Sony PS3 May Get Its Rumble Back Page: 1


Sony Working on PS3 Controller With Rumble

Those of you who have owned Sony consoles in the past would have to agree that the rumble function on the PS1 and PS2 controllers was pretty neat, and added to the enjoyment of playing your favourite game. So when Sony released the PS3 with its SIXAXIS controllers minus the rumble function; which was due to the well publicised legal battle over patent issues with Immersion...many dedicated fans were disappointed. As a result, Sony’s public stance was to downplay the importance of rumble in its controllers.

Well it appears that Sony and Immersion have kissed and made up.

Sony and Immersion settled their legal differences and entered into a licensing agreement that would allow the use of force feedback technology in Sony controller products. Following the announcement between the two companies, SCEA’s Jack Tretton said in an interview that the company was open to changing the SIXAXIS controller. According to a report on Innerbits, Sony sources are saying that the company has been working on new controller prototypes for several months.

Several power-brokers in the games software industry have made public their approval for the inclusion of the rumble feature to be included in new controllers, instead of the SIXAXIS feature.

So now PS3 fans can rejoice in the fact that they may get their beloved SIXAXIS controllers with the rumble feature, but Sony are reportedly having some difficulties in making it a reality.

One challenge currently facing a possibly new controller is the issue of battery life. The current lithium-ion cell inside the SIXAXIS was never designed to have to power both the Bluetooth wireless as well as a set of rumble motors.

As if that were not enough to contend with....Sony now have to try and sell the idea to the customer who has just shelled out a small fortune for the console and the 'old' controllers.

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