The PS4 is now released in the EU, but due to shipment shortages is not available for sale unless pre-ordered a long time ago. Luckily, it seems as though Dualshock 4 controllers are availble for sale in a number of shops already.
I've long decided to buy the PS4 as well as a second Dualshock 4 controller, so I've been considering buying the "second" controller now in order to replace my old Xbox 360 controller, whose D-Pad is useless and whose RB button no longer responds correctly. But before I buy the Dualshock 4 early, I wanted to know how well my PC will support it.
I already know that "basic functionality" such as analog sticks and some buttons work on the PC, but what exactly does work, and what doesn't?
Can I expect the same key-mapping on the PC as on a PS4?
Basically, can I replace my Xbox 360 controller with a Dualshock 4 and still play games like Batman Arkham Asylum/City/Origins as if I were using the old Xbox 360 controller?
Best Answer
I decided to buy a Dualshock 4 and see for myself what works and what doesn't.
First off: As promised, the Dualshock 4 works on Windows without the need to install additional drivers.1 Connection is established via a Micro-B USB cable, or via Bluetooth on computers with a Bluetooth receiver. (Hold down the Home and Share buttons together for several seconds to enable Bluetooth pairing mode. The light bar will continuously flash when pairing mode is activated.)
Game support is extremely lacking. The Dualshock 4 is a DirectInput device while the Xbox 360 controller uses XInput, which is the only API that most - if not all - modern games use. In order to use the Dualshock 4 in games that only support the Xbox 360 controller, a wrapper is needed2. Here's to hoping Sony will release drivers to add XInput support to the Dualshock 4.
As for the default key-mapping; even if games accept input from the Dualshock 4, you might want to calibrate the controller to match the Xbox 360 controller's key mapping.
Matching inputs are:
The Xbox 360 controller uses 3 Axis and 2 Rotations as input for its two analog sticks and 2 triggers; the triggers both share the Z-Axis.
The Dualshock 4 on the other hand uses 3 Axis and 3 Rotations for the same.
According to Windows' very own Game controller settings:
The Xbox 360 offers a total of 10 buttons3.
The Dualshock 4 offers a total of 14 buttons4.
1: Tested on Windows 7 and 8.1
2: I found one such wrapper here
3: Excluding the home button, which does not seem to map to a controller input
4: 2 buttons are mapped to the L2/R2 triggers, which are also mapped to the X and Y Rotations