Typo: vibration function cited in PS3's NBA 2K7 booklet

by James Ransom-Wiley { Jan 3rd 2007 at 1:55AM }

Keen eyes have spotted this careless passage published in the PlayStation 3 version of the NBA 2K7 instruction booklet: "Once you start feeling your heart rate pumping (via controller vibration), you'll be ready to begin! Shooting free throws in 24/7: NEXT is just like shooting free throws in a normal quick game" (page 15). The rumble citation is an amusing relic of pre-Sixaxis days when the manual's authors must have assumed (or were told) the final PS3 controller would feature a standard vibration function. Guess 2K Games didn't bother to hire a knowledgeable copy editor.

Please, let's not assume this means PS3 games have 'hidden' vibration features. A typo's a typo. And PS3 launch titles won't be a'rumblin.

[Thanks, Xenokai]

Tags: 2K Sports, 2kSports, Basketball, Booklet, Instructions, Manual, NBA 2K7, Nba2k7, PS3, Rumble, Sixaxis, Vibrate, Vibration, Visual Concepts, VisualConcepts

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Simon @ Jan 3rd 2007 2:05AM

This isn't really PS3 specific.

The Take Two sports games have a tradition of some of the most inaccurate game manuals I've ever seen. The last two years the 360 version manuals have routinely left out important controls or listed controls for specific features backward.

I think the manuals are all just rehashes of old stuff from versions from years earlier.

Negativecool @ Jan 3rd 2007 2:10AM

If Kojima, Square-Enix, and Polyphony digital told Ken they wouldn't have a completed product of Sony's most important franchises without rumble, Kutaragi would turn to the engineers and say "make it so."

I swear someone should make a Youtube video of just the SIXAXIS to Marky Mark's "Feel the vibration."

Steve2 @ Jan 3rd 2007 3:31AM

If the game would really vibrate the controller just to indicate "your heart rate is pumping", then that's a great example of why I don't miss rumble much.

Both motion sensing and rumble are features that are only good for anything when used well, and are rarely used well. For every game that thinks that you should have to tilt the controller "to get that last bit of turn" (as in Need for Speed Carbon on PS3), there's another that rumbles the controller for an entire auto race just to indicate your engine is running.

I know my engine is running, that's why my car is doing 120mph and not 0mph.

Sidepocket @ Jan 3rd 2007 3:30AM

@ Negativecool

Not if Immersion and there Copywright Lawers have anything to say about it. ;D

Tim @ Jan 3rd 2007 4:06AM

@Steve2 #4: Rumble is nice when you go off the track, or when you fire your gun. It's nice for "surprise" moments in the game for that little bit extra. I'm not saying a loud noise, a bright flash, and a monster crashing through the wall sucks without rumble, I'm just saying it's a little better when you have it.

And in the case of the Wii, I forget if it rumbles when it's your turn in Wii Sports, or if the controller just makes a noise, but for some reason I think it's both. And I have to say that's a neat use for it too.

Azerael @ Jan 3rd 2007 4:36AM

Rumble can add a lot to games. In Gears of War they do a really good job with it.

If you put Gears on the PS3 it would feel awfully lifeless.

saboola @ Jan 3rd 2007 7:59AM

Anyone trying to come up with a reason why it was a "good" thing sony took out rumble on the PS3 is just blind. Period. For christs sake, after 600 dollars you cant add a 30 cent motor to your controllers? Lame.

sploy @ Jan 3rd 2007 8:37AM

If the Wii controller has rumble, and the 360 controller has rumble, then why can't a console which costs as much as the other two combined have rumble?

FrankTheCrank @ Jan 3rd 2007 9:05AM

This is unbelievable!!!

I am so pissed about this!!!

I'm taking my PS3 back to the store right now!

32_Footsteps @ Jan 3rd 2007 9:24AM

"If the Wii controller has rumble, and the 360 controller has rumble, then why can't a console which costs as much as the other two combined have rumble?"

Because they don't have any rights to any patented rumble technology. In order to have rumble, they'd have to do one of three things.

1) License it from Immersion (like Microsoft does)
2) License it from Nintendo
3) Engineer their own method that isn't already patented

#2 is never happening, #3 might not be possible, and Sony is too stubborn to admit they're wrong (which is what would need to happen to do #1). So we're not going to see rumble in the PS3 for a long while.

swoosh bnd @ Jan 3rd 2007 9:53AM

In the Xbox version of NBA 2K3, they said to use your Playstation 2 memory unit or something like that.

nerfgun @ Jan 3rd 2007 10:14AM

Rumble is nice, but a whole other input method (the MEMS stuff) is much, much nicer. It is a 'controller' after all, the focus should always be on added control.

Besides if it meant any drain in battery - which it definitely would (ahem*Wiimote*ahem), then its not worth it.

ackmondual @ Jan 3rd 2007 11:17AM

when making vid games, I'm sure they have other priorities bef catching typos (micro-transactions anyone? Heck, for a nominal fee, you can have the updated manual sent to you).

@ #12
Give it up. Battery techonology has improved enough that rumble and motion sensing aren't major concerns to battery life.

Steve2 @ Jan 3rd 2007 12:31PM

I wasn't trying to come up with reasons why removing rumble is a good thing. Just why, despite it being gone, I'm not sad about it. Would I rather have it? Yep. I'd rather the 360 supported Bluetooth too so that I could use my wireless headset on it like I do on the PS3. Even though the 360 doesn't do something that I want, it doesn't mean I no longer like the 360.

Again, I was pointing out that most of the time, rumble adds nothing. To be honest, I barely feel it I think I grip the controller too loosely or something. A friend told me how cool it was that the Wiimote rumbles as you pick letters while putting in text on the Wii. I told him he was crazy, that it doesn't do that. Except it does, I tried it again after he said it, and he's right, I just don't usually notice it.

I know there are legit things rumble can do that you can't do without it, something to do with sports games and selecting plays without the other person knowing. So I know there is a reason for rumble.

But I also know there are plenty of things motion sensing can do that you can't do without it. Wiisports is an example of that. It's just most developers aren't on the ball about it.

ackmondual:
Do you have a Wii? I can't believe you'd try to refute comments about poor Wiimote battery life. I've used more AA batteries since I got my Wii before Thanksgiving than I've used in the last 3 years. It's a freakin' battery hog.

I played the Wii and PS3 about equally (360 a bit more) since 12/1 (when I got the PS3). I actually played all 3 consoles on a rotating daily schedule, so they got about the same playtime. I've replaced the Wiimote batteries about 4 or 5 times, I've recharged my 360 controller twice, and yet after the first charge, I've never recharged the SIXAXIS, and it just dropped from 2 bars to 1 in my last gaming session.

Running a motor is something that does take a lot of power. And batteries, rechargeable or no are not very beefy. It's reduction in power usage of the electronics that has made battery life so long. But running a motor (rumble) is actually accomplishing work, you are moving a weight a certain distance at a certain rate. It's just going to take a certain amount of energy to do it and that means it's going to take that same amount of energy (plus efficiency loss) to drive the motor.

As an additional note, alkaline batteries have a lot of power in them. The battery in the SIXAXIS probably contains less energy than the two AAs in the Wiimote, and yet the SIXAXIS has 4X the battery life. So something in the Wiimote is taking a lot of power. A lot more than the Wavebird, which had battery life so long, that among 4 Wavebirds, I've only ever replaced batteries in any of them three times. And that's over many many years.

To be honest, the Wiimote battery chewing up and spitting out AAs like candy is a black mark on Nintendo's name. They're supposed to be the good guys, and to make a device that is that wasteful and then to say in the manual "do not use NiMH batteries in the Wiimote" is ridiculuos.

Jackson Pritt @ Jan 3rd 2007 1:57PM

People who complain about the Wiimote's batter life issues either don't have a Wii and are just repeating nonsense they've heard from other people, or they're using crappy off-brand batteries that aren't designed to be used in high-drain electronics. I just recently killed my batteries that CAME WITH THE WII after several weeks, and after replacing them with some rechargeable AAs (2800 mAh) that I had laying around from one of my old digital cameras. Easy-peasy, and I won't be buying any more batteries for my Wii ever.

Stop bitching about AA battery life and buy some reasonably good rechargeable ones. You can get a set of 4 2800 mAh AA batteries & charger for about $25.

bet0n @ Jan 4th 2007 8:18AM

#14:

1) Hmmm... You say you've changed AA's in WiiMote 4 to 5 times? I've played exactly 10 hours of Zelda + about 10 hours of WiiSports + WiiPlay + about 10 hours of other activity (like bomberman, web browsing etc.) - let's assume that makes 30 hrs of gameplay total. Let's say now you've changed batteries 4 times 4x30 = 120 hrs. Let's multiply this by all 3 consoles you have... That adds up to 360hrs of total play. And that gives us over 10 hrs of gameplay per day. All month round. Who can stand that? :) Really, either:

1) you don't play all consoles equally, perhaps wii is on the hard side
2) you're using some crap alkaline batteries
3) you didn't change them 4 or 5 times...

The next thing is, alkaline AAs are really poor in performance compared to NiMH and LiIon, so you should rather say, wiimote has only fraction of other controllers battery power AND manages to stand quite a bunch of hours.

Next thing, MANY manuals like to say 'don't use NiMH batteries'. Right now i'm powering both my wiimotes with NiMH - no problem there. They hold more power than alkaline. And you can always switch to NiCd (manual doesn't say about them AFAIK). Anyway, both types of rechargables are:

1) widely available
2) really cheap

If you use your cellphone, probably you charge it every 3 - 7 days. What's the deal in charging some AA's? And - yes - you can have SPARE AA's (even alkaline, not rechargable), so when they drop during a game (like mine did), you can swap & continue :)

Now: tell me how do you replace for example PS3's rechargable when it eventually wears after 2 - 4 years? Because it would. For now AFAIK the answer is: you can't. And even when you finally can, how much would that be?

And one thing more: if this power drainage is so annoying and caused by vibrations, just go into wii menu and turn vibrations off. Yes, you can also turn down wiimote's volume (so that speakers don't take energy also)....

Well, summing this all I say: everything has ups and downs, but if I were to judge, Wiimote is definately on the positive side.

So, you still think rumble is not neccessary. Well, you're right. And, well, we can live without analog controls, can't we? We can live with one fire button. We can, can't we? Those gadgets add just some gimmick features, don't they? :)

THERE'S NOTHING COOL WITH HAVING NO VIBRATIONS. Really. No *real* positives. They HAD TO remove this. They're too proud to say they screwed up. And they make you believe motion detection INSTEAD of rumble is good. Hell, no.

PS: the subtle vibrations on wiimote with onscreen keyboard and opera links: THEY ROCK :) kudos to anybody there who did this

nick @ Jan 3rd 2007 2:50PM

just fart real hard into your couch when you make a basket... that's sorta like rumble anyway... close as you'll get with PS3.

Lekko @ Jan 3rd 2007 4:11PM

#15 - Jackson Pritt -

That's actually why a lot of 'news' still flies with the PS3. I run into people today who still think that BD discs can only be used in one system, or people that think they are not backwards compatible at all. Lack of people having the system makes it easier for FUD to fly about.

#16- nick -

Actually, I just turn up my subwoofer to get that low frequency effect and the games tend to rumble my entire house. Kinda works the same way.

Also: from personal experience I do like what motion adds to an otherwise standard game. Granted, motion and rumble would be better, but of the two I'm starting to like motion more. The first time I was playing Resistance, I forgot about what to do when an alien grabbed onto my face, I was all cozy on my couch when I remembered and had to start litterally fighting it off by shaking the controller. That actually got me way more involved in the game than a simple rumble. Now the issue is how to implement it in more games.