Sony Worldwide Studios boss Phil Harrison has given some details into the Dual Shock 3, how it works, and why now.
In a chat with GameSpot, Harrison addressed several points that Kaz Hirai did not during his keynote earlier today. Firstly, he said that rumble was back due to popular demand: “A lot of people have been asking for it, and now we’ve done it”, he said. Well on behalf of said people, thank you very much.
Apparently, the rumble features in the Dual Shock 3 are the same as they were in the Dual Shock 2; this way, developers do not have to learn a new rumble system before shaking you about in their games. He even said they might update already released games with rumble sensitivity, which is definitely not a bad thing. Although, this does mean the ‘immersive rumble’ features – that is, rumble that is location specific on the pad – have either been shelved or forgotten about.
Some of you may remember during E3 ’06 that a couple of reasons were given for why the SixAxis did not have rumble. The ‘official’ reason was that rumble was ‘so last gen’, while behind closed doors; Sony employees said that rumble would mess with the motion sensor. The rest of the world, however, thought that it was the lawsuit with Immersion. Apparently, the rumble actually does interfere with the motion sensing, and has needed “some very clever algorithms that filter out the effect of motion sensitivity” according to Mr Harrison.
It all sounds good so far. Unfortunately, western audiences will have to wait until early next year until they can get one, while Japanese PS3 users will be able to get their hands on them in November. So unless you want to risk Sony’s law-ninjas by grey importing, patience will be needed.