Gamers will have forgotten all about the lack of rumble in console pads by next year, reckons Matt Southern, producer of PlayStation 3 racer MotorStorm.
"By 2007 we'll say 'no rumble? What of it?'" Southern told Official PlayStation 2 Magazine. He believes "the many positives of PS3 far outweigh the lack of rumble".
Sony took the decision to remove the rumble feature, which was included with previous PlayStation controllers, as it said the vibration would interfere with the pad's new tilt-sensing technology.
Southern's game MotorStorm, is an off-road racer in which the different terrain has an affect on the vehicles' handling and so is the type of game that might have made heavy use of a rumble function. But Southern is still certain that gamers won't miss it: "We're sure that with the huge amount of particles we can throw around on PS3 you'll know exactly what surface type you are on."