The Sony PS3 needs all the edge it can get if it is going to get back into the games console market, and the settlement of its patent legal action with Immersion, whereby it has paid $150 million to settle the issue of force feedback, the ability for a controller to rumble and vibrate, means that pretty soon Sony could come to market with a more advanced controller.
It is the Nintendo Wii’s controller that has been at the heart of the success of what everyone expected to be the third placed game console, and instead it is shipping at a faster rate than the PS3, and could soon catch up the head start that the Xbox 360 had on both devices.
Immersion has been paid for damages, and some costs, but also a license for its technology going forwards. There have been lots of statements that force feedback was not put into the PS3 controller because of cost, but now all that is being wound back in and Immersion itself has told reporters that it thinks it can help Sony build such a controller for no material extra cost.
The legal battle has gone on for years, and the failure of the Sony appeal finally settled things. Sony had used vibration technology in its PS2 DualShock controller, which started the whole issue.
The two will now put their heads together and try to come up with a way to integrate rumble and motion-sensing into the SixAxis controller. If they manage it, expect Wii like advertising that features it.