Kotaku
According to GameDaily, Sony Computer Entertainment and Immersion have settled their patent litigation and enter into a business agreement to work on future products. Immersion filed suit against Sony in 2002 for what they believed were patent infringements on their force feedback technology, resulting in a $90.7 million judicial decision against Sony.
But today, it appears the two companies have made nice. Here's what Sony boss Kaz Hirai has to say of his new business partners:
We look forward to exploring with Immersion exciting new ways to bring the largest and best range of gameplay experiences to our customers. We are very excited about our new partnership with Immersion and the potential for new and innovative products incorporating their technologies.
Does this mean we'll soon see rumble in the SIXAXIS? It's unknown at this point, but Immersion head Victor Viegas says they hope "to make technical proposals very soon with respect to use of our technology in the PlayStation products." Oh, it's just good news all around!
Breaking: Sony Settles With Immersion, Enters Into Business Agreement [GameDaily]
Comments
i stand (kind of) corrected...
"And life continues..."
Any chance we can get a direct comment from Sony on this?
Hehe, just kiddin'.
Now drop the price of the PS3 and drop the arrogance, and Sony will start to win back gamers again.
Bit late isn't it? =o
but rumble is just so last gen!
@jay
haha
I doubt it
Oh great, now GamesDaily is going to get black balled.
"but rumble is just so last gen!"
And the price of the PS3 isn't supposed to drop for two years... I doubt either are true.
So if rumble does make a comeback, how are they going to spin that as a good thing? Just when I thought the blacklist thing was the only way Sony could dig themselves deeper this comes up. I can just imagine them trying to convince the world to forget all their rhetoric of how rumble is last gen and isn't important anymore.
@Karttikeya:
lol
Sony, pre-Immersion settling: "Rumble is not nextgen and sucks and messes with our awesome hightech controllers and we don't need it and neither do you!"
Sony, post-Immersion settling: "What are you talking about rumble is excellent and cool and innovative and now we're putting it in our technology how innovative is that now we have rumble and motion sensing who needs the Wii!"
Yeah rumble is lastgen. And lastgen is over when Sony says it is. Not that they would tell you about it!
BTW does anyone have the SCEA address so I can send them a spoonful of peanut butter
Resistance was futile :p
Lets pay more!
@Josh*: Thats Right I'm with Josh* it is so last Gen. I would rather have a controller that reminds me of the good old Gen 1 Playstation Era than something more sophisticated like Rumble or Force Feedback.
Its like saying Dolby Digital THX is so last Gen, we have this technology called Stereo.
Great, i just picked up a second controller. Now in a couple months I'll have to spend another $100-120 on controllers with a rumble feature?! Sweet!
'Rumble is so last gen' was the comment last week, next week it will be 'rumble makes the ps3 5d'
So, this is the first I've heard of it.
Conclusion: Kotaku's reporting on Sony doesn't suffer from black-ball.
Sony does suffer.
Personally, I haven't missed rumble, but I look forward to its return. Sucks that I will have to buy more controllers to use it.
This is the exciting news that will be revealed at Phil Harrison's Keynote at GDC. Shigeru Miyamoto is going to have a hard time trying to follow an act like that.
WOAH! I can't wait for the Dual SIXAXIS Shock 3!
I for one really miss the rumble. I finish hours of gaming and feel like something was missing.
If this is true, I would consider buying a PS3. After a substantial price drop of course.
How would they go about getting controllers with rumble into gamer;s homes? Some sort of mass recall? "Send us your Sixaxis, and we'll send you a 'new and improved' Sixaxis with added rumble".
If they wanted to integrate it as a main feature into games, they can't force consumers to shell out for controllers, they should just replace them for gratis.
@thepixelpuncher: rumble. miyamoto might as well quit now.
Hell i don't care what they said last month, bring back my rumble!
OMG!! The day has finally come... I just hope sony can change their tune fast enough to include rumble in Killzone.
The only bummer is that I know I'll have to go out and buy two more controllers if and when they release the dual shock 3(or whatever they decide to call it.
And I bet they wont be cheap either. It's already $59 Canadian for one sixaxis with no rumble..imagine with rumble. :-P
More Sony rumors!?
While adding rumble to the PS3 would make it more attractive in MY eyes, I really doubt it'll happen. I mean, what are they going to do with the people who've already bought PS3s? Oh wait, I guess it'll be the same thing that happened when PSX owners were introduced to the first DualShock. Which is... actually, what did happen?
Can anyone remind me what the transistion from the first Playstation controller to the DualShock was like? I remember that the only reason I ended up with a DualShock was because my PSX was stolen and I had to buy another one. At what point did games start using the analog sticks as a standard?
If they wanted to integrate it as a main feature into games, they can't force consumers to shell out for controllers, they should just replace them for gratis.
The PS3 isn't very far in its life, and there are very few games out that ever _required_ rumble.
If they bring it back, they'll just place it in the new controllers. People will get a new controller eventually.
GameDaily will be receiving an e-mail from Karracker....
@y2julio: classy
I could REALLY care less if SIXAXIS has rumble. I always turn rumble off on my stuff.
Sony, pre-Immersion settling: "Rumble sucks and we don't need it and neither than you and it's not next-gen and it would mess up our controllers and there's no way back!"
Sony, post-Immersion settling: "Rumble is wonderful and we look forward to using it and we think it's innovative and who needs a Wii now certainly not you!"
i can't imagine them bringing rumble back.. its simply too late.
You can't make a game that requires the use of a specific peripheral, that wasn't included with the system...
This is why you saw so few games use the original analog ps1 controller, like Ape Escape. Developers had to assume the analog-less digital pad.
I imagine the reason Sony included a Hard Drive in every ps3, is because they didn't want to make the same mistake as the ps2's hard drive. (Obviously microsoft didn't agree, but this is partly why there are limits to XBLA game sizes).
Now, bringing out a controller that not everyone can be assumed to have is just bad...
Sure, some games its a bonus, such as a football game or something...
But what about a baseball game? Where you are 'feeling' the strike zone as a pitcher... Can't even make a game that is designed for it because you may cut out so many people...
I would have loved this from launch day... see what happens when you're stubborn?
Too little too late.
so is this the reason why PLAYSTATION 3 owners will be happy next week according to Phil "Force Feedback is Last Gen" Harrison?
even with rumble returning to SIXAXIS, people will STILL lash at Sony because of their lack of customer support and too much arrogance...
SixAxis with rumble in 3...2...1...
fuckin' a!
Business as usual still for Kotaku!
Now, the most important debate (probably ever) is what the new controller might be called...
"SHOKXIS"
"Six Shock"
"Hex Shock"
"RUM6LE"
"LAST-GEN-SHOCK-SIXAXIS"
or, more likely:
"SIXAXIS SHOCK with technology by Immersion® 2007 All rights reserved."
If they do create a sixaxis 2 controller they had better be willing to take my old ones seeing as they would be pretty useless compared to ones with rumble.
Please be in the PAL box. Please be in the PAL box...
/prays
About time Sony, about time. I held little hope for the PS3 until now. I never knew how much I missed rumble until I went from wavebird---> normal GC controller when the AA's died. I am sure there will be PS3 owners with the same feeling.
Sony's like an impulsive, angry lover;
"I don't need you, you're yesterday, baby, history! I'm the future..."
The next day:
"I'm sorry, baby. I said some things I didn't mean. Can we pretend this never happened, move on with our relationship? I love you... But I'm still the future."
@Stormflood: The PAL boxes that are most probably laying in warehouses at this very moment, waiting to be sent out to retailers?
As for the analogue controllers on the PS1, as far as I remember, they were never obligatory. Well, with one exception: That monkey-catching game which was specifically made for the analogue sticks. All other games could be controlled either with the sticks or with the regular pad.
That's awesome. Too bad I have two of the non-rumbling kind. But still, could be good news.
Time to go return that 2nd controller I never opened.
***Braces for another flip flop***
Yeah the PAL PS3s are here in three weeks, probably on a ship somewhere in the Indian Ocean as we sepak. Hope it sinks, really.
"Due to popular consumer demand, we have decided that it was time to reintroduce rumble features into our controllers. We don't feel like this contradicts our previous position, in fact, we think that by including the much-loved rumble feature back into our products, our SIXAXIS controller will truly be the best and most innovative next-gen player input device, with unparalleled player control and immersion.
At this time, we have not set a price point for our new Immersion SIXAXIS controllers, but they will be priced competitively and will be available soon."
Man, you guys are caustic bastards. Let's assume for the moment rumble is coming back.
This means that Sony was wrong, they got some feedback about it, and decided to listen to that feedback. Yes, that means they were wrong before and didn't want to admit it (why would they?). But now they've changed their minds. This is a GOOD thing -- not a BAD thing. It means that they can implicitly admit they're wrong and do something about it. If our President could do the same, we might not be in that mess in the Middle East right now....
Maybe rumble won't come in the form of a controller...I see a rumble vest in my future...
Good thing you can have patches with nextgen games. They can add rumble to the old PS3 games, it depends on the developers.