I believe that the Sixaxis controller offers game designers and developers far more opportunity for future innovation than rumble ever did. Now, rumble I think was the last generation feature; it’s not the next-generation feature. I think motion sensitivity is.
That was what former Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios President Phil Harrison, now an Infogrames executive, told GameDaily back in Feb. 2007. It sounded like a complete load back then; that’s because it was. Hell, Sony even called bull**** on itself.
The rumble-enabled DualShock 3 was officially unveiled at the 2007 Tokyo Game Show. The news was certainly welcomed by PlayStation 3 owners, but far from unexpected. The weighty controller shipped to the States in early April and eventually replaced the Sixaxis as the PS3′s standard controller. It is currently packaged with both the 80GB system and the 160GB “Uncharted” bundle.
Sony surely had its reasons for temporarily abandoning the rumble functionality, but a lack of consumer demand certainly wasn’t one of them. Many gamers bemoaned the Sixaxis’ lack of vibration, which I assume eventually forced Sony to reconsider its stance. As for why the feature was initially nixed, I can only speculate. Personally, I think the decision was financially motivated. In other words, a rumble-enabled Sixaxis would have been more expensive to produce than the controller that launched with the Ps3.
The gaming giant badly misjudged its audience’s priorities, which is why its rumble reversal is one of our top gaming moments of 2008.
Source: GameDaily
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I got my DuelShock3 in last December, it’s white, and it came from Asia. Only thing was that the only game that had rumble at first was Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction.
Thought the Sixaxis didn’t have rumble because Sony refused to bite the bullet and reach a settlement with the firm that sued all 3 console makers as it held the patent on “rumble” features in console games (Immersion Tech? Seems to ring a bell…)
From what I remember at the time Nintendo and Microsoft reached a settlement, Sony either wouldn’t reach one, or thought they’d win in court and save money that way.