Sony insist on keeping last-gen rumble tech in new Dual Shock 3 controller
A slew of PS3 gamers who rely on vibrating controllers to excite them in ways other human beings never could breathed a sigh of relief late last month, when Sony announced the Dual Shock 3 complete with Immersions' ubiquitous rumble technology. Thing is, over at Immersion they're apparently feeling a bit confused; in an interview with GameDaily company CEO Vic Viegas describes the exciting new single-motor implementation they've developed... and the old-fashioned dual-motor setup Sony are persisting in using even in their next-gen controller.
Despite there being nothing in the way of licencing royalty penalties holding Sony back, and ignoring the potential savings in halving the number of motors involved, for some reason they've decided to stick with the old tech.
"The old technology utilizes two motors to create the complex set of sensations, whereas Immersion's new TouchSense technology utilizes a single motor, but we drive the motor in unique ways so that you can get stronger yet crisper effects... So you save on at least one motor, there's less power consumption, and you may save on other components and circuitry. The developer tool is complete and ready for use, so the cost to implement is less expensive than the old tech and further, 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" Vic Viegas, CEO Immersion
Stubbornness or even sour-grapes on Sony's part? They did come to blows with Immersion over a patent infringement that saw the rumble company file a $91m suit against them back in 2005, but that was finally put to rest earlier this year. I'm finding it hard to imagine why they'd make this decision; if you can think of a good reason, let us know in the comments.