-Hey, everyone.
Welcome to another episode of Ask the Experts, the fantastic collaboration between CNET and GameSpot.
On the CNET side, I'm Jeff Bakalar.
-And I'm Peter Brown for GameSpot.
-Absolutely.
Today, we're talking about existing peripherals for the consoles like Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Will those flight sticks,
fight sticks, wheels, headsets-- will they work with the new consoles that just came out?
-Let's tackle this console by console.
-Okay.
-Starting with the Xbox One, nothing is going to work.
-Sorry.
-At the moment.
-Sorry.
-So everything from headsets to flight sticks, to controllers, those all have to be purchased brand new, the ones that are made exactly for the Xbox One.
The one difference here is that Microsoft has plans to release an adaptor for the headsets.
They've changed the proprietary connection from the Xbox 360
for the Xbox One controller, so right now the old headsets don't work, but potentially in the future you might be able to use this.
-I'm actually kind of okay with the new proprietary connection.
-Yeah.
-Have you like used it yet?
-I've used this, yeah, but I-- you know--
-So, here's the box that it comes and you could buy an extra for--
-25 bucks.
-I'm not sure if for 25 bucks.
The old headset connector was really flimsy and that connection would--
-Yeah.
-always flicker.
-Sure.
-So, I like that this is way more sort of grounded into the controller, but like you said, if you have a headset like an Astro-- an
A40, A50, whatever it is-- it uses that patch cable like that goes from the controller to the ear-cup.
You're gonna have to wait for an adaptor to come out for you to use that.
But you can't take the optical audio signal--
-Yes.
-just for the, you know, surround sound of the actual game audio--
-Yeah.
-when it comes to voice, it's a different story.
All right, let's switch gears going over to the PlayStation 4. The DualShock 4 has a port at the bottom here that you can actually plug in any headphone or headset rather 1/8-inch jack
and it works with a lot of iPhone headset compatibles sort of--
-Right.
-devices and not only can you use it as a chat headset--
-Yeah.
-you can also get game audio out of the PS4--
-Right.
-controller, which is so amazing--
-It's so amazing.
-and not enough people are talking about it because all of the significant others in the world owe the PS4 designers their lives and their sleep.
-Yeah, I mean, people would spend a lot of money to buy wireless headsets to get the sort of functionality that you're getting straight from the controller.
-Yeah.
And it might not be surround sound,
but come on, I mean, for having it just working outside--
-Yeah.
-of the controller is pretty great.
-Yeah.
Apart from that on the PlayStation 4, the DualShock 3 will not work, arcade sticks.
Sony said that it's gonna be up to developers to program that functionality into the game.
Sony also said though that the Move controllers will work granted I don't think that there're any games at the moment that use Move.
-Right.
-Or any people that really like using Move.
-I think the latter is harder to come by.
-Yeah.
Tell us a little bit
about the existing sort of Bluetooth headsets--
-Oh yeah, good question.
-in that for PS4.
-Yeah, so the PS4 does have a Bluetooth radio inside of it.
Sony did not include Bluetooth functionality for headsets, the little guys that you'd put in your ear.
But they're coming out with a way for that to work.
They said sometime next year, they're gonna have a patch-up.
So that's coming and that will be good for a lot of people who do already own stuff, and basically, headsets are inexpensive peripheral.
If you wanna keep using your existing equipment and save money, you're gonna have to that on the PS4.
-And talking about surround sound
in headphones, Phillip has a question about USB support on those headsets.
Will it be able to do surround sound on the newer consoles?
-Well, not with the Xbox One--
-Right.
-but with the PS4, there was a 1.5 system update that came out shortly after release and yeah, so USB headsets will work now.
And that includes the likes of Astro A40, some Turtle Beach headsets, and if those supports surround sound, then it will work.
-I feel like we-- people should maybe go right out in set
and buy something before there's full support.
If you have like a legacy model like an Astro A40, A50, you're gonna get the surround sound for the audio--
-Yeah.
-for chat, it's a little more dicey.
-Yes, it is also worth mentioning, now the Kinect can be used to record voice audio during games.
It was only due to pressure from the audience and, you know, consumers--
-Right.
-that led them to include this guy.
-Right.
Well, there you have it, all the headset talk, legacy options, surround sound USB.
Hope you guys learned a lot today.
That's gonna do it for us on
this episode of Ask the Experts.
I'm Jeff Bakalar.
-And I'm Peter Brown.
-Thank you, Peter Brown for being here.
We've got a lot more to talk about with these next generation consoles, plenty of more questions that deserve answering.
So stay tuned and we'll see you guys very soon.
