For the past five years, engineers at Sony have been developing the PlayStation 5's answer to the Xbox Adaptive Controller, finally completing a triumvirate of accessibility-focused controllers for all three current-gen consoles, including the Nintendo-licensed Hori Flex. The palm-sized, turtle-shaped Access controller arrives three years into the lifecycle of the PS5, bringing with it an impressive amount of customization and flexibility. Flexibility that costs $90 at launch--$20 more than a DualSense, which is included with the PS5 as standard. In other words, flexibility comes at a cost. It's a price reflected in its Xbox and Switch counterparts with the Xbox Adaptive Controller (XAC) slightly costlier at $99.99, though both are dwarfed by the Hori Flex's retail price of $249.99.

When looking back at past console generations, the conversation often turns to graphical fidelity. Who could, for example, forget the first time they left the confines of Kokiri Forest for the wide expanse of Hyrule Field in The Ocarina of Time? It was a moment where you felt like you were experiencing the future of gaming. But as video games have become more complex, so too have the peripherals we use to play them. Over on Engadget's YouTube channel, Senior Producer Brandon Quintana recently took a look back at the evolution of console controllers, tracking their development all the way from the 1970s to the modern day.

Despite everything we've all been through, though, there were a few bright spots in the world of tech. Console makers blessed us with mouthwatering next-gen hardware, while Apple wowed the industry with the prowess of its own M1 CPU. Google also delivered an excellent phone for just $350, demonstrating an ability to not just read the room, but also to think of a world beyond a well-heeled tech-savvy audience. There are also companies that flourished during the global lockdown, and though truth continued to be contested throughout the US elections, we thankfully saw social media step up their efforts to combat misinformation. Clearly, staying home gave some of us the freedom to produce great products and fight for good. Apple's M1 system on a chip (SOC) may be tiny, but its impact on the computing industry will be felt for years to come. The first of Apple's silicon to reach Macs, the M1 is a powerhouse, with 8 CPU cores and up to 8 GPU cores. Both the M1-equipped MacBook Air and MacBook Pro blew away comparable Intel or AMD-based PCs in the Geekbench 5 benchmark.

Sony has done some really interesting things with their controller and we're using that to try to improve the immersion of the feel of using a weapon,

In the PlayStation 5, Sony has found a new way to generate buzz. Sony's new video game console, available Nov. 12 for $499.99, It delivers a whole new look, a new way to interact, and a potentially (forgive the pun) game-changing controller. Much like the Xbox Series X and S, which comes out Nov. 10, the PS5 is going to solve some of the annoyances console video game players face. You spend less time waiting to load your games and more time immersed in those ever-dynamivirtual worlds.

While we wait to get our first official glimpse of the PlayStation 5, Sony is sharing the first details on the video game console's controller. The DualSense features a two-toned look with a white touchpad and subtle PlayStation blue light bar illuminating the sides. It also boasts white grips, with black shoulder buttons and thumbsticks. The DualSense will include many of the features of the DualShock controller used on the PlayStation 4 but will focus more on how games feel as you use the controller, said Hideaki Nishino, Sony's senior vice president of platform planning and management. Nishino said the controller will have haptic feedback to mimic "powerful sensations you'll feel when you play, such as the slow grittiness of driving a car through mud."