The internet loves to help people spread rumors and at times, it seems that’s what the internet does best (well, short of offering cheap pharmaceuticals and anatomical enhancement products.) The rumor machine’s at it again with the Sony camp, and amazingly this one has nothing to do with a new firmware, Playstation Home videos, or any gained/lost exclusive games. This rumor, or more appropriately, these rumors have to do with one or possibly multiple new controllers in the works.

Hit the jump for a (fake) pic and the side order of speculation…

This is not a photo of the real thing, calm down…

Eurogamer.net is running one of the stories discussing a rumored new Wiimote-like controller for the PS3 (dubbed PS3mote on other sites) that is rumored to have a 12-inch high mini tripod you set on the floor that is connected to the PS3 via USB. The tripod reportedly sits like home plate would for a batter in baseball. It’s clearly represented as a work in progress (many versions were reportedly in testing) some may see this as a potential detractor, while others might be eager to learn more. Could this be the tech that takes us to where we thought the Wii was originally taking us? From the description of the (rumored) reports, it sounds an awful lot closer to actual motion tracking than the Wii currently offers. The controllers was said to be “incredibly responsive and accurate” and there were hints of spacial awareness such as the controller knowing when you duck.

Other reports say Sony is working on a new “transforming” controller that can change shape through multiple configurations based on its intended use. Controlling first person shooters seems to be a priority. These rumors seem to be popping up in more than enough places to put a blip on my radar and the fact that they’re not all sourcing back to one post or copying/pasting the same description may bode well for folks waiting for the next step in console controllers.

Sony is no stranger to introducing mid-generation controller changes. When I had my original Playstation, we started with “the controller” that featured no analog sticks at all. Sony then released the Dual Analog controller bringing a lot of gameplay options to the table only to be closely followed by the DualShock rumbling dual-analog stick controller. It’s not clear whether these rumors are saying a new controller would function as an existing controller (ie. with all existing games) or if Sony is going to have to add support to the SDK and only new games written with support in mind will be able to use them. If there’s one thing I know, it’s that I don’t want to be kept from something really cool just because the system didn’t launch with support for it. If Microsoft and Sony are even remotely serious about their “7-10 year plans”, we need to move away from the idea that new innovations in hardware be saved for new generations of consoles.

I know people are quick to toss out “keyboard and mouse” when discussions of new control schemes are brought up, but if it were up to you to decide… if you had access to pull from every controller design from every system ever released or new designs of your own, what would you like in a new controller? Is it important to you that you have one controller that applies to every style of gameplay or are you okay purchasing multiple controllers that excel in more specific gaming situations? I’m curious to hear what you guys think.

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