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It's been more than two years since Immersion and Sony settled their kerfluffle over the latter party's infringement on the former's "haptic feedback" (rumble) technology. However, Sony's not quite out of the woods yet -- it's currently the subject of yet another civil suit, filed this time by Craig Thorner, an engineer who also held a number of patents relating to haptic feedback.

Brace yourselves -- this gets confusing. After its settlement with Sony, Immersion was set to take on Performance Designed Products (PDP) for similar rumble-yoinking reasons. PDP contacted Thorner for some pre-litigious preparation. They negotiated terms for the licensing of his patents -- though Thorner used the same lawyers who represented Sony to help with said negotiation. His complaint is that these lawyers got him unfavorable results in the negotiation, including low royalty payments, and the inclusion of a provision that would grant a patent license to Sony.

So, technically, Sony's getting sued for patent infringement and legal malpractice. Hopefully, no suspected shady dealings will go down in this case. We'd hate to see Sony get stuck in some sort of inescapable infinite lawsuit loop.

Update: Turns out we've already turned your attention to this intense legal showdown. Consider this a helpful accidental reminder!

OK, you know we have little tolerance for anything that's more legally demanding than Phoenix Wright, so just try to hang in there with us. Inventor Craig Thorner has filed suit against Sony, saying that the company and a handful of lawyers tricked him out of some money he could have received for patents he owned on rumble technology.

To put it as simply as possible: Thorner had some patents that both Sony and Immersion tried to get during their legal squabbling. Thinking it might net him some cash, Thorner licensed his patents to Immersion, which won its case against Sony. Immersion then went after PDP/Electro Source, which also licensed Thorner's patents after he believed his deal with Immersion expired. But (stick with us!) Sony and PDP/Electro Source had teamed up, and Thorner alleges that he wasn't informed of the deal, which made him license his patents to PDP for much less than he could have had he known (that's the "tricked him out of cash" part).

God, that was exhausting. If you want even more detail (if not necessarily a better understanding) of the case you can read GamePolitics' full piece here.

Microsoft has won its claim against rumble licensor Immersion Corp., receiving $20.75 million from the company, Reuters reports. The particulars of the case revolve around a 2003 sub-licensing agreement between the two companies in which Microsoft was entitled to a portion of the cash that Immersion eventually settled on in its case against Sony.

It appears that everything is now ship-shake between all the corporations involved and we can continue enjoying the jiggles we get from our controllers.

Source -- Payback Time: Immersion To Pay $20.75 Million To Microsoft (Efluxmedia)
Source -- Immersion settles suit with Microsoft (Reuters)

[Thanks, laserboyjc]

Okay, it's kind of hard to figure out exactly what the Inscape software is -- the website describes it as "a unique integrating collaborative tool supporting a wide range of devices and media formats to enable digital content creators to plan, build, experience and publish interactive multimedia stories." We think it's software that allows you to import content and build an interactive framework for presenting it. We're imagining a PowerPoint with more stuff to do in the presentations, basically. Which means that it could be used for anything from visual novels to self-guided presentations to games.

Immersion, who is part of the consortium that works on InScape, has now added a Balance Board interface to the software, enabling whatever these interactive stories are to maintain a new level of, well, immersion. It's cool to see our little toy scale being used in what seems like a serious program. And it's especially cool to see any program "officially" supporting a Wii peripheral.

We'll be the first to admit it -- we don't listen to most DS games. Unless the music and effects are really great (or essential), we've usually got the sound turned down, and rarely break out headphones. Oddly, we often treat console games the opposite, listening to the music or sounds whether or not they're compelling. Maybe it's just too easy to relax with the iPod while spending time with the DS, or maybe DS games just aren't always as immersive (there can be drawbacks to short-burst gaming, after all). Do you do the same? Fill us in.

While the announcement that Sony would finally bring the DualShock 3 to the PS3 excited us all, we couldn't help but feel a little underwhelmed when we realized the controller would utilize the same rumble technology found in the DualShock 2.

However, if Immersion CEO Vic Viegas has his way, the DualShock 3 will be just the first-generation rumble controller for the PS3. "Immersion is very motivated and very interested in working with [Sony] to bring the next generation of gaming technology because the gamers deserve a full, immersive environment where you can match high-fidelity graphics and sound with high-quality haptics," he said. "We're hoping [the DualShock 3] will be just the first step towards integrating the next-generation technology."

What makes this prospective upgrade even more plausible is the fact that Viegas says the upgrade will actually be cheaper since the old technology uses two motors, while Immersion's TouchSense technology only needs one to achieve better results. "Immersion is already committed that we won't charge anything extra for the next technology. We have a standard royalty rate ... we don't want to make this more expensive and give anyone a reason not to implement it," Viegas said.

Immersion CEO Vic Viegas says in an interview with GameDaily that he doesn't understand why Sony decided to put the DualShock 2's rumble technology into the DualShock 3, considering he believes the new next-gen rumble technology is cheaper. Viegas says, "The old technology utilizes two motors to create the complex set of sensations, whereas Immersion's new TouchSense technology utilizes a single motor, but we drive the motor in unique ways so that you can get stronger yet crisper effects." He says the one motor uses less power, "the cost to implement is less expensive than the old tech" and he says they won't charge Sony extra.

Viegas also talked a little about handhelds and implementing rumble into the DS or PSP. Currently Nintendo does not license its vibration tech from Immersion and may be working on their own ways of bringing rumble to the DS. As to whether Immersion might sue Nintendo one day like they did Sony, Viegas says, "We have not yet formally taken a position on whether it's infringing or not infringing any of our IP." Then again, if Nintendo can afford $18 million in Wiimote jackets, licensing some next-gen rumble might be an afterthought for them.

At their Tokyo Game Show press conference today, Sony finally revealed how the PS3 got its groove back. Kaz Hirai announced that the DualShock 3 -- a Sixaxis controller with rumble -- will be out this November in Japan and Spring 2008 everywhere else.

Future games, such as Metal Gear Solid 4, will incorporate rumble technology, while older titles can enable rumble through software updates. No price has been given, nor was there any discussion on whether the Sixaxis would be phased out.

In one of the weirder twists in the Sony/Immersion saga, Microsoft has sued Immersion, claiming breach of contract over their settlement with Sony. According to the lawsuit, Microsoft is owed a certain amount of the money that Sony paid Immersion earlier this year to settle the long running force-feedback lawsuit. And not a small amount of money either, as explained by Immersion in their rebuttal to Microsoft's claims:

"Immersion is obligated to pay Microsoft a minimum of $15.0 million for any amounts received from Sony up to $100.0 million, plus 25% of any amounts over $100.0 million up to $150.0 million, and 17.5% of any amounts over $150.0 million."

In addition, Microsoft also wants Immersion to pay a variety of other fees including damages and attorney fees. Immersion feels rather strongly that they shouldn't have to pay though and say they are willing to fight it, so it looks like they're going back to court. And considering it took them four years to finish the lawsuit with Sony, it doesn't bode well that this will be a quick trial. What's next? Nintendo sues Microsoft for suing Immersion over suing Sony?

Haptic technology developer Immersion has been sued by Microsoft for not following through with their end of an agreement that settled a lawsuit originally filed by Immersion towards the Xbox 360 maker back in 2003. Funny how things come full circle.

Microsoft cited a portion of the agreement where Immersion was to pay the company "based on certain business and IP licensing arrangements" but has not done so. The original agreement had Microsoft paying $26 million for licensing rights and a stake in the company.

Immersion is probably best known in the video game industry for its lawsuits against Sony over patents based on their force feedback technology. Though Microsoft settled, Sony fought it and lost, eventually paying over $90 million to the patent holder.

Sources close to Inner Bits reportedly tell them that Sony unsurprisingly has been working for the past few months on engineering the Sixaxis controller to shake and rattle (it already rolls). The problem currently lies with battery life.

"Between the rumble and the wireless support, the batteries are draining too fast to be acceptable for consumers," said the report. The project has been going on for months and Inner Bits believe (as do we) that Sony will manage to find an efficient solution.

One point the report brings up is Sony public relations, as they have in the past cited rumble as "not next-gen" (pending a now-settled Immersion lawsuit) and then getting those who already have rumble-less Sixaxis pads to upgrade. Rumble has rarely been used as an integral feature to gameplay (one exception includes finding hidden objects in Psychonauts).

[Via PS3 Fanboy]

The latest issue of PlayStation Magazine, according to a member over at the GameFAQs forum, the instigation of a rumbling Sixaxis may come sooner than expected. Ever since the lawsuit and all the hubbub with Immersion simmered down, everybody has been waiting for an announcement about rumble's "last-gen" technology making a comeback.

It seems the wait will not be as long as we expected. Even though Sony's talking heads dodge the question like its a flaming shuriken, a rumble-axis has been in the works for a bit and will be announced at the upcoming E3 event, followed by the announcement that a release will be scheduled for the redesigned controller for mid-November. Tilting and rumbling? We can't wait. We wonder, though -- will older PS3 games be able to update their software to include rumble technology?

[via Joystiq]

According to a GameFAQs forum member, the latest issue of PSM revives the PS3 Sixaxis rumble rumors, hinting once again that Sony could integrate the "last-gen feature" into upcoming controllers. According to the magazine's rumor section, Sony will announce rumble support at E3 for a release in mid-November. The re-designed controller will allow both tilting and rumble, united at long last thanks to the settled courtroom battle between Sony and Immersion.

Keeping with the palindrome name of SIXAXIS, we'd like to invite you guys to think up a palindrome for a PlayStation 3 controller that rumbles. Let's see... RUMBLBMUR? Terrible. That's my offering. Anyway, Sony and Immersion are officially in chats to discuss how to incorporate their technology into the SIXAXIS and other such peripherals.

This is coming from Sony PR honcho Dave Karraker, who replied to some curious people on a Killzone fansite. Asking about rumble and whatever, Karraker responded thus: "We are currently in discussions with Immersion on how we can incorporate their technologies into our products. No word on when that will happen." By "no word" we are of course going to take that as "announcement coming soon. E3? TGS? Sure." Thoughts?

The whole Sony and Immersion battle royale (so to speak... no schoolchildren were killing each other to our knowledge) has ended. Rumble is most likely on its way. What'll happen to the old SIXAXES (plural... even though technically it doesn't work since it's an acronym, probably)? What'll happen to the old games that didn't have rumble built in originally? Whatever! That's not important. What we really want to know is what truly went down in the courthouse.

So, the whole rumble lawsuit (where Sony was found guilty of using Immersion's patented technology in the PS-One and PS2) ended with a final settlement of $150.3 million dollars. Not satisfied with the settlement, Sony went the extra mile and licensed Immersion's technology to $22.5 million dollars. That's a good chunk of change in total, but will it be worth it? We'll find out when we see how rumble and tilt will work together. It'll be neat to have the controller rumble if you're tilting the wrong way in a game like Warhawk -- if you're getting drag on the left wing or something, the left side of the controller rumbles as you tilt it that way. So many options. Thoughts?