PS3 Fanboy

While the announcement that Sony would finally bring the DualShock 3 to the PS3 excited us all, we couldn't help but feel a little underwhelmed when we realized the controller would utilize the same rumble technology found in the DualShock 2.

However, if Immersion CEO Vic Viegas has his way, the DualShock 3 will be just the first-generation rumble controller for the PS3. "Immersion is very motivated and very interested in working with [Sony] to bring the next generation of gaming technology because the gamers deserve a full, immersive environment where you can match high-fidelity graphics and sound with high-quality haptics," he said. "We're hoping [the DualShock 3] will be just the first step towards integrating the next-generation technology."

What makes this prospective upgrade even more plausible is the fact that Viegas says the upgrade will actually be cheaper since the old technology uses two motors, while Immersion's TouchSense technology only needs one to achieve better results. "Immersion is already committed that we won't charge anything extra for the next technology. We have a standard royalty rate ... we don't want to make this more expensive and give anyone a reason not to implement it," Viegas said.

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.

In one of the weirder twists in the Sony/Immersion saga, Microsoft has sued Immersion, claiming breach of contract over their settlement with Sony. According to the lawsuit, Microsoft is owed a certain amount of the money that Sony paid Immersion earlier this year to settle the long running force-feedback lawsuit. And not a small amount of money either, as explained by Immersion in their rebuttal to Microsoft's claims:

"Immersion is obligated to pay Microsoft a minimum of $15.0 million for any amounts received from Sony up to $100.0 million, plus 25% of any amounts over $100.0 million up to $150.0 million, and 17.5% of any amounts over $150.0 million."

In addition, Microsoft also wants Immersion to pay a variety of other fees including damages and attorney fees. Immersion feels rather strongly that they shouldn't have to pay though and say they are willing to fight it, so it looks like they're going back to court. And considering it took them four years to finish the lawsuit with Sony, it doesn't bode well that this will be a quick trial. What's next? Nintendo sues Microsoft for suing Immersion over suing Sony?

The latest issue of PlayStation Magazine, according to a member over at the GameFAQs forum, the instigation of a rumbling Sixaxis may come sooner than expected. Ever since the lawsuit and all the hubbub with Immersion simmered down, everybody has been waiting for an announcement about rumble's "last-gen" technology making a comeback.

It seems the wait will not be as long as we expected. Even though Sony's talking heads dodge the question like its a flaming shuriken, a rumble-axis has been in the works for a bit and will be announced at the upcoming E3 event, followed by the announcement that a release will be scheduled for the redesigned controller for mid-November. Tilting and rumbling? We can't wait. We wonder, though -- will older PS3 games be able to update their software to include rumble technology?

[via Joystiq]

Keeping with the palindrome name of SIXAXIS, we'd like to invite you guys to think up a palindrome for a PlayStation 3 controller that rumbles. Let's see... RUMBLBMUR? Terrible. That's my offering. Anyway, Sony and Immersion are officially in chats to discuss how to incorporate their technology into the SIXAXIS and other such peripherals.

This is coming from Sony PR honcho Dave Karraker, who replied to some curious people on a Killzone fansite. Asking about rumble and whatever, Karraker responded thus: "We are currently in discussions with Immersion on how we can incorporate their technologies into our products. No word on when that will happen." By "no word" we are of course going to take that as "announcement coming soon. E3? TGS? Sure." Thoughts?

The whole Sony and Immersion battle royale (so to speak... no schoolchildren were killing each other to our knowledge) has ended. Rumble is most likely on its way. What'll happen to the old SIXAXES (plural... even though technically it doesn't work since it's an acronym, probably)? What'll happen to the old games that didn't have rumble built in originally? Whatever! That's not important. What we really want to know is what truly went down in the courthouse.

So, the whole rumble lawsuit (where Sony was found guilty of using Immersion's patented technology in the PS-One and PS2) ended with a final settlement of $150.3 million dollars. Not satisfied with the settlement, Sony went the extra mile and licensed Immersion's technology to $22.5 million dollars. That's a good chunk of change in total, but will it be worth it? We'll find out when we see how rumble and tilt will work together. It'll be neat to have the controller rumble if you're tilting the wrong way in a game like Warhawk -- if you're getting drag on the left wing or something, the left side of the controller rumbles as you tilt it that way. So many options. Thoughts?

Immersion and Sony are friends again. Everything is settled, the world is at peace, blah blah blah... Bob Loblaw Lobs Law Bomb! Sometimes I feel like I'm one of about four people who watched Arrested Development. Someone help me out here! In any case, Immersion and Sony resolved their differences and have once again entered into a partnership to stick Immersion stuff inside of Sony stuff -- use your imagination carefully.

Dave Karraker said this: "We are very pleased to have reached a cooperative agreement with Immersion regarding the use of its advanced vibration technology (haptics technology). We look forward to working closely with them as we explore new and innovative ways to utilize this technology in PlayStation products." Great. With rumble coming back, possibly, we ask this: can firmware game updates install rumble tech in games currently out that don't support it, like Resistance or MotorStorm?

GamesIndustry followed up this story by noting that Immersion has indeed begun to incorporate the new rumble technology in Sony products. It's not an "if" anymore -- it's "when" rumble will be released. As CEO of Immersion, Victor Viegas, put it: "Our new business agreement with Sony is specifically intended to enable advanced vibration capability for the benefit of the PlayStation community." Hell yeah. Now vibration enthusiasts have nothing to complain about ever again. Just as stand-up comic Daniel Tosh said, "we should legalize marijuana in this country. Yeah, that way pot heads will never have anything to talk about ever again." The same applies here. All is well in rumble country.

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?

Immersion Technology has slapped up an online poll that seeks to get insight from the gaming public about their feelings towards the lack of a rumble feature in Sony's new console. It's essentially a tool to petition Sony into adding rumble to their controller, maybe to incorporate their own new technology: TouchSense vibration.

Immersion's website really makes the technology sound far more appealing than the tilt-sensor feature of the current PS3 controller. Imagine being able to feel your car in a racing game run over a rock on the left side -- your left hand feels a sudden, violent jolt. Now imagine using your controller to steer the car ... kind of. Hmm. Kojima was right in wishing for a switch to go between the two features, but this new TouchSense technology "can work alongside motion-control and tilt-sensing features". What? Why isn't Sony jumping on this? Perhaps we should all take the poll, multiple times, regardless of whether or not it's biased and hope Sony listens. Having the best of both worlds would certainly rock and roll. Or ... rumble and tilt.

[via Joystiq]

What is it about innovation that seems to bring out the worst in companies? When Sony began showing off its newest controller, cries from fans elsewhere claimed that they had copied Nintendo's motion-sensing technology. Back in the day, the PS2 had a similar situation that prompted litigation which Sony is still grappling with today. The idea was the rumbling technology, and Immersion said it was theirs.

Enter the Sony-Immersion headache. The latter took it to court in an effort to settle their rights on certain patents which claimed the controller tech. Long story short: Sony's been paying out a royalty every quarter in a deal which circumvents a $90 million settlement they would otherwise have to pay to Immersion. With a pending appeal against the settlement, many are saying Sony has dropped the rumbling technology from their latest PS3 controller due to the bad vibe between the companies.

But what should they do if along came a solution to the motion-sensing rumble conundrum? This is where TouchSense comes in. According to Immersion, they have the ability to make the PlayStation 3 controller shake, rattle and roll with force feedback, all the while retaining its sensing feature. However, there's still that icky $90 million thorn in their side. If Sony would cough up the cash, gamers could have their cake and eat it too. But they're saying it's too late and there's just not enough time to implement TouchSense. This, of course, contradicts Immersion's claim that it would only take a matter of weeks. Is force feedback worth the price? Would gamers even notice? These are questions that we're betting Sony is still trying to tackle.

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]