Sunday, June 15, 2008

Sony is working on a new game controller for Play Station 3

For its next generation gaming console, PlayStation 3, Sony is now developing a new type of controller. According to news reports, the new controller is inspired by the design of Wiimote game controller. This new controller can be broken into two units, each having their own accelerometer. Video Game blog, Kotaku, denied the rumor and said that Sony is going to create a new device which can be attached to the gamer’s body. Kotaku received news from an unmanned source which said that the new device will consist of four/five parts that will be attached with gamer’s body to move the characters. However, Sony did not comment on the rumors. This April, Sony launched its DualShock 3 controller with rumble capabilities in the USA which was announced by Kazuo Hirai, CEO, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. in the 2007 Tokyo Game Show. eFluxMedia reports:

Initially, Sony claimed that rumble capabilities are not “next-gen” features, but one of the main reasons for which Sony did not include rumble features into the current SIXAXIS controllers for PlayStation 3 was the patent lawsuit filed by Immersion, which owns the intellectual property over some key aspects of the technology integrated in PS2’s DualShock controllers.

After settling the lawsuit with Immersion in March 2007, Sony was quick to announce DualShock 3 that went on sale in Japan in November last year as a separately sold accessory. The non-rumbling motion-sensing SIXAXIS controller has been discontinued.
Two months ago there were some rumors that Microsoft is also working to develop a Wii-like controller for its Xbox 360.

The new controller, code-named Newton will have a design similar to that of Wii remote and include a four face buttons, an analog stick, a microphone and a gyroscope sensor to detect tilt and motion.

Related article:
eFluxMedia

0 comments: