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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!'"
I think that sony really made a poor tradeoff with losing rumble and adding the sixaxis thing (though it's actually only THREE axises (axies?) being that +/-X is one axis, +/-Y is an axis, and +/-Z is an axis, but anyway...). The thing about rumble support is that game pads have had it for so long now that (for me anyway) I don't notice when it's there, but I certainly notice when it's missing.
Famous Last Words: "hmm...wikipedia says it's edible"
Since when is "light" a selling point for controllers? Most sites that have hands-on experience with the PS3 mark that one in the negative column.
Talk about desparate...
When widespread customer outcry is "chatter," you're losing sight of what your role is as a company. Has anyone reminded Sony that the source of this "chatter" is also where they get their income?
Oh, and Microsoft and Nintendo have rumble and great battery life. I'm not worried. What I might be compelled to worry about is randomly exploding controllers, but maybe that's why they expect everyone to have so many spares. Does make multiplayer seem a lot more interesting, though.
This sig isn't original enough, it's time to come up with something witty...
I've never really found the rumble feature to be that important. My Wavebird controller for the Gamecube doesn't have rumble and I've found it to be much more fun to use than the standard wired controllers.
with enough customer grumbling, sony will eventually get rumbling.
(wow that was horrible :-P)
People complain about the loss of rumble but I've always seen it as a gimmick that was only effectively pulled off in a few games. The rest of it was just a toy not necessarily to the actually game or, even more importantly, the game mechanics. How do I know this? Because most games on the PC never bothered with it.
Take a look at gaming on the PC side and it is devoid of rumble and trust me when I say Logitech and Microsoft would like nothing better than to sell you something that "rumbles" especially a gamer thinks they need but it never took off. I don't think World of Warcraft needs rumble and if CounterStrike players don't notice it and The Sims can't use it effectively, just how "important" is rumble? These are some of the most played, highest selling games in the history of gaming running rings around some of the best console titles and yet none of them are eager to have rumble. I guess the PC side of gaming has been missing out on...something.
So what are these games that really need rumble? The only reason to keep rumble in would have been "it is cheap". With Immersion, there is really no surprise it is gone.
Once again, we have someone who doesn't like feature X and is glad that it's not in system Y, making it seem like its a "good thing" that the company decided to do it that way.
That's a load of BS.
Reading through the comments, it's obvious that there are many people that like it, and many people that don't. And you know what? They all know how to turn it off in the settings. Simple enough.
Now you can argue that it should be off by default, but most folks LIKE the feature. So the majority overrule your personal preference. It would be nice to have a personal setting that you could make on the console that remembers to turn off rumble across all games though. But to say that not having the option is a "good thing"? That's just stupid.
-- jchenx
On a PC, you really don't see the major benefit of rumble feedback. On a console, rumble feedback seems rather trivial at times too, however rumble feedback used properly in a single-player game can really add to the effect. Sadly, few games use it terribly well. The key, however, is in multi-player games, and ones that don't utilize split-screen even more-so. Rumble feedback is the ONLY feedback a console can give that is specific to ONE player in an offline multi-player environment.
Sixaxis != Wii's motion detection. Six axis is an attempt to bring it however it was put into the system late because they had to do something to replace Rumble. Not because it is better then rumble.
Yes wireless is important but Blue tooth again isn't something you need to trade for rumble. 360 has wireless AND rumble. Wii has wireless, motion detection and rumble. See where this is going? Sony is missing a valuable piece. It might not be important but acting like it's a good thing they skipped rumble and ignoring the fact that they were infringing on a copyright isn't smart, it's silly.
Don't believe sony's hype, if they wanted they could do rumble, sixaxis, bluetooth, battery life, and probably thrown in some other random technology and made it work easily. But according to them they had to get rid of rumble to make the other three available? Baloney.
Sony is currently scared shitless because people arn't killing each other to get their PS3, this is their big push to sell what they don't have, to make people go "I really need a PS3" the problem is people arn't acting like that because unlike with the ps2, we have 360s available, we have a completely new system for games on the other side, and the Sony brass has been acting so insane people arn't listening. And yet there's still very few exclusive games for it, and most of them arn't impressing people.
"I simply do not see how one can be excited for motion control ideas in the Wii and not in the PS3, even if there are differences in what motion can be detected."
That's exactly why one can be excited about the Wii and not the PS3's motion sensing. The whole concept is different.
The Wii offers a 'wand' that allows usage like every-day object. Golf clubs, tennis rackets, swords, guns, etc. You get more of a feeling that you are in the game.
The PS3 version allows... Uhh... Oh wait, they haven't really said what it allows. So we have a standard controller that can tell when you move or tilt it. Hmm... Boxing? Nope. Golf? Nope. Football? Nope. Swords, guns, weapons? Nope.
I can only think of 2 things that might interest me with Sony's. Flight simulation. And first person shooters. I think it could actually excel at FPS's. You run up to the corner and you want to learn around and take a look. With a standard controller, you press into the wall and holding a button... Not exactly realistic. With the PS3, you just run up to the corner, and then lean the controller over at an angle towards the direction you want to peer. Like magic. Of course, the Wii could do exactly the same thing with the left hand nun-chuk, while the right hand gets the run ready for when you jump out and start shooting.
Hmm... Yeah, can't imagine why we'd like one controller over another.
"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
Yeah, but the way Wii does it is smooth, where I can't see how the PS3 is going to be smooth like that.
It's obvious how to hold the Wiimote to make it act like a golf club. But how to hold the sixaxis? This is just a dual-shock-shaped controller. Do I hold it by one of the 2 handles and hope I don't accidentally let it go, since I can't really get my hand all the way around it? Do I have to let go of it completely and then re-grip it in the middle? Do I hold it like normal, where the flexibility of the human body prevents free range of movement?
Football... I can see some use there, but still not as much as the Wiimote/nunchuk. The new football for Wii excites even me, and I -hate- football games.
Swords? You mean, like, twist it to swing the sword? My hands don't do that. If you mean move it side to side... that's a bit complicated, when you consider you also have 2 analog sticks and several buttons to deal with at the same time. Nowhere NEAR as much fun or as smooth as the Wiimote.
Oddly, guns are the one thing I COULD possibly see as working. Since you hold the controller in front of you anyhow, the sixaxis could easily be used to control the sight of a gun onscreen. The Wiimote allows gun games without the sight onscreen, though... And I prefer it that way.
I admit I'm a bit hyped about Nintendo for the first time in many years. And it's currently en vogue to hate Sony, especially considering they just killed one of my favorite online stores. But I cannot logically find how the sixaxis is even close to comparing to the Wiimote.
"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM