Evil Controllers has announced a brand new esports-focused controller for the Xbox One and PS4 called the Evil Shift. It’s designed to be faster and more intuitive than other gamepads available on the market, though it does ditch the controversial macro software support of some of Evil’s other controllers.
The reputation of Evil Controllers is rather mixed, depending on who you speak to. Some like the company’s focus on bringing some of the PC’s customizable controller systems and macro command functions to consoles, while others see (at least that latter feature) as some measure of cheating. The Shift should avoid some of that controversy, however, as it does away with the macros and instead pushes its abilities as a fast-paced esports controller.
That’s because to be tournament compatible and therefore usable by esports gamers, the hardware can never allow macro mapping. Evil makes a big point that that feature has been stripped from the Shift.
Buyers of the new gamepad can still expect the on-the-fly button remapping of previous Evil Controller designs, but the big changes come in the form of new face buttons, which have an audible click for actuation and a much faster reaction time. Hair trigger buttons reduce tension by more than 50 percent (as per Polygon), which should also speed up presses for trigger commands — whatever you want them to be.
There are also additional buttons at the base and back of each handgrip, where players’ fingers naturally sit. That gives them additional commands which can be activated without moving fingers from their resting point. They can also be actuated from any angle, so no matter how your fingers sit on them, a press will be recognized as a press.
Those “paddles” are unique to Evil Controller designs, we’re told, so much so that the gamepad maker is looking to patent the design. Future Evil Controller designs will use them too, though they will come in different shapes and sizes, giving users options when it comes to their paddle choices.
The Shift will also come with a choice of three thumbstick sizes, letting users pick their preference on a game by game basis.
As it stands there is no hard pricing information, though the Shift is slated to cost around the same as Evil’s other controllers — so anything from $100 up to $250. There will be two versions though, one with a removable cable and one without.
Expect the Shift to debut at some point this summer.
