The Sixaxis Could Rumble Again, Someday…
Vibration may not be dead on the PS3. The heated battle between Immersion technologies and Sony, over the force feedback feature of PS2’s Dual Shock controller, was well documented this summer. Sony had to pay Immersion $90.7 million in a settlement for compensation from every PS2 sold from 2001 to June 2004 regarding patent infringement. This settlement was the decisive factor for the removal of force feedback from the current gen PS3 Sixaxis controller.
Now Splitfish has an answer to Sony’s vibration woes. They claim that their new dynamic force feedback system will enable vibration on the Sixaxis controller. Splitfish was able to vibrate the PS3 controller on a different angle to avoid encroaching on Immersion’s existing patents.
Don’t expect to see this feature on the next line of Sixaxis controllers. Splitfish is not eager to partner with Sony as of yet. Splitfish has announced that they have the ability to make Sony’s controller rumble without breaching any patents.
At this point all Sony has to do is pay up and they can get vibration back on their controllers. Which would be great for their legion of fans who have grown to expect force feedback. All other systems in the current race have some form of force feedback, but PS3 owners are left out in the cold.
Splitfish Could Make Sony’s Sixaxis Rumble [1up]
Toots
Posted to Hot Stuff, Video Games on 30 January 2007
· Comments (2)
Other stuff like this: ps3, rumble, sony sixaxis, splitfish
Not to pooh-pooh this information, but rumble, the ps2 controller and motion sensing have been around for a little while now.
http://www.gamingbits.com/content/view/664/2/
And, incidentally, it uses immersion's technology, so SCE wouldn't have to license technology from two different sources. I'm sure Sony has already figured out how to do it themselves, they just can't afford to pay quite yet.