The courts fuck Sony over (I sent them a thank-you note)
 

http://www.joystiq.com/2006/03/13/so...ock-uncertain/

Just to bring you up to speed: Immersion, a company specializing in haptic technology, in 2003 sued both Sony and Microsoft for patent infringement, claiming both companies used Immersion's intellectual property (IP) in their console's controllers. Microsoft settled out of court (buying a share of Immersion in the process), but Sony fought on. Sony lost, and the judge ruled that Sony must suspend the sale of "Playstation consoles, Dualshock controllers," and a few dozen games, including Vice City, Final Fantasy X, and Metal Gear Solid 2. Sony filed for appeal, and has been allowed to sell all aforementioned products while the decision is under appeal.

The Wall Street Journal this morning reports that a federal judge rejected Sony's appeal and upheld the earlier decision (which also includes a $90.7 million payment by Sony to Immersion). Sony argued that Craig Thorner, a former paid consultant to Immersion, submitted testimony on Sony's behalf. However, US District Judge Claudia Wilken noted that Thorner was an "unreliable" witness, citing "strong evidence" that suggest Thorner's testimony was directly affected by the $150,000 Sony had paid him as "advance royalty" to license Thorner's patents in the future.

It seems very ridiculous that Sony would have to halt production on its flagship console, as well as most of the company's best-selling titles, but that may very well be the case here. Could this be a reason for Sony's (conceptual) "boomerang" PS3 controller? If the PlayStation 3 cannot utilize its force feedback technology from the past, how is this going to affect backwards compatibility? Chalk this up as another issue for Sony, alongside Cell processor issues, Blu-ray issues, delay rumors, and more than a few ad campaigns that have backfired.


Which is worse? Stealing technology and making millions of dollars off the theft, or bribing someone to lie in court so you don't have to pay even a portion of that money back to the rightful owner?

This isn't as clear-cut as it looks. Don't jump to conclusions. Sony are not the villain here. I'll be pissed off as hell if this leads to an end to PS2s and controllers. I ain't done with that system yet.

Me personally, I think I'd get a good laugh if that all really happened. But on a similar note, are there some other sources that confirm this? I tried the WSJ web site but you have to be a subscriber in order to access their full articles. :annoyed:

If I remember correctly, no game REQUIRES the controller to vibrate, so who cares.

Very interesting. Considering games are a multi-billion $ industry, if I was Sony I would seriously have considered cutting my losses and moving on...

This case is pretty old. The company sued both Microsoft and Sony for "stealing" their rumble device, but Microsoft settled with Immersion out of court and bought a nice portion of their stock. Sony, arrogant as usual, fought on. So not only did they steal the rumble technology, but they also bribed their witness. Without the bribery, Sony may have been able to get away with this case....

My point being, when will Sony learn to stop playing cheap tricks? Graffiti ads aren't very smart either, but...

You know that other companies using the rumble-function too. Did they get sued?

I like how these morons cited this as the reason for the Boomerange controller. Hey assholes, they weren't sued for the controller design!

Does the banana control really still stand as the PS3 control? Surely even Sony can see how unattractive that design is.

Tell me if I'm wrong, but I heard the dualshock PS2 controllers could be used for the PS3? >_> Oh wait.

Just wait til third parties make Dualshock clones for PS3, no biggy.

Anything is better than the Dual Shock, I welcome Chang 3.

Excellent news.

They can now move the Ace Combat series to 360. I'm lovin' it.

Only Microsoft and Sony were sued. Nintendo apparently made their own rumble feature instead of "stealing" it (I don't know how accurate the claim was, but Sony...). Microsoft, as I said, settled out of court, but Sony chose to go on... and bribed their witness.

They should just make their own method. It wouldn't be too hard to find a different (and possibly) better method than having spinning motors at the bottom of the PS2 controllers.

How many people actually use the rumble feature? It was fun in Lylat, er, I mean, Starfox 64, but I find it just annoying in horror games/etc.

Rumbling is a tack-on feature in most cases. In fact in Crash Team Racing, the force feedback distracts me so much I turn it off. The problem with most games is they make it too big, do subtle rumblng well and big rumbling when appropriate. Sony should just drop rumble features if it's not willing to pony up the money to settle.

Ug, people please get your facts straight here. This isn't a demand that Sony stops selling the Dual Shock controller or for them to remove the vibration function. Immersion is seeking $30 million in licensing fees monthly which would (in their eyes) make the use of the Dual Shock technology by Sony legal.

$30 million dollars both is and is not a lot of money. It's enough for Sony to attempt to fight, but if they do end up having to pay it, the effects of the lawsuit will be minimal when compared to the scope of Sony's entire Playstation division. Whatever happens, it will have zero effect on the consumer. This is an internal situation that wouldn't have even been made public if it wasn't for nosy journalist.

Trust me, if Sony ends up paying, the consumer will too. This is big business after all... ;)

Haven't we already? $25 more than covers the cost to manufature a Dualshock 2 (and an 8MB Memory card, I picked up my 256MB USB stick for the same price).

sega.co.jp: The force feeback on my #1 I/O port burned out years ago, and in all honesty, I don't really miss it. Horror games are more immersive without it (it reminds me that I'm playing a game) and in RPGs it just feels out of place. The only time it fits in is in some action or shooter games, and I play few enough of those that I usually don't even notice it's gone.

They should have settled like Microsoft. It would've cost them less in the long run. Serves them right.

No way. The amount of Dual Shocks sold compared to X-Box controllers is way higher. They want Sony to pay $90 million where they only demanded $14 million from Microsoft. The amount of hardware Sony sells monthly compared to Microsoft is also way higher, thus Sony would be paying out way more in licensing fees.

That $90 million is what the court ordered Sony to pay. Not what Immersion would have been willing to settle for.

I don't agree with you. In racing games I belive force feedback makes you feel a lot more in the race. In Survival Horros it's a tiny thing more to get you scared, but that tiny thing sometimes can make you jump out off the chair.

Of course in RPGs it just doesn't matter much if it's on or off, but there are rare cases like in Star Ocean Till The End Of Time when we used a floute and the vibration was needed to figure out the puzzle.

On the long run, I just hope we don't have to pay more than $5 for this court play of SONY.