On the way to E3 2021 this week, I was contacted by GuliKit, a company that has been making high-end gaming peripherals such as controllers and bluetooth adapters. This particular outreach caught my eye, because GuliKit’s upcoming products focus on something that has become more and more of a problem lately. Sticks and buttons.
GuliKit Aims to Change Game Controllers with New Technology
Some revolutionary technologies are to be released by us 12th—15th June on #E32021 https://t.co/aqpboWF7N2 pic.twitter.com/SzvYeuzUOu
— GuliKit (@GuliKitDesign) June 8, 2021
Two press releases were sent out to the media about this new technology, one being a new kind of electromagnetic stick, and the other being a suspension technique approaching buttons from a new angle. I’m no technical expert, but this stuff seems like it has a lot of potential.
GuliKit’s electromagnetic stick comes with a bold premise, “solving” controller drift “ultimately.” That’s a tall order in 2021, considering drift is one of the biggest issues right now in console gaming. GuliKit’s press release goes into deep detail about the problem it aims to address, making this proposal feel like a potential big deal.
Essentially, GuliKit points to carbon film as a primary component of controller sticks as the key offender. Even without manufacturing issues (Joy-Cons), GuliKit points to natural degradation of carbon film and metal contacts inside sticks, which lead to invading substances such as dust, grease, “unknown liquids,” so on and so forth.
This new stick uses magnets to tackle this issue, while promising long life and accurate functionality. Using the magnets, this stick keeps the sensors and rotating shaft from touching, which seems to be a big part of the problem. Magnets are cool! Doubly so if GuliKit’s claims of defeating drift forever are true.
Now, the buttons. There is a bit less detail in this second release, but GuliKit points to the next several months of 2021 for these buttons to start appearing in products.
These buttons use a suspension mechanism instead of more common use of rubber pads, and the company claims this circumvents issues such as sticking and disconnections that affect controllers over time. The claim here is these new buttons have, quote, 50 million [button presses] of longevity, compared to a claim of one million for controllers we’re used to.
If you’re registered for this year’s E3 digital booth, which you’ll be able to check out as fans from this coming week, you’ll be able to check out GuliKit’s booth for yourselves. Their booth covers other products, such as a discrete bluetooth adapter for Nintendo Switch and other peripheral products.
I personally chose to cover these press releases because of how intriguing the pitch here is, but I do need to note this is taking those releases at face value for now. If we get our hands on the products when they’re available, we’ll undoubtedly come back for further coverage.
Related: Nintendo Switch Might Be Getting An Upgraded OLED Display
In the meantime, it’s E3 2021! New stuff is exciting! Catch y’all on the flipside and let us know what you think of this and other new announcements over at Prima Games’ Facebook and Twitter channels!
