Check out the eyes on this special edition Astro Bot PS5 controller

By Carli Velocci July 29, 2024

The Astro bot sitting on top of the Astro Bot DualSense controller, which is a white controller with blue handles. The middle button also has eyes that look like Astro's. — PlayStation

We only have a couple of months to go before Astro Bot releases on PlayStation 5, but if that weren’t enough, there’s now a limited edition DualSense controller to go along with it.

Astro developers Team Asobi announced the Astro Bot Limited Edition controller, which looks just like the adorable PlayStation mascot. It’ll go up for preorder starting at 7 a.m. PT on August 9 for $80, and fully on sale on Astro Bot launch day September 6.

This limited edition DualSense controller very much evokes Astro, with his eyes on the touch pad. The body’s design is based on the Dual Speeder, so the the main body is white, with dark blue on the handles and light-blue accents on the buttons.

The Astro series is known for its technical demos of PlayStation features; Astro’s Playroom specifically showed off the features of the PlayStation 5 and the new DualSense controller. Nicolas Doucet, head of Team Asobi, said in a PlayStation blog post that the team is adding even more interactions between Astro Bot and your DualSense controller in the new game.

The biggest additions are to haptic feedback and the adaptive triggers, which Doucet says convey even more detail to the player during movement and combat. For example, the blog mentions that you’ll feel the thruster as you hit the trigger to use the bulldog jetpack. You’ll also feel more textures and impacts as you play, like the haptics responding in a specific way to sand or the impact of a large boss thumping the ground.

The controller is designed to look like the Dual Speeder, so of course there are trigger and haptic features related to that too, along with the motion control.

Topics

Contributor, Games

Carli is a technology, culture, and games editor and journalist. They were the Gaming Lead and Copy Chief at Windows Central…

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Sony PlayStation DualSense Controller appears on a white background.

The PlayStation 5's DualSense controller is a feature-packed input device that can offer some of the most immersive experiences in gaming -- but it's not exactly known for stellar battery life. Luckily, there are a handful of ways in which you can improve your PS5 controller's battery life, and we'll tell you what they are below.
Set controllers to turn off automatically
Everyone needs to take a break from a gaming session sometimes. If you plan to be away from your console for a bit, you don't want the controller to remain on for an extended period of time, as that will eat through your battery unnecessarily. As such, you should head into the PS5's system settings and adjust the power-saving option so your controllers turn off automatically.
Lower the light bar brightness
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Turn down the controller speaker
The DualSense offers some unique in-game feedback options via a small microphone on the front of the controller. While this can increase immersion in certain games (or even act as a microphone if you don't have a headset), it can have a minor impact on your battery life. If you're not actively making use of this somewhat niche feature, head into controller settings and turn the volume all the way down to get a little extra play time.

Reduce vibration intensity
There's no denying that the DualSense provides some of the coolest haptic feedback we've ever seen, beautifully matching the feeling in your hands to events happening on screen. But all that vibration drains more power than you'd think. You can reduce this intensity in controller settings, or turn it off altogether if you prefer.
Turn off adaptive triggers
Like the haptic feedback, the DualSense's adaptive triggers are a unique and compelling addition to gaming on a PS5, granting you tension on your triggers for immersive experiences with things like firing guns or pulling large objects in-game. But unsurprisingly, this can also have a slight effect on your battery life, so if you're not terribly interested in this feature, hop into controller settings and turn it off.
Use a wireless headset
Though the DualSense features the option to use a wired headset, anything plugged into this headphone jack is drawing power. If you can possibly do so, use a wireless headset instead to stop that small but noticeable power drain on your controller.

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The Astro Bot series first made a name for itself thanks to PlayStation VR. Team Asobi's Astro Bot: Rescue Mission was hailed as one of the VR platform's best games when it launched in 2018, leaving fans curious to see if the studio would develop a game for Sony's newest headset, the PlayStation VR2. In an interview with Digital Trends at Summer Game Fest, Doucet confirmed that VR isn't in the cards for its new game for logistical reasons.