The Xbox One controller
The Xbox One controller (Robyn Beck/AFP Photo)

The Xbox One will be able to support the use of up to eight controllers at once, while the PlayStation 4 can tote a quartet of gamepads. But will it affect gaming?

Neither Microsoft nor Sony had talked up controller connectivity in their bids for favorable publicity, and it was left to the Xbox One's official product page to reveal the octal truth.

Sony's head of Worldwide Studios, Shuhei Yoshida, then responded to Twitter inquiries to confirm that November's PS4 wouldn't support seven pads, as the PS3 does, but four instead.

That wouldn't affect most popular titles, considering the prevailing trend towards online co-op, but it's conceivable that some games might have to readjust themselves for the generational leap.

Soccer sims "FIFA" and "Pro Evolution Soccer" have traditionally supported as many simultaneous players as possible, while the "Rock Band" titles made use of bespoke controllers for multi-instrumental karaoke sessions -- though that particular genre is no longer the force it once was.