Sony's president worldwide, Phil Harrison, says that 'Rumble is a Last Generation Feature'

Feb 27, 2007 07:40 GMT  ·  By

Here's a rather surprising statement for you: according to Sony's president of worldwide studios Phil Harrison, who spoke to GameDaily about the PS3's controller, the Sixaxis didn't include rumbling support at launch, not because there was a lawsuit concerning patent rights, but because the console has to keep up with the times, the tilting being a "last generation feature." Wow, you could have fooled me!

Harrison's exact words were: "I believe that the Sixaxis controller offers game designers and developers far more opportunity for future innovation than rumble ever did. Now, rumble I think was the last generation feature; it's not the next-generation feature. I think motion sensitivity is." So let's get this straight. Rumble is not fashionable anymore, right? I can already hear them spoiled teenagers complaining: "hey, this sucks, I actually have to press a button to steer the plane, and this vibration thing, it distracts me! This blows!"

Really now, does that happen? Continuing with his comment, Harrison said: "Having said that, there will be specific game function controllers, potentially like steering wheels that do include vibration or feedback function-not from us but from third parties." So then, it's not good enough to have it now, but then again why not include this feature too, later on? Looks like Sony's spokesmen should really get it together, otherwise they'll lose whatever credibility they still have, if they have any for that matter.