If you have giant hands (like I do) or if you recently made the move from Xbox 360 to PlayStation 4 (like I did) I would like to recommend you these fine, rubbery nodules for your controller.
They're called PlayBudz and they look ridiculous.
I, like many ShooterBox consumers, was lulled over to the PlayStation side this generation. This means that the latest Call of Duty and I will have a much smaller point of contact this time around — specifically, the tiny DualShock 4. So far, it's been a painful experience for me. The hand grips on the DS4 don't sit far back enough in my palms. That means that my last two fingers on each hand don't even touch the controller, and as a result getting a good feel for the triggers has been difficult.
That is, until spent $5 on these two chunks of silicone.
Imagine that you went to Walmart and bought a shower curtain rod, but instead of taking the rubber end-caps and smashing them against your tile walls, you instead stuck them on the ends of your DS4.
I was skeptical, but for five bucks I was willing to try anything to get rid of the horrible pain in my wrists.
Turns out that PlayBudz are just what the doctor ordered. My DS4 is suddenly about 30 percent longer.
PlayBudz are actually made really well, not something I expected to say after spending so little on them. I've been messing with them on and off for a month, and I'm pretty impressed with the design.
At first I suspected these were found items that were re-purposed for use on controllers. But after some study, I realized that unlike the rubbery bits that come with your bathroom accessories, each PlayBudz end-cap has a thin tapered edge where it makes contact with the DS4. That makes for a really tight fit. Once these things are on, it takes some real effort to get them off. These are clearly purpose-built items.
After five hours with CoD:AW this morning my wrists did not ache at all.
The benefit is that you have fine control over the angle of each one. You can position them to have the same wide spread that the DS4 has naturally, or point them in towards each other to creates arcs similar to the original Xbox controller.
After five hours with CoD:AW this morning my wrists did not ache at all.
While I've not had the chance to experiment, the manufacturer says they work well with Xbox One and the Wii U Pro. They're available in a variety of colors, and are in stock now.
If you made the move from 360 to PS4, or are just a giant human like me, I can't recommend them enough. Now the only problem I have to solve is the short length of the analog sticks on the DS4, but that's an issue for another day.
Update: I've been using my PlayBudz for a few years now, and still recommend them. The price has gone up a bit. We've adjusted this article to reflect that change. The basic black pair can be found here.