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October 5th, 2006, 18:58 Posted By: wraggster
Victor Viegas (right), CEO of haptic technology specialist Immersion Corporation, has told GameDaily BIZ that rumble could be included with motion sensing in the PS3 controller without cost rising significantly, which is contrary to comments made by Kaz Hirai.
In response to SCEA president Kaz Hirai's recent comments regarding Sony's decision to include motion sensing but not force feedback in its PlayStation 3 controllers because it would not be affordable for the consumer, Immersion Corporation CEO Vic Viegas got in touch with GameDaily BIZ to give us his opinion on these technologies and if cost would really be a problem.
"I was really surprised when they initially said it wasn't technically possible and I'm probably even more surprised now... [Kaz Hirai's] really saying two things. One is that it's technically possible but that the cost is prohibitive—which again I find astounding—and the second thing he's saying is that they're making a decision to go with this tilt control in place of rumble because they think that's what consumers will appreciate in their gameplay. So, on those two issues again I'm very surprised and shocked because I don't believe either to be the case," Viegas said.
[ "[Sony's] making a decision on behalf of their customer... and to blame the cost of vibration does not seem to be a genuine statement." ]
He continued, "If you remember, the day after they announced they were going to take vibration out of their controller I said that we'd be happy to work with them to solve the technical problem, and our engineers in less than a day had come up with three solutions; one is filtering and the other is processing and neither one is incrementally an increase in the cost. Both are using software to filter out the different commands—tilt vs. vibration—so that both can work side by side, and neither solution will add an increase to the cost of the system... We knew how to technically solve their problems and now we know how to do it without adding any incremental cost."
Viegas then pointed out that a third-party peripheral maker called eDimensional has already created a PS2 controller, the G-Pad Pro, that incorporates both motion sensing and vibration and goes for the retail price of just $29.95, so he doesn't understand Sony's cost argument.
Viegas also cited the results of an Immersion-sponsored survey from Ipsos that indicated most gamers seem to prefer rumble over motion sensing. Sony doesn't believe rumble is as important as motion, however. "It runs completely contradictory to the Ipsos studies and every other study we've conducted... In reality, holding the controller and using the tilt technology to control the game, I have a hard time believing it's going to enhance any game; at a minimum it probably could be used in a driving or flying game, but I just don't see how it plays in any of these other games," Viegas said. "[Sony's] making a decision on behalf of their customer that they're going to decide which features they're going to include and to blame the cost of vibration does not seem to be a genuine statement and I don't think it's in favor of the gamers who obviously like this technology."
While many gamers would love to see Immersion and Sony just settle their differences and work to include vibration into the PS3 pad, it doesn't appear as if the two parties are even talking with one another currently. "The litigation is not our primary focus but if Sony wanted to talk about how to implement rumble technology, paying a license, figure out ways to reduce cost or even enhance the capability with our next-generation technology I would for the most part be available at a day's notice. I'm ready to meet with them and try to work out this issue because at the end of the day it's the gamer that really seems to be suffering," Viegas said. "So I'm happy to try to resolve it but it's hard to have a one-way discussion if the other party is not willing acknowledge the rights that we have under our patent portfolio and all of the brilliance that our engineers have developed over the years."
Some have brought up the idea of a third-party company, like the aforementioned eDimensional, possibly offering a PS3 controller that does actually include both motion and rumble features, but the problem, Viegas explained, is that the PS3 may not support it. "It appears that Sony has not yet ruled out a third-party solution... but if [developers] don't support vibration in the game, that's going to cause a problem," he said. "The controller would have no commands to receive from the gameplay. Sony's in some control there and Sony's also in control of the console, so they can filter out vibration commands; essentially if they don't want vibration they can shut it down and it appears that's what they're doing and as a result companies like eDimensional who are licensed to provide vibration controllers and could otherwise do this, if they don't obtain the support from Sony it just isn't going to happen."
Finally, Viegas also gave us an update on the status of the lawsuit and Sony's appeal, which is still pending. "The appeal was fully briefed, so all the parties wrote up a document that described their position and yesterday in Washington, D.C. the federal court of appeals had a hearing where Sony, Immersion and another party ISLLC came together and presented roughly one hour, answered questions and presented to this panel of three judges... And they would take the information that was discussed yesterday and would then theoretically write an opinion. They could choose to just decide whether this is affirmed over overturned, but most likely they'll write an opinion and we hope that a decision is made around the first quarter of next year," he said.
"In theory, if the appeal concludes and they reaffirm what occurred in front of the judge and jury then we would be aggressively working for this injunction and at the same time willing to try to settle and resolve it. I think [Sony] would have to either stop selling their [DualShock] products or disable the capability because otherwise they'd be infringing," Viegas concluded.
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