I’ve referred to the PlayStation 3 multiple times as a “technological
marvel,” which it is despite all the negative press Sony has been getting over
its latest console. The hardware itself is beautiful and meticulously designed
(though some take issue with its lack of a hardware scaler, but that’s going to
be a fading complain as non-720p TV’s get replaced). I’m enjoying my PS3 very
much, although there hasn’t been much to play on it until today with the
arrival of Virtua Fighter 5. The
software will take a long time to catch up to the hardware, and I’m not sure if
the PlayStation Network will ever come close to matching up with the slickness
of Xbox Live.
As far as hardware goes, though, the PS3 is awesome… except
for one thing: the SIXAXIS controller. While the PS3 is an all-new piece of
hardware (aside from the EE and GS for emulation), the controller is just
another recycled afterthought. When the PS3 debuted, it came with a ‘batarang’
concept controller. I’ve never held the ‘batarang’ in my hands, so I don’t know
if it’s superior in feel to the SIXAXIS, but I can’t help but feel that Sony
underachieved on its latest controller design. I can understand the draw of
keeping the iconic silhouette of the DualShock, but sometimes you just need to
ignore the marketing department.
I don’t have any major ergonomic problems with the classic
shape of the SIXAXIS (though its analog triggers are less than optimal), but I
do miss the vibration force feedback. Sony’s Kaz Hirai said in an older
interview that rumble technology could not be paired inside the PS3 controller
because it would interfere with the motion sensor. Hirai later said that it
came down a cost issue, that including rumble would make the controller no
longer affordable to consumers. The real cost issue is Sony’s legal battle with
Immersion, who holds the patent on rumble. Sony had to pay nearly $90 million
in damages while Nintendo and Microsoft bowed to paying royalty fees. As a
result, Sony decided to just remove the rumble feature altogether for its next
console, which happens to be the PS3.
My discontent at the lack of rumble wouldn’t be as severe if
game developers hadn’t expressed that they too miss the feature. Guy Wilday,
head of Sega Racing Studio, said,
“Tilt control's not difficult to do… Fundamentally, though, the whole tilt
control thing is rubbish. It's no compensation for [the lack of] rumble.”
While the Wii has validated how great a motion sensing
controller can be, it remains to be seen how well it be integrated with PS3
games. For multiplatform games, such as Tony
Hawk Project 8 or Call of Duty 3,
the motion sensing feature feels gimmicky and an unfair trade-off from the rumble-enabled
Xbox 360 versions.
When asked about the motion sensing on the SIXAXIS, Pete
Hines of Bethesda Software said, “I think that
its value depends upon the game. It didn't make sense on Oblivion but I'm sure there are some games it does make sense on.
To be honest I would rather have the rumble instead of the SIXAXIS motion
stuff.”
The game I’m most anticipating to play on my PS3 is Metal Gear Solid 4, and to hear the game’s
director lament on the loss of rumble speaks to me on how important the feature
could be to the game. “I really miss the rumble feature, and I already said to
Mr. Kutaragi that I want the rumble feature back,” said Hideo Kojima.
I expect MGS4 to make good use of the
motion sensor, but oh, how I (along with Kojima) wish to have rumble. The first
Metal Gear Solid game for PSone made
such good use of rumble that I’ll never forget when the Hind took off, or when
I held the controller to my arm to allow the nanites to work their regenerative
magic.
Sadly, rumble is something that PS3 gamers are going to have
to live without, as Sony has said that it has
no regrets in ditching vibration for motion. For me, the omission of rumble
will come as a far greater and long lasting detriment than not including a
hardware upscaler.