A Rumbling Six Axis is in Development for the PS3?

One of the more controversial moves Sony made in regards to the design of the Playstation 3 was the removal of the rumble feature of the PS3's controller, the Six Axis. At the time of the PS3's development, Sony was deeply involved in a law suit with Immersion Corporation over copyright infringement in regards to the PS2 controller, the Dual Shock. Because of the lawsuit, Sony designed the PS3's new Six Axis without rumble features. When questioned about it, Sony mantained that rumble features were "last generation", despite many developers feeling that rumble did and continues to be a big factor in immersing players in the game.

Now, the lawsuit is over and Sony and Immersion have signed a new agreement. The obvious result of the new agreement would be to reinclude the the rumble feature into the PS3's Six Axis controller. Innerbits reports that two different, independant sources from within Sony have confirmed that there is indeed a new rumbling Six Axis in development. When GameIndustry.biz contacted Sony Computer Entertainment America and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, both refused to comment on the possibility of a new controller being developed.

It seems at the moment there is only one technical issue hampering the development of the new rumbling Six Axis, and that is in regards to battery life. The Six Axis is a wireless controller with a motion sensing feature that currently gets about 30 hours worth of battery life. Reports indicate that the inclusion of the rumble feature drains batteries at an even more rapid rate, which could create issues during extending gaming sessions.

The real issue seems to be how to deal with public relations in regards to the release of a new Six Axis controller. After claiming rumble was an unnecesary feature for so long, Sony may have a hard time trying to reintegrate rumble into the Six Axis. Also an issue is what to do in regards to those who already have a Six Axis controller. The new Six Axis with rumble included will almost definately become the standard PS3 controller, and this could cause hard feelings with the early adopters of the PS3, especially those who have purchased multiple Six Axis controllers already. At $25 a piece, thats quite a chunk of change.

Regardless, its great news that the rumble feature will finally make it back into the PS3. No doubt, both gamers and programmers will be pleased with this news.