Immersion Corporation, which has been warring in the courts with Sony over Immersion's game controller rumble patent, has granted third-party peripheral company eDimensional a patent license for advanced vibro-tactile, spinning-mass gaming technologies for use in PC and PlayStation and PlayStation 2 gaming peripherals.
eDimensional will include Immersion's TouchSense tactile feedback technology alongside its virtual reality motion-sensing found in the upcoming G-Pad Pro Gyroscopic Game Pad designed for use with a PC or PlayStation 2, a particularly interesting move given recent Sony statements regarding why the PlayStation 3 controller lacks rumble.
Sony commented, on the E3 revealing of its new controller, that the firm had opted not to include a rumble feature the PlayStation 3 controller due to hardware interference caused by its gyroscopic controls, something that Immersion and eDimensional have apparently overcome to some degree with this third-party controller deal.
Prodding Sony, and clearly hinting that
the longrunning PlayStation 2 controller litigation was the true reason for the PS3 lacking rumble, a
recent Gamasutra-conducted interview with Immersion Corporation president Victor Viegas saw Viegas indicating that, should Sony accept the current the current litigation, Immersion could help to re-introduce force-feedback into its controllers.
