Sony Defends Rumble Loss

Eurogamer reports on comments from Sony defending the loss of rumble in the SIXAXIS controller. "'I think the caveat to that statement always has to be based on the fact that when we make a pad, we're making maybe 150, 200 million of them,' Harrison explains. 'So it has to be done at a price, and it has to be done at a volume that fits our production requirements. I think the decision that we've made to build in the SIXAXIS functionality, and Bluetooth wireless, and great battery life, and all the other functionality that comes with it, far outweighs the chatter that we're getting on vibration. And, it's incredibly light! Just pick it up!'"

Comments

Re:Rumble is a gimmick

[TheBlackSwordsman]

"The rumble feature in game controllers is a gimmick and always has been a gimmick. It is useless and a waste of battery life. Thank goodness it's being tossed out of most next-gen controller designs."

If by "most next-gen controller designs", you mean "Sony's next-gen controller design", then I guess you're correct. However, both Microsoft and Nintendo are still doing rumble and wireless. Nintendo's even doing the whole "tilt" thing that Sony slapped into their controller at the last minute. So tell me again why Sony's leaving rumble out?

Re:A Poor Tradeoff

[Dolohov]

Ah, I think I see your misunderstanding. We're talking force vectors on a rigid body here, and while the terminology is the same as in general vector mathematics, the application is not quite.

Let's assume that our object is a sphere 1 unit in radius, centered on the origin. Applying a force [0, 1, 0] (a unit vector along the Y axis) centered on the origin will cause the sphere to accelerate along the Y axis without turning. However, applying the same force at the edge of the sphere where it intersects the positive X axis will cause the sphere to start spinning counter-clockwise (or yaw-ing) about the Z-axis, without moving from its spot at the origin. If I apply the same force where the sphere intersects the positive Z axis, the sphere will start spinning about the X-axis (I can't remember if that's roll or pitch. Roll, I think)

This means that in order to describe ANY acceleration of the object, you need a three dimensional vector to represent the force, AND a three-dimensional vector to represent where that force is applied relative to the object's center of mass. Ergo, six axes.