Immersion gets ready to rumble

Friday 7 July 2006
Rumble pad creator Immersion has launched an online survey to find out what gamers think about rumble technology and, judging by the reaction on our forums, it's not seen as that important.

Immersion patented the idea of 'rumble' in game pads in 2000 which meant the game pads for both Xbox and PlayStation 2 were infringing that patent. Immersion subsequently sued both companies but, while Microsoft settled out of court, Sony fought the case. And lost.

Now, following Sony's revelation that the PS3 pad will not contain rumble technology, Immersion is canvassing opinion on whether the lack of this feature will affect console sales, with some of the questions obviously focusing on Sony's decision - just look at these questions:

"Sony recently announced that the new PS3 controller will not have the rumble capability that the earlier PlayStation DualShock controllers have. If rumble is removed from the PS3 console, your PlayStation or PS2 games also may not have vibration when played on the PS3. How would the lack of rumble in the whole console affect your decision to buy the PS3?"

"If you owned both an Xbox 360 with rumble and a PS3 console without any rumble capability, and a game came in both versions, which one would you buy?"

So what is Immersion planning to do with the information? Go back to Sony and go 'told you so' while doing a little dance?

As ever, our diligent forumites have been discussing this, and the general opinion is that rumble isn't that vital, after all.

To join the discussion just click here, and to have your say in Immersion's survey click here.