solder on the Dualsense (PS5 controller) when I work up the courage to try that.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I loved my Dualsense too, and then the left stick started drifting so badly, it’s completely unusable now. It’s only about a year old, too

I really think that something changed with a major potentiometer manufacturer in the past few years. I don't recall stick drift on a PS2 controller that I used for many years, but I've seen it on a number of controllers from different vendors recently.

Only thing I can think of other than recent hardware problems is that maybe the controller hardware imposed a certain amount of deadzone at one point in time and stopped doing so in newer gamepads, and that masked the drift.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I really think that something changed with a major potentiometer manufacturer in the past few years.

I've heard a lot of hearsay that that is the case. Tech savvy people have taken apart some sticks and say that analog stick quality has taken a nosedive in recent years. Maybe it is just the effect of this sort of thing being discussed on the Internet more often, but I don't doubt the veracity. I've had a few older controllers that I retired because of external wear whose internals were totally fine. Seems like controllers like Dualsense and particularly Switch Joycons are just poorly made.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You don't have to dodge in Sekiro, just stand there and parry everything.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

True, but you still do a lot of moving around with the left stick. And when you're stressed out about imminent death at any moment, that can be hard on the sticks.

I loved Sekiro! My first time through the game, I probably died on that first miniboss a hundred times. On NG+, I got to and killed Lady Butterfly without dying once. What an amazing game. I should probably go back and finish up NG+ once Elden Ring lets go of me.