SIXAXIS Is Rumble Free: A Tactical Move
Kaz Hirai states that the decision to remove the rumble function from the PS3 controller would save gamers money, by reducing the cost of the controller.
“The issue is trying to isolate the vibration feature from the motion sensors,” he said. “Is it technically feasible? Absolutely. But the balancing act that you need to do, is to be able to present the controller to the consumer at an affordable price. We have one controller in the box, but many consumers will want to go out and get an extra controller. To isolate the vibration from the sensing, if that means that the controllers are going to be so expensive, then we’re doing the consumer a huge disservice.”
This is very surprising coming from Sony, who has not been very frugal with the cost of PS3. So, by removing the rumble feature, gamers will save how much? $5? $10? This seems pretty silly.
Now if you have a controller that is tilt sensitive with a rumble feature, wouldn’t the two functions cause issues with one another? Let’s speculate that the SIXAXIS controller had both features, if you are playing Warhawk and someone shoots you, the controller shakes and causes your craft interference because of the tilt sensitivity. I don’t believe that you can have both features active in any given game.
This is a moot point, considering the ongoing lawsuit with Immersion Corporation concerning force feedback. It seems like Sony wants to sweep that discord under the rug.
via: Kotaku
Toots
Posted to Video Games on 4 October 2006
· Comments (4)
Other stuff like this: kaz hirai, ps3, sixaxis, sony
I’m sorry, on the last paragraph, that should be “moot point”. I had a 3 foot tall dunce cap on my head while I was composing this piece.
The important thing is that you caught it before anyone could comment about it. >:)
Meanwhile, the two things I want most in life at this very moment are:
1.) for Mark Foley to stop blaming alcoholism, mental illness and clergymen and take some responsibility,
and
2.) For Sony to just admit that they were too bitter with Immersion’s winning lawsuit against them and decided to take the Sony road as usual (“Our way is best!”) and leave out the very haptic technology that helped to differentiate them from from the competition initially anyway. They can also admit that the motion sensing is a relatively last minute addition to the controller design, as was semi-confirmed by the Warhawk developer.
Rumble + motion sensing? Impossible!
The Wii is totally lying about doing just that. Totally.
I’d much rather keep the vibration and ditch the motion sensing, myself. Hopefully a lot of PS3 games will let you use PS2 pads and forgo the “gimmick” of motion sensing.
Anyone else predict a PS3 pad with both being released later on?