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Tuesday October 3, 2006 8:14 pm

Kaz: PS3 Motion Sensing + Rumble “Possible”, But Would be Expensive

Posted by Michael Cardiff
Categories: Accessories, Hardware, PlayStation 3

PS3 Controller image

Oh Kaz, will your quotes ever cease to amaze? This week, Kaz Hirai of Sony talks to Kikizo about a combo motion-sensing / rumble remote, and while he says it’s “possible”, he says it would just make those PS3 controllers (which are currently going to cost you $39.99) too darn expensive.

“The issue is trying to isolate the vibration feature from the motion sensors,” he said. “Is it technically feasible? Absolutely. But the balancing act that you need to do, is to be able to present the controller to the consumer at an affordable price. We have one controller in the box, but many consumers will want to go out and get an extra controller. To isolate the vibration from the sensing, if that means that the controllers are going to be so expensive, then we’re doing the consumer a huge disservice.”

That’s quite the choice quote, given that Nintendo has managed to offer the package Kaz is talking about, a wireless controller with motion sensing and rumble (need we mention the speaker too?), for the very same price of $39.99. And Nintendo is notorious for not taking losses on their on hardware!


Read More | Kikizo



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Comments

  • SmartGuy
    By SmartGuy at 10/3/06

    That last comment was dull, because the Wii controller is motion sesitive but in a different way to the PS3. It uses the Bar that sits atop your t.v. to find the controllers place in 3D space. That means normal rumble would not interfere with the motion control but the PS3’s remote has all sensors inside the remote. And they are tilt and movement sensitive so therefore normal rumble would interfear with the motion detetction. So therefore the newer developed technology for rumble would cost more then the Wii wich is using the old rumble style. Thats why the Wii’s nunchuck attachment doesn’t have rumble because it uses the same technology as the PS3’s.

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  • 9158
    By 9158 at 10/3/06

    Also, the ps3 controller is only comparable to the Wii COMPLETE controller, i.e. Wiimote + Nunchuck, which is $59.98, not $39.99.

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  • Michael Cardiff
    By Michael Cardiff at 10/4/06

    If you do some research online into how the Wii’s motion sensing actually works, I think you’ll find that’s not the case. While the sensor bar is used for “pointing” style games like Red Steel or Metroid Prime 3, where the Wiimote is used to direct a reticule on screen (something the PS3 controller doesn’t do obviously), the sensor bar is NOT used for tilt-control functionality. So when you see the videos for games like Excite Truck or other driving games on the Wii, the sensor bar is not being used at all - instead it’s controlled by the Wiimotes internal gyroscopic sensors.

    Now, you could make the argument that the Wiimote doesn’t have any analog sticks (which would cut down on costs when compared to the PS3 controller), but frankly I don’t think that’s a major expenditure.

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