SIXAXIS not ready to rumble… yet

Much has been said regarding the return of rumble controllers for the Sony PlayStation 3, but the Japanese firm is still mum on the subject. More sources and analysts point out that a rumble-enable controller is inevitable and it should only be a matter of time for it to be released. Blog Innerbits had something to add to the fuss.

The site speculates that even though Sony is keeping quiet on the PR end, the technical wing is busy testing a prototype of a new rumble-enabled controller. Innerbits also said that it’s technologically feasible to have a rumbling SIXAXIS, but at this point, the market viability isn’t there yet as the whole thing just takes too much power.

In essence, what you might end up getting if the new controller is released today is a working piece of hardware that has all the good stuff (wireless connectivity, motion-sensing and rumble support), but the battery life wouldn’t be at a satisfactory level and there wouldn’t be enough games to support it. “The battery life issue is an engineering problem, and we have no doubt Sony will resolve it satisfactorily” says the article.

The bigger problem, Innerbits stresses, is in the realm of customer relations. The first woe would be that Sony will have to live with the fact that it announced early on that rumbling isn’t next-gen and second, it has to pull the act off without raising the ire of the users who bought the PS3 early on without the SIXAXIS.

There’s no way here and now that we can confirm or debunk the entire rumble rumor, but we must say that the points raised are as valid as any we’ve heard so far regarding the topic. We’ll keep you posted as the events in the rumble saga unfold.

Much has been said regarding the return of rumble controllers for the Sony PlayStation 3, but the Japanese firm is still mum on the subject. More sources and analysts point out that a rumble-enable controller is inevitable and it should only be a matter of time for it to be released. Blog Innerbits had something to add to the fuss.

The site speculates that even though Sony is keeping quiet on the PR end, the technical wing is busy testing a prototype of a new rumble-enabled controller. Innerbits also said that it’s technologically feasible to have a rumbling SIXAXIS, but at this point, the market viability isn’t there yet as the whole thing just takes too much power.

In essence, what you might end up getting if the new controller is released today is a working piece of hardware that has all the good stuff (wireless connectivity, motion-sensing and rumble support), but the battery life wouldn’t be at a satisfactory level and there wouldn’t be enough games to support it. “The battery life issue is an engineering problem, and we have no doubt Sony will resolve it satisfactorily” says the article.

The bigger problem, Innerbits stresses, is in the realm of customer relations. The first woe would be that Sony will have to live with the fact that it announced early on that rumbling isn’t next-gen and second, it has to pull the act off without raising the ire of the users who bought the PS3 early on without the SIXAXIS.

There’s no way here and now that we can confirm or debunk the entire rumble rumor, but we must say that the points raised are as valid as any we’ve heard so far regarding the topic. We’ll keep you posted as the events in the rumble saga unfold.