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PS3 Controller Officially Called 'Sixaxis'

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the nice-name-still-rumble-less dept.

morpheus83 writes "Sony has decided to call the PS3's wireless controller 'Sixaxis' as it has sensors which allow it to sense linear motion along six axes. The Bluetooth controller charges when connected via the USB cable, after a full charge it is good for 30 hours of gaming. It becomes a wired controller when charging so you can continue playing." The Next Generation article also offers some further details on PS3 accessories: "Sony will also sell a memory card adapter used to upload data from PS or PS2 memory cards to the PS3 hard drive. That peripheral will go for 1500 yen ($13) and will be available at launch as well. A Blu-ray/DVD movie controller will also be in the accessory mix, selling for 3600 yen ($31)."

6 of 179 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Six axes? by wired_LAIN · · Score: 3, Informative

    I think they're dividing each axis into 2 - instead of x y and z, they have forwards, back, right, left, up, and down. So technically, its actually 3 axis.

    --
    It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.
  2. Re:Six axes? by gabebear · · Score: 3, Informative

    3 rotational axes(pitch, roll, and yaw) and and the 3 regular axes(x, y, z).

  3. Re:Six? by pilkul · · Score: 4, Informative

    Translation in three axes, plus rotation in three axes. Not sure what the problem is.

  4. Re:Six axes? by SnowZero · · Score: 2, Informative

    My post was meant as a smartass remark, but I think your explanation is probably the right one. Technically, though, it's still only 3 axes (X, Y, Z); "rotational axes" in your comment refers to rotation around X/Y/Z, while "regular axes" refers to linear movement along X/Y/Z.

    Well, if one wanted to be a smartass, one could point out that the axes of rotation do not need to lie exactly parallel to the translational axes. Nobody ever claimed all six axes were orthogonal. Really though, you are picking nits. FTFA they say "six degrees of freedom" which is correct. I don't think it's necessarily wrong to call a d.o.f. an axis in colloquial speech.

    What's suspicious is the summary says "linear movement" along 6 axes. This could be construed to mean rotation movement is not tracked.

    How is that suspicious for a summary written by a random user and posted by Zonk? TFA doesn't say that, which is all that matters. We're lucky if a summary (1) isn't a dupe, (2) does not contain glaring factual errors, and (3) has decent spelling and grammar.

  5. Re:Six? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Rotation ... not *in* three axes, but about three axes; axes easily described by the translation axes. So you get 6 DOF but not six axes.

  6. Re:Six axes? by Sage+Gaspar · · Score: 2, Informative

    The six degrees of freedom means that your configuration space is a six dimensional space, with six basis elements, and thus six "axis." Probably a torus with a couple holes, I dunno, it's been a long day and I'm tired :P