Sony settles with Immersion

[udisi]

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8NJLMP06.htm


Bout time.... they needed to do this.

[ecresto]

hopefully well get rumble back in the sixaxis

[Nintendo Gamer]

.....

[swlovinist]

They should have done this in the first place. Better late than never. The next step for the company would be to say the word "oops"

[jajaja]

Good call by Sony :) Kinda sux for those who already bought a couple of controllers tho hehe, but it might still be months before a new controller with rumble is comming, if its comming at all.

[c0ldb33r]

I expect they would start making rumble controllers, and probably relatively soon. It's such a simple, yet immersive feature.

[Griking]

They may have settled the lawsuit but of course Sony will never use the technology.

I'm sure we all remember Sony saying;


a) Rumble technology would disrupt / not work with the Sixaxis

b) Rumble was yesterday's technology and not worthy of the Sixaxis



LOL I wish Sony would at least TRY get it's lies straight.

[agbulls]

I can already see where this is going for Sony. They're going to market a new premium controller for the PS3 that has both motion and rumble and name it...Drum roll....

The Dual Shock 3

Totally inevitable since they need to recoup their costs from the litigation, and this is the most direct way to do it. And you know what? I'll snag one as my second controller--since I only have the pack-in for my PS3 right now.

[OdSquad64]

my guess is it will be called something stupid like SHOCKAXIS, but i'm willing to bet they'll continue to sell both controllers, SIXAXIS for $50 and SIXAXIS w/ rumble for $60. From a marketing standpoint its a great idea, from a customer relations standpoint its an awful idea. We can only wait and see.

[norkusa]

$22.5 million? That's it?!?! I know that ain't peanuts but hell, you'd think it would have been a lot more than that to settle with the way Sony kept holding out. :roll:

Does this mean there will be force feedback wheels for the PS3 now?

[jajaja]

$22.5 million? That's it?!?! I know that ain't peanuts but hell, you'd think it would have been a lot more than that to settle with the way Sony kept holding out. :roll:

Does this mean there will be force feedback wheels for the PS3 now?

Its more, but for some reason the article didnt write it. Sony also have to pay $97.2 million in damages (whatever that is) and interest. More details here:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070302/ap_on_hi_te/sony_playstation_lawsuit

[Nature Boy]

Really just forgot about the whole rumble thing since I been playing the PS3. Doesn't really make a big deal with me.

I agree - it was much ado about nothing. Not that I have a PS3, but I've disabled it on my 360 to save battery power anyway.

Eventually everyone will forget it was ever an issue in the first place. Good move for Sony.

[Anthony1]

Hallelujah!!! Hallelujah!!!


Man, this is incredible news, but it does present some interesting questions...


1.) How quickly can Sony get a DualShock 3 controller ready for inclusion with the Playstation 3 system?


Every PS3 system that is sold with a normal Sixaxis becomes problematic for Sony from a standpoint of potential developer apathy towards rumble inclusion in their games. By late 2007, we could be in a situation where 70 percent of Sony's installed base has the rumble-less Sixaxis as their primary controller and only 30 percent have the new DualShock 3. This of course, is assuming several scenarios, in which they can't immediately get a DualShock 3 controller designed and into the launch boxes for Europe and Australia, and that it will be many months before the DualShock 3 is ready for retail, regardless if it's packed in with the systems or available as a seperate purchase.


2.) How soon can developers add rumble to games currently in development?


Take for example a game like Madden 2008. Here is game that will be available in early August in all likelyhood, for both PS3 and 360. All things being equal, I'm sure a much larger percentage of Madden fans would want to play a version that has rumble. I'm guessing early August is far enough away that Tiburon would have time to add rumble to the PS3 version, but what about all the games coming out in April, May, June and July? Not that this is a life or death issue, but alot of games benefit tremendously from rumble.


3.) Will there be patches available for existing games to add rumble support?


MOTORSTORM, MOTORSTORM, MOTORSTORM


RESISTANCE, RESISTANCE, RESISTANCE


So far, when it comes to PS3 games, the lack of rumble is most obvious with driving games and First person shooters. Especially Motorstorm and Resistance. I mean, Motorstorm is all about off-road racing over bumpy terrain, which is what rumble is all about. With Resistance, when you are getting hit by enemy fire, you should feel it. I mean that's pretty much a standard for all FPS games. In Ridge Racer 7, when you crash into a wall, and feel nothing, it seems so weird. How easy would it be to add rumble to existing games, and offer it up in some type of patch or firmware upgrade?


4.) Would Sony be dumb enough to only offer the DualShock 3 as an option, rather than an out and out replacement for the Sixaxis?

OdSquad64 already mentioned the scarry possibility that Sony could continue to pack in a rumble-less Sixaxis with their PS3 systems, continue to sell the rumble-less Sixaxis as a seperate peripheral, and offer up a more expensive option of the Sixaxis with rumble included as only an optional peripheral, which could splinter the user base considerably, and cause lazy developers and cost cutting publishers to ignore the optional peripheral altogether.



Lots of interesting questions to think about in regards to all of this, but I can definitely say that I'm very excited to be able to finally have a rumble controller with my PS3. The only thing that could make me even happier would be if Sony added rumble support to their March firmware upgrade, which would allow users to use current PS2 DualShocks with their PS3's for games like Motorstorm and Resistance. How fucking sweet would that be?

[DreamTR]

One thing everyone is not realizing, the "rumble" is not included in the middleware for the PS3 right now as it is. You would have to have a whole new PS3 or a patch on EVERY game (including PS2 stuff).

[Anthony1]

One thing everyone is not realizing, the "rumble" is not included in the middleware for the PS3 right now as it is. You would have to have a whole new PS3 or a patch on EVERY game (including PS2 stuff).

I'm guessing a firmware patch would take care of this?

[jajaja]

4.) Would Sony be dumb enough to only offer the DualShock 3 as an option, rather than an out and out replacement for the Sixaxis?

OdSquad64 already mentioned the scarry possibility that Sony could continue to pack in a rumble-less Sixaxis with their PS3 systems, continue to sell the rumble-less Sixaxis as a seperate peripheral, and offer up a more expensive option of the Sixaxis with rumble included as only an optional peripheral, which could splinter the user base considerably, and cause lazy developers and cost cutting publishers to ignore the optional peripheral altogether.

I dont see why this is a scary situation, it was the exact same thing with PSX. You could buy the Dual Shock controller or the original controller. I've seen many people that want to be able to choose (i.e with HD-DVD addon for 360). If the situation becomes the same as with PSX that you can choose what controller u want, this must be very good news for those people :)



One thing everyone is not realizing, the "rumble" is not included in the middleware for the PS3 right now as it is. You would have to have a whole new PS3 or a patch on EVERY game (including PS2 stuff).

If they make the Dual Shock 3 just like the DS2 it shouldnt be more of a problem to add a firmware upgrade to fix it. If its not the same i would guess its possible to make some modification in the software that handles backward compability that "emulates" the rumble signals, making the PS3 think its DS2.

[7th lutz]

What I am wondering is, if sony decides to add the rumble feature to the controler, will consumers buy it due to cost? I am wondering because a ps 3 controller costs about $50.00 the way the controller is right now. If the controller adds the rumble feature to it, the controller will cost more for consumers to buy.

[njiska]

I have a feeling you won't be seeing rumbling SIXAXIS for a while. What i do expect to see is real Force Feedback support for GT5.

[jajaja]

Indeed, its probly quite some time before a new controller comes, if it comes at all. Dont think the price will be $50 for the old controller then.

[Anthony1]

I dont see why this is a scary situation, it was the exact same thing with PSX. You could buy the Dual Shock controller or the original controller. I've seen many people that want to be able to choose (i.e with HD-DVD addon for 360). If the situation becomes the same as with PSX that you can choose what controller u want, this must be very good news for those people :)


Yeah, but the original Playstation launched before rumble based controllers even existed, so comparing the situations is a little bit trickly. Also, once the DualShock 1 became standardized, they started packing it in with PS1 systems. I don't mind giving "consumers" the right to choose, I just don't like giving developers the right to choose. There are going to be developers that are too lazy, or publishers that are too into cost cutting, and they are going to use the splintered user base as an easy excuse to explain why they didn't include rumble support in their game.


The bottom line is that Sony thought they could get away without rumble in the PS3, they didn't think there would be a big outcry about it, but there was. The public spoke, and the public made it clear that as trivial as rumble might be, it's something that they want, and it's something that they are missing from their PS3 experience. All the websites, magazines and podcasts are talking about how something is missing from the PS3 experience. Sony hears this. They know that it's a negative. Sure it might be a minor negative in the grand scheme of things, but it's a negative nonetheless.

The bottom line is that they need to work with Immersion to immediately get a new Sixaxis designed with rumble, get it working properly, and get the thing inside the actual PS3 system boxes as soon as possible. They need to make it available to consumers for $59.99 and have the regular Sixaxis be $39.99. They need to end production of the regular Sixaxis, and once the regular Sixaxis controllers are no longer available, drop the price of the new Sixaxis to $49.99.

[s1lence]

Well about time for this to be done. Granted as I see it even if they get rumble going on the system (They will, don't kid yourself) I still don't see me playing my PS3 that much more.

[jajaja]

Yeah, but the original Playstation launched before rumble based controllers even existed, so comparing the situations is a little bit trickly. Also, once the DualShock 1 became standardized, they started packing it in with PS1 systems. I don't mind giving "consumers" the right to choose, I just don't like giving developers the right to choose. There are going to be developers that are too lazy, or publishers that are too into cost cutting, and they are going to use the splintered user base as an easy excuse to explain why they didn't include rumble support in their game.

Thats true, but i'd still say the situation is pretty simular now than it was with PSX. I remember looking back at the game boxes and seeing the rumble feature icon :) More and more games started to support supported it, something that the developers chose. At the end it wasnt many of the games that didnt support rumble. Now that they can use this feature for PS3 games im sure every developer will use it. As you say, the Dual Shock controller bacame the new standard controller. Im sure they same will happend to PS3.

[Griking]

Its more, but for some reason the article didnt write it. Sony also have to pay $97.2 million in damages (whatever that is) and interest. More details here:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070302/ap_on_hi_te/sony_playstation_lawsuit

I wonder how much of that Microsoft will get since they own a part of Immersion.

GOD that must piss of Sony.

[Anthony1]

I wonder how much of that Microsoft will get since they own a part of Immersion.

GOD that must piss of Sony.

I could be wrong about this, but Microsoft did own a small part of immersion for a very short period of time, but then sold it. Again, I could be off the mark on this, but I'm pretty sure Microsoft has nothing to do with Immersion atm.

[j_factor]

Let's back up a minute here.

All the article says is that Sony settled the (old) lawsuit that Immersion filed for their unauthorized use of rumble in Dual Shock and Dual Shock 2 controllers, and will "explore" the possibility of using Immersion's technology in future products.

I wouldn't bank on there being a rumble version of the sixaxis just yet. I wouldn't be surprised if they only license the technology for a force-feedback steering wheel, and/or a flight stick or something. That's if they do anything at all.

I mean, this is the company that won't fix the PSP's design flaws because they're part of the system's beauty. I wouldn't expect them to go back on their word about rumble just like that.

[Anthony1]

I mean, this is the company that won't fix the PSP's design flaws because they're part of the system's beauty. I wouldn't expect them to go back on their word about rumble just like that.



There is a big difference between redesigning the PSP and simply adding rumble to the Sixaxis controller. A PSP redesign would be a pretty radical undertaking. I'm not saying it's something that shouldn't happen, because it should, but comparing that to adding rumble to a controller isn't a valid comparison IMHO. I don't think Sony would have decided to work out a settlement at this juncture, if they didn't want to add rumble to the PS3 controller much sooner rather than later. Sony could have kept appealing the ruling against them, and delayed their judgement much further off into the future, the fact that they worked out a deal now, suggests that they felt they could gain more by paying the piper and getting rumble on the PS3, than delaying the inevitable.

[j_factor]

Companies settle their lawsuits all the time, I don't think it's a sign of anything. I mean, if they really wanted rumble on the PS3, they would've settled a year ago, don't you think?

[s1lence]

Companies settle their lawsuits all the time, I don't think it's a sign of anything. I mean, if they really wanted rumble on the PS3, they would've settled a year ago, don't you think?

No because they didn't believe they were at fault. I also believe that at first they advertised that the PS3 would have wireless/rumble controllers, way back when they first displayed the "boomerang" controller.

[jajaja]

I think the reason why this first is happening now is because of the long trial. Immersion first wanted 299 million dollars from Sony. Now that its over they had to pay 97.2 million instead.