During its presentation at CES, Sony showed off the Mocopi system for full body tracking for use in games and the metaverse. The company also revealed Project Leonardo, a new modular controller designed to help gamers with disabilities.
The controller has a large round base designed to sit flat on a table, there are several mounting options as well. A player can use a single Project Leonardo controller or two, a DualSense controller can be added to the mix as well. This way you can combine one, two or three controllers into one virtual controller.
Each Project Leonardo device is configurable by swapping buttons and rearranging them to best suit the player’s needs. Multiple buttons can be mapped to the same function, and two functions can be mapped to the same button (for example if a game requires you to press R2 and L2 together).
Joysticks can be linked, these too come in different sizes to suit the player’s accessibility needs. The distance between the joystick and the controller can be adjusted as needed, and “north” can be mapped in any direction. Button mappings and other configurations are stored in the player’s profile and can have up to three configurations.
The base Project Leonardo controller is highly customizable, but has the potential to do more: there are four auxiliary ports (based on 3.5mm jacks) that will allow you to connect third-party switches, buttons and analog sticks. They can be configured just like any other button on your controller.
Sony worked with AbleGamers, SpecialEffect, StackUp and other accessibility experts to design this controller. The Leonardo project is still under development, so more features and launch details will be revealed in the future.
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