An esoteric-yet-familiar-looking portable controller

Conceived by Azerbaijani designer Elvin Aliyev, Psistick controller is quite small, measuring out to be around three-quarters of the height of a newer iPhone model, and features Bluetooth and micro-USB connectivity. What makes it really special, however, are the buttons with the letters of the Greek alphabet on them. In fact, in addition to left and right triggers, the direction pad, the Start button and the button for Bluetooth connectivity, the action buttons are marked by the letters lambda, xi, psi and theta which – in terms of shape and colour – are a mix of Sony’s and Microsoft’s tradition, giving us a controller that is both original and familiar.

“The inspiration came from the letter Lambda, which for every kid of my generation mostly represented a symbol or even a puzzle of the legendary game Half-Life. I wanted to use that symbol in my controller as a tribute to the game. Further, I realized that adding just one letter will make no sense, so I used other Greek letters to support the main idea” explains Elvin Aliyev, adding that “I've chosen letters for Psistick buttons with the idea that shape had to remind Play Station's simple geometrical forms. That could help Play Station users to unconsciously recognize familiar shapes, moreover, colors have similarities with Xbox controller colors, which could help their users too. Finally, when I found the Greek letter Psi, my Idea was formed, and I realized that I created another puzzle for users. I liked the idea of holding puzzles in the hands while solving puzzles in the games”.

Although the controller comes both in speckled black and slate white, Psistick is not yet in production and, since it is only a concept, there are no plans for its launch on the market yet.