Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. News

For children with tiny hands, PlayStation has created the Mini Wired Gamepad

By
Add as a preferred source on Google

While Nintendo has become synonymous with kid-friendly gaming, it certainly isn’t the only console kids can play. The PlayStation 4 has games such as Buy Now , Knack 2, or Buy Now . But there is one design flaw that keeps some children and their small hands away from the system — its controller is made for larger, adult hands.

By keeping younger gamers in mind, Hori designed a better PlayStation 4 controller for children. The Mini Wired Gamepad is 40 percent smaller than the original DualShock 4 design and comes in a simpler form factor that resembles the controller for the Super Nintendo. The Mini Wired Gamepad provides all the necessary functions to play most PS4 games. It has control sticks, shoulder buttons, directional buttons, and action buttons. Even without a built-in touchpad, many of its inputs can be simulated with the left or right sticks.

Recommended Videos

To make the setup easier, this mini controller is completely wired. Playing a game is as simple as plugging in the 10-foot cable. While this does open up gaming to the whole family, the gamepad has a few features absent, making it incompatible with a few games. There is no touchpad, light bar, stereo headset jack, speaker, vibration, or motion sensing.

Without certain key features from the DualShock 4, games like Tearaway Unfolded are completely unplayable. This game is perfect for children, but it was designed to take full advantage of features like the light bar and motion controls.

Hori has been a big name in third-party video game accessories for some time, even going as far back as the original Nintendo Entertainment System. As first-party controllers have become more complex and expensive, Hori has come in with affordable alternatives. Aside from standard controllers, it is also known for making more niche controllers; for fighting games, it makes plenty of arcade sticks. For PC-like controls, it created wired keypads and mice. Whether players are looking for an advantage through their controller or just a cheaper alternative, Hori has what is needed.

Hori’s Mini Wired Gamepad launches across the United States and Canada this holiday season. Available only in blue, the controller will cost $30.

Garrett Hulfish
Garrett Hulfish
Contributor
Garrett is the kind of guy who tells you about all the tech you haven't heard of yet. He also knows too much about other…
Topics
Sony’s new PS5 Prism Collection gives a beautiful retro makeover to your console and controller
The new collection lets you peek inside your PS5 and DualSense controller with a glossy transparent design.
sony-prism-collection-ps5

Remember when transparent gadgets were the coolest things you could own? Sony is bringing that late '90s aesthetic back with its new PS5 Prism Collection. The gorgeous lineup gives your DualSense controller and PS5 console a glossy, see-through makeover in three eye-catching colors.

https://twitter.com/PlayStation/status/2115459064981512662?s=19

Read more
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4’s Stranded mission had me hooked for hours, yet left me wanting more
I spent hours sneaking through North Korea, scavenging supplies, and clearing outposts, and I’d happily do it all again.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Stranded mission gameplay

For years, Call of Duty’s campaign mode has used big, scripted set pieces to tell the overarching story amid all the adrenaline-pumping action. The 2023 Modern Warfare 3 tried to shake up the established formula by introducing a handful of short open combat missions, and I genuinely liked the idea, but the game's overall negative reception seeped into how those missions were received.

I feared the next iteration might abandon the idea because of the backlash, but I am glad it didn't. MW4’s “Stranded” mission uses the same approach, but instead of fragmenting it across the campaign, it puts it all in a single large-scale open-world mission.

Read more
The $1300 Acer Predator Atlas 8 handheld is finally US-bound, and its pre-orders are already sold out
Acer’s first gaming handheld to launch in the US arrives November 1 with Intel Arc G3 Extreme hardware.
Intel Arc G3 Extreme Hands On with Acer Predator Atlas 8

Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.

Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.

Read more