Watch: First PS5 DualSense controller hands-on with Astro’s Playroom

Game Awards producer Geoff Keighley provided the first PlayStation 5 DualSense hands-on during a live stream on Friday.

During the stream, which you can rewatch above, Keighley demonstrated several of the next-gen controller’s features while playing Astro’s Playroom, which will come pre-installed on PS5 when the console launches this holiday season.

Sony unveiled the PlayStation 5 DualSense controller in April, calling it “a radical departure” from its previous offerings, with PlayStation boss Jim Ryan claiming it “captures just how strongly we feel about making a generational leap with PS5”.

Sony’s Hideaki Nishino said the firm decided to keep “much of what gamers love” about PS4’s DualShock 4 intact, while also adding new functionality and refining the controller’s design.

DualSense features a two-toned design with haptic feedback, adaptive triggers, a built-in microphone array enabling players to chat with friends without a headset, and updates to hand triggers, grips and the light bar.

Sony says the controller’s haptic feedback feature adds a variety of powerful sensations players will feel when they play, such as the grittiness of driving a car through mud.

Following his DualSense hands-on, Keighley interviewed PlayStation worldwide marketing head Eric Lempel, who shot down rumours that the company’s about to open PS5 pre-orders, telling players it will provide advance notice when it plans to do so.

Further reading

PS5 controller analysis: 5 questions we still have about DualSense

Will it support PSVR? And what's on the back?