Phil Harrison Claims Rumble Is So Last-Gen
GameDaily sat down with Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios President Phil Harrison for a little fireside chat to talk about, you guessed it, the state of the PS3. The PS3 has come under fire prior to the launch of the system, when it was announced that production was behind schedule due to complications producing the Cell chip and the Blu-Ray diodes. There wasn’t a system-seller in the lineup of launch titles, and the price was too high for many gamers to afford a system. When GameDaily asked Phill if he was, “bothered by all the negative press about Sony and the PS3 lately? Even certain mainstream press publications have labeled the console biggest disappointment, etc...”
Harrison responded deftly by minimizing the extremity of the claim and sweeping it under the proverbial rug.
No, not a bit. I think, first of all, the so called negativity is in a fairly narrow section of the media. The most important thing, however, is that the people who buy the system love it, and the fact that we have great reaction—great scores if you will—from the people who bought PS3 [who've enjoyed] the games that they've played and the services that they get. That's all that really matters
Then he was asked what he thought about all of the PS3s sitting on store shelves, while the Wii flies off of shelves. He handles the question in a similar manner, by spinning the question into a positive statement. He claims that the reason why PS3s are staying on shelves, is because Sony keeps all of their customers well stocked. It has nothing to do with the fact that PS3s aren’t selling as well as the Wii. I see it as supply exceeding demand.
Harrison goes on to make many other unfounded claims, always keeping his nose right above water, until he is asked about the lack of the rumble feature in the Sixaxis controller, and the fact that many gamers have complained about missing the rumble feature.
We have no plans to do so in the standard controller that ships with PlayStation 3. I believe that the Sixaxis controller offers game designers and developers far more opportunity for future innovation than rumble ever did. Now, rumble I think was the last generation feature; it's not the next-generation feature. I think motion sensitivity is. And we don't see the need to do that. Having said that, there will be specific game function controllers, potentially like steering wheels that do include vibration or feedback function—not from us but from third parties.
Not a next-gen feature? Don’t both of the other next-gen consoles support rumble in their controllers? Hasn’t this been a feature that has been around for some time, to offer gamers a deeper sense of connectivity and immersion with their games? After making this egregious claim, he turns around and says that there will be third party steering wheels that support rumble for the PS3. So they are allowing third parties to enable rumble on their controllers, but not Sony. I say that third party companies should build rumble in their version of the PS3 controller, enable it in their games, and reinvision the Sixaxis to improve upon Sony’s mistakes. What do you think? How do you feel about the loss of rumble from the Dual Shock to the Sixaxis?
Phil Harrison: We Are Under No Pressure to Drop PS3's Price [GameDaily]
Toots
Posted to Video Games on 26 February 2007
· Comments (8)
Other stuff like this: interview, phil harrison, ps3, rumble, sixaxis, sony
One game comes to mind when it comes to Dual Shock:
Silent Hill
Nothing like feeling the heartbeat of your character as he walks down a dark corridor.
You know I'm getting a bit fed up with the combination of smugness and cluelessness on the part of the Sony people in their interviews. They really think that PS3 is just going to be a repeat of the PS2's success and the circumstances are way too different.
i know its nowt to do with his vile business, but out of human interest, is the man gay? he gets my gaydar beeping but obviously not in a good way. also, sony mentioned recently that they would not field questions about Harrisons private life.. hmmm..? anybody?
How about Peter Moore of Microsoft? He seriously comes off as a creepy weasel. Yet ... think he may be ....?
Sony execs have no idea how to do interviews... THey just make themselves look more assholic then before.
Having no rumble is like having a dead controller. Sony is just dissing rumble because they removed it with all that legal business that went on. Not really interested in this tilt crap- Dual shock2 was never the best controller but it wasnt bad I wish I could use that on PS3. I think 360 has the best controller ever- except for itd D-pad which is crap- but the analogue sticks are lovely.
Mowtastorm!
Disappointing.