Rumbling SIXAXIS controllers already going out to devs?

We've been expecting SIXAXIS controllers to get their shake on ever since Sony and Immersion settled that little patent dispute of theirs, and that glorious day seems like it's inching ever closer, with game-industry gossip blog Inner Bits reporting that rumbling SIXAXIS prototypes are already in the hands of developers, and that they'll be unveiled in two to three months -- or whenever Sony's happy with developer support. Inner Bits is also saying that updated SIXAXIS units with refined motion-control features are already starting to filter onto shelves, so it looks like the controller devs at Sony have been busy the past few months.

[Via PS3 Fanboy]

[Jon Graft @ Aug 1st 2007 10:06PM]

Noice....and what does Micro$haft have to say about this? Haha....chew on that XBOX!

[bigbrew @ Aug 1st 2007 10:17PM]

OMG Microsoft is f'ing screwed -- Sony has rumble now and Microsoft doesn.... oh wait. Nevermind.

[ssuk @ Aug 2nd 2007 2:55AM]

RUMBLE IS SO LAST GEN.

Would be quote of the year... Again.

[Brian @ Aug 1st 2007 10:10PM]

As much as I love the controller, the fact remains that I have yet to play a game that SUCCESSFULLY uses the sixaxis capabilities of this device. The best I've experienced is swinging the controller to perform a rifle butt in Call of Duty 3.

[Sain @ Aug 1st 2007 11:15PM]

But how does have the ability of motion sensing hurt it? seriously?

[Phillip Black @ Aug 2nd 2007 12:10AM]

Umm ya it does, having motion sensing makes it cost more.

[James @ Aug 2nd 2007 1:37AM]

Far worse than a few more bucks per controller, having motion sensing makes devs want to graft poorly thought out waggle onto every single damn game (ask the Wii) just so they can say, "Now with Motion Sensing Controls!!!1!", and ruining an otherwise-great game.

I say that as a relatively happy Wii owner -- there's some pretty egregious abuses of the accelerometer, let me tell you.

[chuuchdizzle @ Aug 1st 2007 10:22PM]

It's a good development, but i find the fixing of the trigger buttons a priority(atleast in my case) they feel too fat, unlike the 360's, it seriously throws me off whenever i use those fat, fat triggers

[JD @ Aug 1st 2007 10:41PM]

Yeah, those triggers are horrific. They make my fingers hurt after one round of motorstorm since I need to hold my fingers up to keep them on the triggers. But then again, the whole controller is too small for my hands, so maybe that's just a side effect.

[steve @ Aug 1st 2007 10:25PM]

YAY RUMBLE!

[Krish the Fish @ Aug 1st 2007 10:51PM]

couldn't sony've just told us this so we wouldn't have had to speculate for months?

and couldn't they have ever told us for certain and to put everything to rest about whether the 60 gig will be discontinued... sheesh

[ssuk @ Aug 2nd 2007 3:34AM]

It's bad for business to tell someone a new console is coming out. People expect price drops or better value for money when announcements like that are made and as a result, people hold off from buying the console as they see more benifit waiting for a new shineier object than one which may not be worth it in months/weeks time.

They are just handing out these rumble controlers to developers, see if they will adopt Rumble again. If the vast majority do not, then the controler wont be made and that's the end of it. If they do, the controler will hit the market. This will be the same for any controler redesign, because without developer support, there's no point making the controler if there's hardly any games that utalise it.

[Billy Kincaid @ Aug 1st 2007 10:55PM]

woot!

[Wolfticket @ Aug 1st 2007 10:59PM]

Frankly I'm shocked. Next thing you know they'll be putting the left analogue stick in the right place...

[Dan @ Aug 2nd 2007 1:04AM]

Umm... what? The right place, being where Microsoft placed their left stick? How does one company's design become the standard? And how do you feel about the Nun-chuck, not having two sticks?

I don't know about you, but I find no trouble using either design.

[rickane58 @ Aug 2nd 2007 1:20AM]

Hold up you hands. when you just let your thumbs rest, they go up to the xbox joystick position, becuase that is how you joints and ligaments are formed, thus making it a natural spot for the joystick to go. The only reason the right analog stick isn't there is because the buttons take a higher priority in non-fps games. Don't believe me, check Wiki on 360 Accessories

[Silenthillnight @ Aug 2nd 2007 4:13AM]

Wow, so you're telling me your left thumb naturally goes up and your right thumb naturally goes down? interesting, you might wanna get checked out for that. You cross-eyed too? :)

[rickane58 @ Aug 2nd 2007 12:54PM]

did I not just say that they movedthe buttons up on the right instead because they take a higher priority in most non FPS games? oh wait, that's right, I did

[Wolfticket @ Aug 3rd 2007 8:28AM]

Actually, I meant that the analogue sticks on the PS controller were originally (and still are) an add on to the original PS1 controller that only had a d-pad. This means that the design of the controller is aimed at using the d-pad as the main directional control, rather than the left analogue stick (like the vast majority of games do now).
If I'm using anything as a standard, I would say pretty much every other analogue gamepad that was designed for games that use analogue controls.

[Paul @ Aug 2nd 2007 12:26AM]

I would buy the new Sixaxis if they just included better triggers. They are horrible, if Sony made them like the 360's(spring loaded) I would buy it.

[Jamesology @ Aug 2nd 2007 2:03AM]

Yeah I totally agree with everyone on the triggers. Though, I'm not much of a 360 fan, I do love their controller.

I'm a true Playstation Fanboy but owns a DSLite/Wii and 360 Elite 3 PSPs but not a PS3; I knew if I wait good things come... like rumble and 80gb. :)

[MikeG @ Aug 2nd 2007 7:19AM]

Eh? The triggers are spring loaded, they don't stay in the same place when you let go of them, nor do they slowly slide back into place, it's blatantley a spring, SPRINGING them back into their natural position.

I don't understand some of the comments here about the PS3 controller, there's one guy complaining that he has to hold his fingers up for the trigger, do his fingers really get exhausted if they don't have something to rest on?

Another says that the fat triggers "throw him off" no idea what he means by that, but yeah they are quite big, but then how is that a bad thing?

For people saying the controller is too small for their hands they either have giant 40 year old farmer hands or just don't know how to hold the controller, I have relativley big hands all you have to do is grab the controller a bit further down.

[James @ Aug 2nd 2007 1:48AM]

So where does this leave current 360 owners? PSX was I think unique among consoles in recent memory -- at least since the Genesis, I guess; I never owned either -- that shipped with one style of controller, but required an updated one for a large percentage of its late-life titles. It's really hard to get early adopters to shell out for a new controller and basically toss the old one without feeling burned. In the case of Genesis, they discovered that 3 buttons was not enough (way too true). In the case of PSX, the "dual analog" revolution began, and obviously enabled some game types we couldn't have played effectively without them.

The track that Sony took -- "Rumble is a last-gen feature", wait six months to a year, "Hey, check out our rumble!" -- means that they pretty much can't *require* rumble support when writing new games, because some people almost certainly won't shell out big bucks just for rumble. That means no OoT-style Rumble Pak to find items (I forget the name of the in-game item), no heartbeat sensor in Metal Gear or Rainbow Six... or at least, if they're in the game, those who don't upgrade are at a disadvantage, which hurts the true Sony fans the most -- they're the ones that bought a PS3 in the first year of life.


All I can say is: poor form, Sony. Poor form.

[James @ Aug 2nd 2007 1:49AM]

Eep! Too late to be posting this. *360 = PS3 above... heh, Freudian slip maybe?

[Adagio @ Aug 2nd 2007 2:11AM]

ps3 fanboy comment: See, now ps3 is just as good as wii and 360 controller wise.

360 fanboy comment: See! Sony sucks cause they're making those ps3 owners who bought 4 sixaxis controllers pay extra and buy more controllers just to enjoy rumble so now you figure if you bought 4 controllers and have to buy 4 more thats what, 200 bucks? Now ps3 is just more expensive!

ps3 fanboy rebuttal: Yea well you have to buy an extension to play hd movies!

360 rebuttal: Yea but that not needed to enjoy games!

ps3 rebuttal: Yea, but neither is rumble!

360 rebuttal: yea it is!

ps3 rebuttal: no it's not!


and so on and so forth till morning

[superaktieboy @ Aug 2nd 2007 5:13AM]

wow id love to see the rumble in the sixaxis, though i might not buy 2 other controllers, but just 1 instead (coz i have 2 sixaxis at the moment).. though i'd probably not buy it if they don't change the trigger!!

all though this is in a way a bad step for sony coz they previously said that rumble is last gen. now this proves that they don't think before saying, which could be very bad for a company as they might get untrusted by customers!!

greetzz

[Martin @ Aug 2nd 2007 7:37AM]

We all know that you can't have rumble and motion sensing in the controller at the same time. That is what Sony told me. I wonder why they decided to get rid of the motion sensing since that is what they would have had to do to make these work since as I state again, Sony told us, It wasn't possible to put rumble in the controllers with motion sensing!

[Jordan @ Aug 2nd 2007 10:15AM]

I don't really care, as I usually just turned off rumble (and still do) while playing my PS2. With my PS3, I really don't miss it...

[rodsky @ Aug 2nd 2007 10:42AM]

make the controller handles a bit longer and put the left thumbstick up, you know like the 360 and gamecube, those 2 have awesome controllers, i cant use this thing too much before my hands start to cramp up and the sixaxis feels really cheap too, make it feel sturdy

[Halfmad @ Aug 2nd 2007 11:17AM]

Now if only they could many it more comfortable (like the 360 controller) I might actually consider, possibly, maybe.. no wait I still wouldn't.

[ozone @ Aug 2nd 2007 12:51PM]

Sony could create a controller retrieval program where one could send in old non-rumble controllers for new rumblerific controllers at only shipping costs to the consumer! WIN!

Then proceed to dump all old controllers on top of the E.T. cartridges in the landfill...

[RemzVkru @ Aug 2nd 2007 3:55PM]

who the hell says that the placement of the analog stick on the xbox controller is the right place for it? there must be only a hand full of idiots who actually believe this......what warped planet do you people live on? crackbox has the worst controller, always have and they always will continue to have the most uncomfortable controller cause i say so, i just decided that!!

[rodsky @ Aug 2nd 2007 4:55PM]

genius hold your hands up, are your thumbs naturally sideways? no?
thought so, they point up, hold a gamecube and 360 controller and the thumbstick and buttons are in the position your hand naturally sits at

[RemzVkru @ Aug 2nd 2007 5:03PM]

What does that have to do with anything retard, your rationale for why the analog stick is where it is on the xbox controller is absurd! You must have problems with your hands and fingers, maybe you wack off too much but I never had any problems playing any game with the ps3/ps2 controller setup.
Thats what a controller should look like because i said so.

[axtenren @ Aug 2nd 2007 10:21PM]

i don't have any problem with the place where the analog sticks are. I feel more comfortable using ps3 than my xbox360. I just slide my hand down like holding a m9 or 45. I really like it!

[Kevin Lowe @ Aug 3rd 2007 4:30PM]

I'd love a redesigned controller - even the boomerang is better than the trash that is Sixaxis. Yes, the sticks are in the wrong place, and they lack the nice dimples on the 360's sticks that really grip your thumb. Worse, the triggers are convex, meaning that if you hold them in place your finger will start to slide off. Making it worse, the triggers also have a very smooth finish and no ridges. Even an intern should have known better than that.