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Gadgets Sony, Immersion End Legal Spat
Brandon Hill (Blog) - March 1, 2007 7:01 PM
Print E-mail del.icio.us 45 comment(s) - last by biohazard42042.. on Mar 5 at 7:11 PM

Sony's PlayStation 3 SIXAXIS controller
Rumble could be headed to the PS3

It looks as though the "rumble" might be coming back to Sony's PlayStation if today's announcement is any indication. Sony and Immersion have agreed to end their patent litigation and enter a new business agreement which would allow the use of Immersion technology in PlayStation products.

The feud between the two companies dates back to 2005 when Sony was hit with a $91 million USD lawsuit regarding its use of force feedback technology in PlayStation game consoles. As a result, Sony decided to drop "rumble" support from its PS3 and instead decided to focus on its SIXAXIS motion-sensing controller.

Sony originally downplayed the lack of rumble and tried to make the best of the new motion-sensing capabilities of the SIXAXIS back in October. When asked if he had any regrets over the loss of rumble, Sony's Phil Harrison stated "Not at all. I think that the next generation interfaces that can be created built on SIXAXIS motion sensitivity give tremendous gameplay benefits that far outweigh a reactive vibration function."

“I think the decision that we’ve made to build in the SIXAXIS functionality, and Bluetooth wireless, and great battery life, and all the other functionality that comes with it, far outweighs the chatter that we’re getting on vibration. And, it's incredibly light! Just pick it up," he continued.

Not surprisingly, many fans have been disappointed with the lack of rumble on the PS3. Developers have expressed similar disappointment with the lack of rumble and its SIXAXIS replacement.

"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," said Guy Wilday of Sega Racing Studio.

"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," said Pete Hines of Bethesda Software.

This latest announcement means that rumble could be coming to the PS3 in the future, but no timetable was given. "Our new business agreement with Sony Computer Entertainment is specifically intended to enable advanced vibration capability for the benefit of the PlayStation gaming community," said Immersion CEO Victor Vegas. "We are happy to provide our technology in this regard and hope to make technical proposals very soon with respect to use of our technology in the PlayStation products."

"We look forward to exploring with Immersion exciting new ways to bring the largest and best range of gameplay experiences to our customers," said Kazuo Hirai, Sony President and Group Chief Operating Officer. "We are very excited about our new partnership with Immersion and the potential for new and innovative products incorporating their technologies."

So while PS3 is destined for the European market (and likely future revisions of the PS3 headed to North America) will lack a dedicated Emotion Engine and Graphics Synthesizer chip, one can always look forward to the possible return of rumble.

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pathetic
By scrapsma54 on 3/1/2007 7:07:14 PM , Rating: 4
Anything that sony does now to fix its console is a wasted effort. Why didn't sony just put off the console one more year? Its probably costing sony more by attempting to sell their console than just holding off the date.




RE: pathetic
By secretanchitman on 3/1/2007 7:13:01 PM , Rating: 2
i hope rumble comes back to the ps3!!!


RE: pathetic
By Arribajuan on 3/1/2007 7:39:02 PM , Rating: 2
This will mean a new PS3 version 2 of some sort and that version 1 versions of the hardware (maybe just the controllers) will not be supported so it looks difficult.

And Sony should start just now the development efforts to include the rumble and publishers will see the same problem.


RE: pathetic
By cheetah2k on 3/1/2007 8:14:23 PM , Rating: 3
quote:
This will mean a new PS3 version 2


Not likely. New controllers perhaps, and a revised bios for the PS3. Rumble is activated thru software to the controller - its not PS3 HW

Expect to see new version 2 BT "rumble" controllers on the shelves in a few months


RE: pathetic
By vitul on 3/1/2007 8:14:43 PM , Rating: 2
but yet its ok that the 360 is coming out with an hdmi version of the 360? things happen consoles develop as they go along. the ps2 out now is not the same ps2 that came out at launch. i said it in another thread if you dont like sony products or the ps3 then stop reading the articles and leaving such hate.

obviously dailytech doesnt care for sony much because there is alot of xbox360 issues and problems that never get discussed on here. nothing is perfect the wii, 360 or ps3 the hate you have for one system can easily be translated into another if you read enough articles.


RE: pathetic
By Arribajuan on 3/2/2007 11:55:31 AM , Rating: 2
"and leaving such hate" & "the hate you have"

You are the one that brought the hate here or for some reason you do not like people arguing that this move will be expensive and out of time because of a lawsuit.

<hate>

Even though hardware needs no change and can be handled by firmware. They need to do something and say "Here we have our new PS3 with RUMBLE!!!" All new for 2007.

They need marketing, money and start getting developers to handle rumble from now on.

They might have something already developed before hand or utilize the same model as in teh ps2, but as other poster said, given the record, it is not likely.

</hate>


RE: pathetic
By Farfignewton on 3/1/2007 8:19:05 PM , Rating: 2
As I recall, the original dual-shock did not require replacing my playstation, so I doubt this will require Sony to poke around in the guts of the PS3. Likely it will be packaged with new PS3's at some point and previous purchasers will probably have to pick one up seperately.

As far as development of the new controller goes, I wouldn't be surprised if it has been worked out beforehand for just such a contingency. But given their track record lately it's more likely the hardware guys had NO idea this was coming.


RE: pathetic
By jtyson on 3/2/2007 10:29:45 PM , Rating: 2
I agree. There's nothing more pathetic than a company attempting to correct its mistakes for the benefit of the customer. That's just unconscionable. Absolutely flabbergasting.


RE: pathetic
By FITCamaro on 3/1/2007 9:08:36 PM , Rating: 4
The problem with it coming back is that it shows that the only reason they didn't have it to begin with is because of the lawsuit which they've constantly denied.


RE: pathetic
By killerroach on 3/1/2007 7:41:31 PM , Rating: 4
Hold off the console another year? You've gotta be joking. By being a year behind the 360, Sony is having an uphill battle keeping developers on their side as it is, as there happens to be a legitimate contender in their space with a larger install base (a far different case from the Dreamcast versus the PS2, where the latter overwhelmed the former in short order). Letting the 360 be the only HD game in town for an extra year could have been summed up in one word... suicide (unless the delay also allowed them to drop the price, in which case the bad press machine may have been thwarted before it even got going, let alone to its present "snowballing" nature).


RE: pathetic
By cheetah2k on 3/1/2007 8:16:35 PM , Rating: 3
Agreed. While the PS2 is still selling strong, the PS3 had to be released.

This change has nothing to do with PS3 console HW anyways. It's merely a bios update and revised controller HW.


RE: pathetic
By doctor sam adams on 3/2/2007 12:09:11 AM , Rating: 3
quote:
While the PS2 is still selling strong


Please. People would have waited for the PS3, if it was worth waiting for. Do you think the geniuses at Sony know what to do with the Cell? If they spent a year figuring it out and then launching it, instead of launching then figuring out, it would have been a much better product and not smeared its brand name harder than The Matrix Revolutions.


RE: pathetic
By crazedmodder on 3/2/2007 4:00:48 PM , Rating: 2
Um no, that's not the way it works. He's right, it would have been suicide. How would people know whether or not the PS3 would be worth waiting for? You wouldn't know the all the facts until the console is released, do you really think people would have waited 2 years for something that they could only see at gaming/technology conventions? I know a lot of people who wanted to wait for the PS3 but decided to get an XBox360 because Sony was taking to long. Do you really think people would have waited double the amount of time? While it would have been nice if things were released without problems that's just not going to happen when manufacturers can update their products. Just look at all the PC software we constantly need updates for! I don't see it as a bad thing anymore anyways, I used to but I realize now that, for example, COMPANY could release the PRODUCT today in an unfinished state and release firmware/software updates for the next year to fix problems OR they could release it in a year with their fixes implemented already. By releasing the PRODUCT today, they can find much more bugs than they would be able to testing themselves for the next year, some of which will still be remaining if they kept the PRODUCT for an extra year which will cause people to complain that it's unfinished anyways because the COMPANY couldn't find those bugs. Plus we get the PRODUCT a year earlier AND prices can go down due to mass production. So where is the loss? If you're an early adopter that is your problem, it is already known that you will face problems by buying any product close to it's initial release. Chances are you guys wouldn't even buy a PS3 so why are you complaining like these problems are hurting you or as if you wouldn't buy the console because of these things?

And besides, the PS3 launched without too many problems besides the 720p thing. I don't really see this rumble thing as a problem, they're just adding a feature as companies (MS included) tend to do when they can update their products.

On a note more related to the article, am I the only one who DOESN'T want to have rumble? Hopefully they continue selling the rumbleless controllers, IMO it's not that important of a feature and I like the featherweight of the controller.


RE: pathetic
By doctor sam adams on 3/4/2007 3:09:41 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Um no, that's not the way it works. He's right, it would have been suicide. How would people know whether or not the PS3 would be worth waiting for? You wouldn't know the all the facts until the console is released, do you really think people would have waited 2 years for something that they could only see at gaming/technology conventions?


Hell yes, if it looked like it was worth waiting for, and not a big overpriced beluga. Which group do you think is larger, the people who have rushed out and bought it already for $600 or those who are waiting for the price to drop? By the time that price drop occurs, Sony would have been ready to launch at that price anyway. Where am I seeing the PS3 right now, except in magazines and online? Am I happy about what I am hearing? Not really, except for the fact that PS3 can eventually become a finished product. PS3 is upgradeable, and like the PS2 may become popular after a while, but I doubt that this series is headed for a fourth feature either.


RE: pathetic
By goku on 3/2/2007 9:12:06 PM , Rating: 2
Well had they waited another year, hopefully they would have had a better graphics processor than the X360, it'd have all the parts it SHOULD HAVE HAD and the blu-ray drive wouldn't cost nearly as much as it does now so the console could potentially be cheaper.


RE: pathetic
By Korr on 3/2/2007 12:02:24 AM , Rating: 3
Care to explain why Sony should have put it off for one more year? Sony was already behind the 360 by a year and waiting another year would have been disastrous for them. You are also forgetting the fact that Sony is fighting in two battlefronts with the PS3; the console war and the next-gen DVD war. If Sony didn't release the PS3 this year, HD-DVD would have ran away as the victors by now.


RE: pathetic
By bargetee5 on 3/4/2007 1:28:01 AM , Rating: 2
I think the wii was the bigger threat, as such I don't think a
2 month delay wouldn't hurt would you? But 1 year is a bit overkill and a reason not to wait.


RE: pathetic
By encryptkeeper on 3/2/2007 12:49:49 PM , Rating: 2
Because they are scared of the 360, they decided to put the console out essentially a year early. You're right, consumers would have been happier with a slightly delayed PS3 with better titles and lower costs. But by then Sony would have been SO far behind it wouldn't be funny. The Wii scared the CRAP out of them at E3 (notice they didn't start REALLY bullshitting until after that) and they knew they were in trouble. That's why they keep saying things like "Find a PS3 that sits on the shelf for more than a few minutes and I'll give you such and such dollars for it." Their ONLY hope now is to create a false sense of shortage in the market for PS3s so uninformed people will buy them. But it won't work. There is too much negativity surrounding it. First impressions you know. The analysts kept (I say kept because you are seeing fewer and fewer of these reports) saying the PS3 would come out on top, that it would take a few years, but I'm telling you, the negative atmosphere surrounding it is just too much, ESPECIALLY compared to the positive atmosphere surrounding the 360 and Wii. Those are the deathblows for the PS3.


RE: pathetic
By scrapsma54 on 3/2/2007 4:51:31 PM , Rating: 2
I think the main reason sony is getting so much negativity is also because Nintendo and Microsoft (quickly caught) on to were the ps2's success was at and were prepared to really throw everything into their consoles. What strikes me as odd is why didn't sony revise their console and do something different in order to throw the other companies off. now it seems like Microsoft and nintendo did the throwing off this time around.


RE: pathetic
By encryptkeeper on 3/2/2007 5:21:42 PM , Rating: 2
Good point as well. We're starting to see that it's a cycle, just like all other businesses. Once a company gets ahead, they get complacent (Nintendo w/ the N64, Sony w/ the PS3).