PlayStation: The Return of Force Feedback

Tokyo (Japan) – Sony made a surprise announcement today, saying that it will introduce an new PS3 controller with rumble feature in spring of next year.

Called Dualshock 3, the new controller will re-introduce the vibration functionality to the Playstation controller – a feature that had disappeared with the introduction of the Playstation 3 and the motion sensitive "Sixaxis" controller. According to Sony, the Dualshock 3 will get "the basic design and functionality of the popular PlayStation(R) controller, while keeping the high-precision, high response motion sensitive six-axis sensing system."

Sony has listed 70 game titles for North America and Europe that will be support the Rumblepack initially. These titles include Biohazard 5, Turok, FIFA, Metal Gear Solid 4, Unreal Tournament 3, Condemned 2, EchoChrome, F1 Championship Edition, Heavenly Sword, MLB 08 : The Show, Resistance : Fall of Man, SOCOM : Confrontation, Warhawk, Wipeout HD, NBA 2K8, Assassin’s Creed, Beowulf, Haze, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 and The Chronicles of Riddick : Assault on Dark Athena.

Sony told us ahead of the introduction of the PS3 that the vibration feature of the Dualshock controller would interfere with the motion sensing ability of the Sixaxis controller and therefore was abandoned by the company. The vibration functionality was also at the center of a five-year patent infringement suit filed by Immersion against Sony, which was indicated to cost Sony up to $152 million.

Sony and Immersion resolved their patent dispute in March of this year. Back then, the two companies also said that they had “entered into a new business agreement to explore the inclusion of Immersion technology in Playstation format products.” Judging from today’s announcement, the agreement apparently is bearing fruit.