QUOTE(Kira Yamoto @ Aug 31 2006, 08:03 AM)
.......You have to think about hands of all sizes.
If thats the case then they certainly didn't think about my hands... the thumb sticks are so far in towards the center of the controller that I can't push in towards the center without physically moving my whole hand.
Meaning that with a normal grip I can't push "right" on the left stick and I can't push "left" on the right stick unless I loosen my grip more towards the tips of my fingers and physically move my whole hand in that direction.
I've never had any problems using any other analog controller with the exception of the original Xbox Duke which has a similar problem.
The analog sticks are in a poor position, the controller was not designed with analog sticks in mind, it was a SNES controller with some extra shoulder buttons then Sony decided to throw on some analog sticks to compete with Nintendo and Sega, both of whom redesigned their design for analog controllers to be more analog friendly. The analog sticks were basically placed in a location where they would fit on the existing controller, ergonomics and human factors didn't factor much into the design.
If the center of the controller was really the best place for a directional control then why wasn't the D-Pad located there on the original PS controller? The D-Pad was located where it was originally because it was the best place for it, At the time the D-pad got more use then analogs so it got the prime real-estate. That's no longer the case so why is it still like that? Are they afraid of change? Are they afraid it will screw up the visual symmetry of the controller?
I'm sure a lot of people are comfortable with it because Sony has been using this design now for the past 10 years but that doesn't mean it's a good design, if you stand in a pile of shit for long enough you'll get use to the smell, it doesn't mean it doesn't smell bad or that people who don't unusually stand it can't smell it. It also doesn't mean you shouldn't look for some place to stand that doesn't smell as bad.