What we heard: When Sony unveiled the Playstation 3's Sixaxis controller at E3 2006, they made much of its ability to control in-game action by tilting the controller. Unfortunately, Lair, the first game to use Sixaxis controls exclusively, was roundly panned in the press, receiving a Metacritic score of 56. GameSpot's own reviewer found Factor 5's fantasy-air-combat title virtually unplayable, and Sixaxis motion-sensing technology unresponsive.
One tried-and-true tech the Sixaxis left behind was force feedback, which Sony abandoned in the face of a nasty lawsuit. The plaintiff was Immersion Corporation, which claimed the PlayStation-maker stole technology to give the Dual Shock and Dual Shock 2 controller rumble functionality. In 2004, Immersion won the suit, and was awarded over $90 million in a settlement the following spring.
Despite the hefty fine, this past March, Sony and Immersion patched things up, announcing they were "exploring" the possibilities of a new, rumble-enabled controller for the PS3. Subsequent unconfirmed reports have claimed rumbled-enabled Sixaxises have been in developers' hands for several weeks, a claim Sony has consistently refused to comment upon.
Now, over the weekend, C&VG reported a "climax" of online rumors saying a new DualShock would be unveiled at Sony's Tokyo Game Show keynote on Thursday (Wednesday evening in the US). The site did not cite any hard sources, but was enough, along with other online articles, to spark a widespread firestorm of speculation...
The official story:...which Sony brushed off with an increasingly familiar refrain. "It's our policy not to comment on rumors or speculation," was all a rep would say.
Bogus or not bogus?: Not bogus that a rumble-enabled DualShock 3 is coming. GameSpot has learned from a source close to Sony that the company is definitely working on a force-feedback-equipped controller for release in the "coming months." However, as of press time, Sony higher-ups were still apparently debating whether or not to unveil the device at TGS--though a less appropriate venue doesn't spring to mind. It was also unclear if the Dual Shock 3 would have the Sixaxis' tilt-sensing technology, or whether the functionality had been abandoned altogether.
