PS3 Fanboy

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Well hooray for that. It's about bloody time that Sony finally says that they're discontinuing the SIXAXIS controllers. They'd told Stephen Totilo of MTV exactly that, adding that once the current stock runs out (estimated to be sometime during the Summer) there will be no more. Presumably this means that DualShock 3s will be made standard pack-ins when buying a PS3. Again, it's about bloody time.

Meanwhile SCEE are remaining tight lipped regarding any date for a European launch of the new rumbling controllers. We're hoping they'll hit before June, considering how big of a fan Kojima is of using the feature. There is a rumor that DualShock 3s will be hitting Europe a month from now, on May 2nd. If we hear anything more then we'll be sure to let you know.

America will be able to get its hands on Sony's DualShock 3 next week. A new post on the PlayStation.blog reveals which US titles are rumble-ready. It's been a long time coming for rumble fans -- let's just all forget how Sony touted rumble as a "last generation" feature.

Future titles will feature a DualShock icon (featured, right) if they are compatible with the new peripheral. That's rather unnecessary, in our book. Why? Because we expect every game from this point forth to rumble when played on the PS3. That's the way it was always meant to be.

At their Tokyo Game Show press conference today, Sony finally revealed how the PS3 got its groove back. Kaz Hirai announced that the DualShock 3 -- a Sixaxis controller with rumble -- will be out this November in Japan and Spring 2008 everywhere else.

Future games, such as Metal Gear Solid 4, will incorporate rumble technology, while older titles can enable rumble through software updates. No price has been given, nor was there any discussion on whether the Sixaxis would be phased out.

While it's so easy to hop on the "hate Sony" train, there's a bit of news about the whole SIXAXIS Emmy mishap you should probably take into account. Namely, Sony is just as confused as its fanbase. If only someone had a recording of the actual award being announced, this could be put to rest. Here's how it went down, hopefully convincing you Sony did not lie. This time, they were misled just as the public was.

When Sony was given the Emmy for "technological innovation for device controller", they were slightly befuddled since the SIXAXIS had yet to really show off its mad skills, but accepted the honor anyway. Turns out the award was for the Dual Shock, the previous incarnation of the Sony controller. Keep in mind that, either way, they got an Emmy. Nintendo also won the same award for its D-Pad, which is more than understandable.

SCEA public relations head David Karraker, upon being asked about the mishap, recounted the award that he personally accepted: "I accepted the award myself and all they said was that the award was for 'technological innovation for device controller' ... but looking back, they never really did say for which one." Heck, the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences even approved of Sony's initial public statement which mentioned the SIXAXIS five times, including this title: "Sony Computer Entertainment America Wins Emmy Award for PLAYSTATION 3 SIXAXIS Wireless Controller." So, who's at fault? Quite clearly, it's NATAS. Not Sony -- they were confused too. Let's give them some ice cream and put this behind us.

Immersion CEO Vic Viegas sat down with GameDaily to talk about the whole rumble vs. motion sensing vs. both issue between Immersion and Sony. What did he say? He said that Kaz Hirai is "really saying two things. One is that it's technically possible but that the cost is prohibitive-which again I find astounding-and the second thing he's saying is that they're making a decision to go with this tilt control in place of rumble because they think that's what consumers will appreciate in their gameplay. So, on those two issues again I'm very surprised and shocked because I don't believe either to be the case." Yeah, yeah. We know it's not exactly what everyone wants. But... what's the price issue?

Viegas assured GameDaily that "our engineers in less than a day had come up with three solutions; one is filtering and the other is processing and neither one is incrementally an increase in the cost. Both are using software to filter out the different commands-tilt vs. vibration-so that both can work side by side, and neither solution will add an increase to the cost of the system... We knew how to technically solve their problems and now we know how to do it without adding any incremental cost." So... it can be done and not be costly? Well, if Sony won't listen, why not go through a third party?

In regards to third party controllers, Immersion says they aren't entirely in control... they're at Sony's mercy, in a sense. To quote: "It appears that Sony has not yet ruled out a third-party solution... but if [developers] don't support vibration in the game, that's going to cause a problem. The controller would have no commands to receive from the gameplay. Sony's in some control there and Sony's also in control of the console, so they can filter out vibration commands; essentially if they don't want vibration they can shut it down and it appears that's what they're doing..."

So, those three quotes show us a few things: If Sony stops being stubborn, we could see a rumble/tilt controller that would cost nothing extra... maybe marginally more. Also, third party controllers won't matter unless Sony and game developers decide to implement vibration into their software, or else it's useless. It is sad, but give it a year or two and we can probably see some sort of agreement. You can't possible be stubborn forever and ever, can you?

In a shocking turn of events, the PS3 controller has gone from banamerang to wireless DualShock 3, except without the DualShock name and vibration.

If you take a good look at the back of the new control pad (see the close-up above), you'll notice that the DualShock 2 brand name imprinted on the old controller has now been supplanted by a row of LED lights to show which input has been set, either wirelessly or via the wired USB recharge port. Sony's now the only name in-line for PS3 controllers either on the pad or in the press releases (see "the new PS3 controller").

Sony's attempt to overturn the 2004 ruling on Immersion's haptic technology patents and receive a new trial was denied in court recently.

The Wall Street Journal tells quite a tale concerning another force-feedback inventor, originally a paid consultant of Immersion, who allegedly received advance royalties from Sony in exchange for testimony against his former client. There's enough drama in this case to fill a television soap opera--or, better yet, a police or crime-scene procedural.

For the full contents of the article, you'll need to log in as a subscriber to the Journal through the picture above or the Read link below. We don't know to what extent this courtroom drama will affect the "boomerang" PS3 prototype controller design, future DualShock 2 availability and compatibility, or any possible delays to the new system itself, but Sony's separate appeal in federal court has yet to be ruled on, leaving the company one more crucial legal avenue to pursue in this matter.

[Via Joystiq]