Ben Heck moves PS3 shoulder buttons to the front, spins us right round, baby, right round
By Tim Stevens 
posted September 18th 2009 8:31AM
posted September 18th 2009 8:31AM
[Via technabob]
posted September 18th 2009 8:31AM
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Oh man, we just got Dead or Alived!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu_moia-oVI
www.meatspin.com
yeah, i saw the title and that was the first thing i thought of.
i'll never be able to disassociate that song from those images :( . . . can't unsee
Don't downvote that video! It rules!
So, whats with the video engadget linked? Is that the real video for that song from back in the day? Cuz its freaking wierd!
This mod seems useless to me. I have no trouble accessing my shoulder buttons and the way they were moved seems... uncomfortable to use.
...and what did I just watch?...
im trying to figure out WFT i just watched also o.o ( blink blink )
typical 80's music video :)
you just watched a boy george wanna be from the 80's that enjoys wearing an eye patch sometimes.
Personally I commend the guy since eye patches are cool and I
......heart pirates
I dunno why engadget left that part off.
I wouldn't like them where Ben put them, but I find that R1 & L1 are a little too high. I have to uncomfortably stretch my fingers upward to hit them or shift my whole hand, which makes the wrist uncomfortable. So I get pretty uncomfortable after a short time playing if I have to use those buttons too much. I would like it if they were down closer to the R2 & L2's.
Here is the Super Mario version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeWiHV2lDtE
the L2 R2 triggers are too round, kinda slippery when I play for an extended period and got sweat on my fingers, I always end up slipping off, and it sucks that a lot of games use R2 for gun trigger or gas paddle. I think the "Real Trigger" addon you can find on amazon is more practical, i think its only 5 bucks.
They look like... half-melted chocolate chips. Or smushed rat poop.
that sucks ... shoulder buttons are no problem!
IT is completely useless. Why would you do it?
it was the 80's, crazy shit happened back then.
how tha heck are you gonna use those buttons? grow extra thumbs???
Us mutants are looking forward to this controller hitting the market, thank you very much.
what about that guy who reviewed that HTC phone, he had an extra thumb.
From looking at it, having the triggers away from the back prevents them from being pressed constantly while laying them on your leg. I myself only have one arm and it's a constant bitch to use a ps3 remote. I bought a 3rd party remote which has a huge gap in the middle and has modules that can be moved to replicate a 360 remote. It helps significantly since I now just rest the middle inside my wheelchair arm. I don't see the remote listed on Bestbuy's website unfortunately...
I find the mod even useless!
Now all they need to do is get the left analogue stick in the right place.
I don't get this Ben Heck guy - while his mods are usually clever, does he make a living doing this? Or is it just a hobby? (Maybe meaning, does someone actually buy this stuff?)
From the linked article: "The idea requested by the >customer< was".
Didn't read the linked ad, but that still makes me wonder. Is the customer his little brother? The next-door neighbor? Or is someone out there paying Ben thousands of dollars for these magnificent works of art?
I seriously doubt he gets decent money selling the stuff he makes. I'd imagine he spends a lot of time and parts money on what he builds without a real market to compensate for his trouble.
Maybe he gets paid by Engadget/AOL because they sure do like featuring his creations, and it seems that the readers enjoy reading about them. I'm not sure why his stuff is so interesting though, because his xbox laptops are getting pretty damn redundant.
This controller just happens to take the cake for lamest Ben Heck feature.
http://benheck.com/before-you-email
He charges a minimum of $500 for a custom controller, and $80/hr (design & labor) + parts for new projects.
A 360 laoptop starts at $5000.
I usually enjoy his mods, but this one I gotta say, "what the heck for". It's ergonomically correct before and now it looks like it's hard as hell to press that. How do you hold the controller and press it at the same time, with your palm? No...this one is thumbs down.
Kinda disapointed here, cause accessing the Shoulder buttons is actually good and not that complicated.
But if you think of this in the line of Ben's One Handed controller, it migth be helpful for someone with a disability. So, not completly useless, just not as awesome.
Keep goin' Ben
Ben has had some awesome mods and some truly lame ones.
This is the KING of the lamest ones.
"Easier to get at", in this case, mean "harder to avoid".
Gonna have to agree with the guys on this one, this is pretty much useless. You can't use the analog's and those buttons at the same time. What would you do in games where you move with the analog sticks and aim/shoot with L1/R1? You'd have to shoot standing still.
And I'm not sure what the technical term is for it, but with some games, how much you depress the shoulder button is integral to the gameplay (see High Velocity Bowling). Do these buttons have that same functionality?
I don't think the mod is very useful, but Jesus- I wish they had not put that video there. Could have lived my whole life not knowing how weird those guys are.
Maybe someone has arthritis or something in their fore fingers, or has no fingers, just thumbs. Probably does the trick for whoever it was intended for.
And also, this post wins for added Pete Burns.
What someone suggested in the comments on the original article is that perhaps this is for a gamer with less than the normal amount of thumbs. my thought is that the article would've mentioned this, except the customer might've requested not telling the entire internet about his disability.
ps: this makes nxp3's "thumbs down" comment seem a bit in poor taste, although I'm sure he just didn't think of this possibility.
You don't know how many times I've wished for this
The most practicle way I can see how to use this is holding the controller upside down.
I can't view the video at work, but even if I could, I think I'd still be left wondering how the hell are you supposed to use this?
Go go Engadget commenting system!
practical*
Engadget's commenting system made you misspell practical?
Yes it did, Makoto.
It's that intimidating.
Hi AC. Did you hear about Screech? He's doing farm porn now. Mr. Belding wants to give him an intervention at the Bayside Nurses office, be there.
Mr. Dewey, is that you? Can I drive the driver's ed golf cart there?
clearly, it's for Gabe: http://www.blogcdn.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2009/03/gam_jerryandmike_580.jpg
Since two of the shoulder buttons (L2 & R2) are actually now triggers with incremental actions in the PS3, this is a horrendous idea to my mind.
That... was... disturbing. Right disturbing.
My 5 year old nephew with raging ADHD glued some mesh on his DSi. Hurry Engadget, cover this scoop before Gizmodo does!
For all the idiots complaining about ruining the shoulder buttons: this is probably a mod he built for someone that has a disability that prevents them from using the normal L and R triggers.