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New PlayStation 3 controller prototype is in developers' hands

One feature that is sorely missing from the PlayStation 3 SIXAXIS controller is rumble force feedback – something that is available on both the Xbox 360 and Wii controllers.

The missing feature is largely due to Sony’s legal battle with Immersion over the patent rights to force feedback controllers. Immersion eventually won over the courts, forcing Sony to ditch vibration from its SIXAXIS PS3 controllers.

#verything changed when Sony and Immersion settled their legal differences and entered into a licensing agreement that would allow the use of force feedback technology in Sony controller products. Following the announcement between the two companies, SCEA’s Jack Tretton said in an interview that the company was open to changing the SIXAXIS controller.

Reports during June from Sony sources said that the company has been working on new controller prototypes for several months. A recent update from Inner Bits now indicates that prototypes of the new controller have made their way to various game developers. Furthermore, the report also states that a new hardware revision of the controller – with improved motion sensing – has quietly hit the market, replacing the first generation model.

A Sony representative refused to confirm the status of rumbling controllers, but did say that new controller prototypes were sent out to the development community. "We have not added rumble [to PS3], and have no announcements regarding this feature," said SCEA’s Dave Karraker to GamePro.

"From time to time, we make minor enhancements to the controllers for our platforms," he said. "We recently sent out to the development community some new prototypes that have a slightly enhanced sensitivity for the analog sticks and the motion sensing within the Sixaxis controller. This is not a new controller, but is part of the normal development and evolution of controllers."

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Have to wonder
By FITCamaro on 8/7/2007 10:15:45 AM , Rating: 2
I'm sure Sony would love to add rumble to its controllers but considering they themselves have called rumble "last gen", they probably won't. We all know the reason they didn't add it. They still won't admit it though.

But now that they can its either admit they were wrong or continue to leave it out.

If they do ever add it, it'll be interesting to see how they swing it. And probably extremely funny.




RE: Have to wonder
By Vanilla Thunder on 8/7/2007 10:27:38 AM , Rating: 5
quote:
I'm sure Sony would love to add rumble to its controllers but considering they themselves have called rumble "last gen", they probably won't.


It will happen. And they will credit it to something like "overwhelming consumer demand" and try to play it off
like they're doing us a favor.

Vanilla


RE: Have to wonder
By HVAC on 8/7/2007 12:36:02 PM , Rating: 2
It's last gen to them because if you are a certain type of company and lose in court, you just take the war to the street.

You play nice-nice with the people who just humped you in front of the judge, string them along with promises, use their engineering resources, and then leave them at the altar by designing their stuff into your product, but not installing it on the production line. You pay no royalties to them and when their patent runs out, the next day your product has that feature.

If that doesn't work then it's time for the corporate ninjas...

disclaimer: this is a work of satire ... really it is ... really ....


RE: Have to wonder
By anonymo on 8/7/2007 10:44:11 AM , Rating: 2
maybe I am missing something but wouldn't rumble completely throw off the gyros?


RE: Have to wonder
By therealnickdanger on 8/7/2007 10:47:37 AM , Rating: 2
That would certainly be a convenient excuse for Sony's PR dept.


RE: Have to wonder
By EarthsDM on 8/7/2007 11:15:04 AM , Rating: 4
1) There are no gyros in the SIXAXIS
2) Nintendo's Wii controllers have rumble and motion sensing.

I don't understand why people can't figure this out. Microsoft paid Immersion $25 million just to not let Sony use their rumble patents. DailyTech had a story recently on how, now that Sony has licensed Immersion's tech, Microsoft wants its money back. It's not a conspiracy theory, IT'S IN THEIR CONTRACT. I can't fathom how that's legal, or why Sony didn't bring it to the courts.

I know that people are confused that Sony said 'rumble is last gen' but that's just part of Sonys long and rich tradition of saying random, untrue crap, even when the truth would help them more.


RE: Have to wonder
By Goty on 8/7/2007 11:47:20 AM , Rating: 2
1) *Not mechanical gyros, anyways
2) The Wii has rumble and motion sensing because the motion sensing uses IR, unlike Sony's controller.


RE: Have to wonder
By GreenEnvt on 8/7/2007 1:16:01 PM , Rating: 2
Wrong,
The Wii's remote only used infrared for pointing at things on screen. Motion sensing is all done via hardware in the remote itself.
Nintendo got around having both rumble and motion sensing in the same package.


RE: Have to wonder
By NuroMancer on 8/7/2007 12:25:40 PM , Rating: 2
Maybe I'm wrong, but the last time I checked, paying for an exclusive isn't illegal or actionable.


RE: Have to wonder
By FITCamaro on 8/7/2007 1:05:33 PM , Rating: 1
Microsoft did not pay Immersion to not let Sony use their patents.

They settled with Immersion for a certain amount. In the contract for the settlement though, they stated that if Immersion settled with Sony, Immersion would have to pay Microsoft an amount to be determined by the settlement amount.

The only thing that did was give Immersion reason not to settle with Sony. But they did. So now Microsoft wants the contract upheld. They are not wanting their money back. They're wanting Immersion to uphold their end of the bargain.

They didn't pay for an exclusive. If that were the case, Nintendo wouldn't have it either.


RE: Have to wonder
By FITCamaro on 8/7/2007 1:07:16 PM , Rating: 1
And if you think for a second Sony wouldn't have made the same agreement, you need to get a clue.


RE: Have to wonder
By Chiisuchianu on 8/7/2007 1:05:13 PM , Rating: 2
Rumble is last gen and Sony will stick by this statement because Sony's new controller will have next gen "rumble" technology and not just 'vibration' like current gen rumble technology.


Same old sony
By GhandiInstinct on 8/7/2007 10:15:29 AM , Rating: 1
Denying everything a week before they know they'll admit to it.




RE: Same old sony
By Alexstarfire on 8/7/2007 12:01:08 PM , Rating: 1
It's Sony, what more can you say?

It's only a matter of time before they exit the console business, if they keep following their current path. If they mess up the next console like this one idk what'll happen.


RE: Same old sony
By crazyblackman on 8/7/07, Rating: -1
RE: Same old sony
By drebo on 8/7/2007 2:56:18 PM , Rating: 2
I very much hope this is sarcasm.

Being out-sold more than 3-to-1 is some way to own the console business...yessiree!


RE: Same old sony
By Kamasutra on 8/7/2007 3:27:28 PM , Rating: 2
He said Sony, so wouldn't you add sales of PS2 and PS3? I'm quite sure that ratio is incorrect.


RE: Same old sony
By Timeless on 8/7/2007 4:12:28 PM , Rating: 2
Don't forget the PSX as well.


RE: Same old sony
By Alexstarfire on 8/7/2007 9:15:59 PM , Rating: 2
Well hell, if you are considering all the consoles of each company then lets list them all.

Sony has:
PS3 (4 million sold according to nexgenwars.com)
PS2 (120 million sold)
PSX (100.49 million sold)
PSP (14.9 million sold)
total of 239.39 units sold

Nintendo has:
NES (60 million sold)
SNES (49 million sold)
N64 (32.93 million sold)
GameCube (21.63 million sold)
Wii (9.47 million sold according to nexgenwars.com)
Gameboy (70 million sold)
Gameboy Color (50 million sold)
Gameboy Advanced (80.02 million sold)
Nintendo DS (40 million sold)
total of 413.05 million units sold

I think that says it all, nearly a 2:1 lead. PS and PS2 have the most by far, but that's it. 1-2 big sellers doesn't mean you own a market. Nintendo has been around longer, but even taking out the NES and SNES and original Gameboy leaves Nintendo in the lead. I was only considering the new ones since that's all that really matters, but hey, you wanted to add the PS2 to the PS3 sales.


RE: Same old sony
By Kamasutra on 8/7/2007 10:47:34 PM , Rating: 3
Way to completely misinterpret the matter. The discussion was about current sales, not overall sales. Also, it didn't appear to include handhelds. The PS2 is still selling strong while Xbox and GameCube sales are pretty much nonexistent. Do you seriously think a division is judged how well it's doing by how many of a product was sold several years ago?


RE: Same old sony
By Alexstarfire on 8/8/2007 12:30:44 PM , Rating: 2
Well, that takes out a lot of the home console sales for Nintendo, but still leaves the Wii, DS, Gameboy Advanced, and I believe Gameboy Color as well that are still selling. The PS2 may still be a strong seller, but the PS3 and PSP sure as hell aren't. The current monthly Wii and DS sales combined are more than all of Sony's monthly console sales for all it's consoles.

Also, by several years ago do you mean 2000 when the PS2 was first released or what? Cause if it's farther back then that then you are getting the N64 and all the gameboys.