Revolutionary rumble for Sixaxis

The upcoming rumble-enabled edition of PS3's Sixaxis controller will feature a brand new feedback technology called "touchsense." It'll mean that the pad won't just rumble as per usual, instead Sixaxis will be able to output a variety of levels of feedback from several different points on the controller.

The new technology can create more powerful and more intense rumblings than any other pad. It will be possible for developers to create more subtle and appropriate feedback effects - the sharp kick of a bullet, say, or a slow increase in feedback while accelerating a race car.

Fortunately, touchsense isn't going to send the price of Sixaxis rocketing. It's unclear whether Sony plans to have two versions of the controller on sale - one with rumble, one without - but, according to the French Official PlayStation Magazine who revealed the new tech, the cost of including feedback will only cause a slight rise in the retail price of the controller.

July 5, 2007

Ben Richardson is a former Staff Writer for Official PlayStation 2 magazine and a former Content Editor of GamesRadar+. In the years since Ben left GR, he has worked as a columnist, communications officer, charity coach, and podcast host – but we still look back to his news stories from time to time, they are a window into a different era of video games.