SplitFish MotionFX lets your PS2 controller best the SIXAXIS

Gee, Sony, we're a bit confused now why you found the combination of motion sensing and rumble so difficult. It looks like it took SplitFish a bit of effort, but 4 patents later and they've got their new MotionFX adapter, which clips onto a regular 'ol PS2 or PS1 controller and allows for motion-based control, without disabling that fancy rumble feature we've heard so much about. Could it be you were just in such a rush to tack on rumble, with Wii breathing down your neck? Or was it that pesky lawsuit? We're just curious, is all. A MotionFX will cost you guys $39.99, and should be available in stores now, just in case you wanted to check one out.

[Smoke_Dawg_187 @ Dec 13th 2006 1:39AM]

I don't own a PS2, but what games would work with it?

I think the whole motion thing is over-hyped Nintendo PR BS.

[Logrithmic @ Dec 13th 2006 7:18AM]

What games would you use it with?

[7of7 @ Dec 13th 2006 7:21AM]

The motion thing is definitely over hyped Nintendo BS. How else would they get away with selling repainted Gamecubes for $250? Also, how much mocking of Sony would've taken place if Sony had come out with the atrocity pictured above? How many lawsuits would they face?

[Marc Daniels @ Dec 13th 2006 7:23AM]

Hey Paul Miller,

I know you make a lot of posts but this and the EVDO/EDGE Sprint/Cingular weren't too great.

The whole it can rumble and tilt thing has been done, and done far better -

This is a link to a post that has a video from Playstation Magazine of an editor playing PS1 Warhawk (1995) with a Pelican Tilt Master 2 (1999) controller tilting and rumbling

http://www.xbox360fanboy.com/2006/06/24/revolutionary-ps3-controller-used-to-rumble-in-1999/

If you're going to bring that up - you gotta throw it back

[Keef @ Dec 13th 2006 7:26AM]

race games............ errrrrrrrrrrrr, n others i spose.....

depends if u can map what movments do what...

[Bob @ Dec 13th 2006 7:34AM]

Seriously Paul, many of your recent post have been a tad, lets say disgruntled. Perhaps you just need a vacation, you have been posting a lot. Shoot we have all been there, so no hard feelings or anything.

[NHAnimator @ Dec 13th 2006 8:03AM]

My understanding of the issue was that the rumbling itself, as minor as it is, is enough to disrupt (or cause misreadings by) the tilt sensors. Any truth to that?

[Thomas @ Dec 13th 2006 8:47AM]

Rumble does disrupt tilt, however, companys like Nintendo and immersion simply got over it by having the rumble at a predictable frequency and subtracting it from the sensor data.

Either sony was too incompetant to do the same, or it was a rushed, tacked on, last minute job.
They should have just swallowed their pride and lisenced Immersions corp's technology. (which is actualy pretty darn good). PS3 fans could then have had motion sensing and rumble.

That said, the whole shape of the PS3 pad is wrong for motion sensing anyway.
Good for racing games, true, but useless for precision aiming, or using as a sports bat. And of course, boxing is right out.

I get the impression ps3 fans our going to try out a game like Warhawk, decided motion sensing is crap, and then laugh at Nintendo. Rather then see its sonys implimentation that is flawed, not the concept.

[Andir3.0 @ Dec 13th 2006 8:58AM]

Actually, I've used the motion sensing in the PS3 for the games I have so far and it doesn't feel tacked on or cheap to me at all. My only complaint so far is the game's lack of sensitivity settings for it, but that's a developer thing. That's just me. Since I don't have a flashy website, my credibility with the 360 and Wii fans counts for nothing.

[Earl @ Dec 13th 2006 9:14AM]

I love to see people say motion sensing is a PR "gimmick." Honestly, how are games supposed to get more realistic? Do you really see "button mashing" as the end-all, be-all to a "more realistic" game? Everyone is going to say "better graphics" will make games more "real." Which is true on the visual aspect of gaming. At the same time the method in which we interact with games is MORE IMPORTANT. Don't believe me? Imagine playing 3-D games with the D-Pad alone. Imagine Nintendo never brought the analog stick to the N64 controller. I don't have to imagine this cause I remember playing PS1 games before the dual-shock. I could never go back to the D-Pad for 3-D games.
The motion sensor may be a "gimmick" now, but will be standard on future consoles.

As for this rumble in PS3, let's face it: Sony is being CHEAP! Again... I mean, even the inferior Nintendo put rumble in their wireless, motion sensing controllers.

[Peter Steffens @ Dec 13th 2006 9:16AM]

eDimensional G-Pad Pro is a much better solution. Has rumble & tilt built in with no whacky dust-buster looking attachment, wireless too, for the same price as the SplitFish alone.

https://edimensional.com/product_info.php?cPath=24&products_id=120

[pl23 @ Dec 18th 2006 7:18AM]

I have just bought the eDimensional gamepad. It is really nice with the real-time sensitivity adjustment. Thanks "Peter Steffens" for your information.

[Andy @ Dec 13th 2006 9:22AM]

I can see how motion sensing can be seen as a gimmick by Nintendo, but I'd have to disagree completely. It really adds a new element to games. At first it seems gimmicky, but once you play with it a bit and you start to get the motions down as second nature, it really adds something different to games and gets you much more involved.

That being said, we're going to have to wait for the 2nd and 3rd generation Wii games before we can really say if this is gimmicky or not. If they can keep up making good, fun games that use the motion sensing naturally, then we'll really be set.

[Frankenstein Black @ Dec 13th 2006 9:28AM]

A SIDE FROM THE CONTROLLER, HOW IS THE REST OF THAT NEW NINTENDO BOX? EXACTLY! SUB PAR NEXT GEN WANNABE HARDWARE that will go the way of the Dodo and the Game cube once the novelty wears off.

AFTER ALL, A CONTROLLER DOES NOT A SYSTEM MAKE. IT IS SIMPLY AN ACCESSORY, AN ADD-ON. NINTENDO FOOLED YOU LIKE A NYC 14TH STREET HUSTLER. The Wii mote gimmick is no more compelling than those mall kiosks that sell every cheap $30 dollar boxing, baseball, golf and tennis motion sensing game.

This Nintendo hustle is also vulnerable to those �me too� 3rd party hardware makers (case in point above) and game Devs that will simply ship games with motion sensing ACCESSORY (like the steering wheels of old) that will happily run on the Xbox 360 and PS3. THE Wii MOTE IS AN ACCESSORY THAT CAN AND WILL BE DUPLICATED AND NOT A PLATFORM!

NICE TRY NINTENDO, BUT I AND OTHERS KNOW WHERE THE RED CARD IS ;^)...

[James Sonne @ Dec 13th 2006 9:32AM]

A friend got a Wii recently and he let me play it. I was skeptical about how accurate and timely the motion sensing was. It turns out that it is completely intuitive with nearly no noticeable delay 90% of the time. It really added a level of personal skill to the gaming experience, and involvement. Now I have to have aiming, throwing, punching skills, not just button mashing skills.
It's cool. It definitely worked better than a joystick controller; the trouble will simply be getting people to realize it's a different kind of control and that the game developers need to make games differently than they do, and not just in terms of controls and user interface, but overall. Games like Red Steel are good examples of the controls ALMOST being right. They could easily have added a "flick the controller twice" to make the character's view jump around 90 degrees and the gameplay would be ten times as fast. With that simply addition, that game would score a 9 out of ten.

[Frankenstein Black @ Dec 13th 2006 9:43AM]

NOW I�M NOT HATING ON THE Wii MOTE CONCEPT. JUST GIVE ME AWESOME CUTTING EDGE HARDWARE TO GO WITH THAT INNOVATIVE �ACCESSORY�. JUST STOP TELLING ME HOW FABULOUS THE LETTUCE IS AND GIVE ME MORE BEEF!

[Earl @ Dec 13th 2006 11:12AM]

Yeah, hardware and graphics matter so much that M$ offers XBLA and Sony has PS1 games for download. Why would they offer these "graphically inferior" games to play on these graphics powerhouse machines? Why do people pay to download these games? I am guessing cause they are fun, but that is just my opinion. So why is the Wii, never claiming to be a graphics powerhouse, being knocked for not being "next gen," when the "next gen" is selling "old gen?"

[Kyle @ Dec 13th 2006 9:48AM]

I can let my PS2 controller be a SIXAXIS with a modified chip bag clip?

[Christian Martin @ Dec 13th 2006 9:49AM]

One problem with this product: "Press START to continue."

[Jonathan Thomas @ Apr 6th 2007 9:48AM]

Great design, wonderful concept, poor application. Instead of solid joystick movement, the "tilt motion" is more like rapidly mashing your joystick (much like the infamous Turbo Button)like we all used to do in Mario Party on the 64.

The signals are sent through this tiny cable about the size of a headphone adapter instead of something more efficient.. but in the way of advancing technology, it is definitely a step in the right direction.

Sadly, if you are looking for true accuracy and performance in high response games such as Sonic Riders and Ace Combat, the MotionFX is absolutely not worth the investment. The controls to switch the sensitivity level (select+Triangle; select+X, etc) and other options is innovative, however gets in the way of standard gameplay.

In closing, it's decent if you're looking for some multiplayer fun in different games, to try out, but as far as the technology goes,the Motion FX is innovative, but the current hardware is total crap; to be honest.

[seedaripper @ Dec 13th 2006 9:49AM]

ENGADGET :
" Could it be you were just in such a rush to tack on rumble, with Wii breathing down your neck?"

methinks you meant 'motion sensing' engadget ;)

[Jason @ Dec 13th 2006 9:55AM]

What's with the spiteful comments trying to rattle Wii supporters? Must be a five year old posting around here.

The Wii was made to push the motion sensing technology to the masses. That's all. Keep the system price point low by barely upgrading the hardware (essentially a re-designed gc) and focus on hyping the controls. The next iteration of Wii will probably be more powerful, but if you took a PS3 now and replaced its controllers with Wii controllers, how much do you think that system would cost? Exactly. Too much for the average consumer.

It's simple economics. This add-on is interesting, but hardly proves anything. Sony already has a grossly over-priced system and probably decided after much debate to drop rumble and put in the motion sensing to steal some spotlight from Nintendo. It does seem odd and more than a little coincidental.

[Earl @ Dec 13th 2006 10:57AM]

You, sir, are right. I simply REFUSE to pay $600 for a game system. "But it is more than a game system!" Is what people will say. Guess what? I don't need a "media center." That desire has been fixed years ago. What I want when I buy a video game console, is to pay for a video game console. Not a BD player, a media center, or even a DVD player.

[cl0n3r @ Dec 13th 2006 10:03AM]

Best Buy has a "Tilt Sense" controller for PS2. Works great for flying games,racing games and racing games. You can turn off the tilt sense thing when you don't want to use it.

[Harold @ Dec 13th 2006 10:14AM]

I thought that Sony leaving out rumble would be a big problem for me but really it isn't. In fact the PS3 controller's best feature is its weight. It is so light you can grip it very loosly and it feels very good in my hands. I think Sony made the right choice leaving rumble out, the controller is actually better for it.

[ryan @ Dec 13th 2006 11:10AM]

its more likely a result of that patent infringement suite. doesnt matter much because rumble has always been a half@ssed technology that never really did anything for immersion...

[Ben @ Dec 13th 2006 3:41PM]

Nice Earl with that M$, it's such a burn towards microsoft, because, you know, they love money and stuff!

[cloneofsnake @ Dec 13th 2006 11:40AM]

Frankenstein Black, wow, your comments really got mod down huh?! Guess the majority of people loves what Nintendo is doing.

You should take a look at this photo - http://flickr.com/photos/mtg/306853238/

This is what Nintendo is all about. GAME. Not graphics.

[Ken @ Dec 13th 2006 12:04PM]

Immersion patented unbalanced spinning weights on a motor. While Microsoft licensed the techology, Sony didn't, so PS3 owners enjoy motion control but no feedback. Sony's excuse about rumble interfering with motion control was just a PR spin, if they wanted to program the motion sensors to ignore rumble feedback, they could have if they put their minds to it.

I'm glad I bought a Sony 60GB PS3. I've been enjoying playing Resistance: Fall of Man, Call of Duty 3, and Ridge Racer 7 all in HD. I'm really enjoying the PlayStation Network and 40-person deathmatches in R:FOM.

Many of those griping about price now will either never get one, or get one next year after seeing the next-gen PS3 games that get released. I can't see the prices falling any time soon until BD and Cell production costs drop.

[TyLord @ Dec 13th 2006 2:38PM]

Why is it that he is knocking Sony so bad? Well let�s see:

1 - They stole the rumble technology from an up and coming company and got their asses sued off.

2 - Didn�t put rumble in PS3 controllers�s cause they couldn�t come up with anything on their own.
Completely stole Nintendo�s motion idea and then used the motion as an excuse for the lack of rumble.

3 - Forced an expensive, right�s stealing, DRM infested, crappy new format on the entire world.

4 - $600� are you freaking serious?

These are just issues with the PS3. How about all the other selfish, right�s stealing, consumer unfriendly mess-ups they�ve made in the past. Sony is the greediest company in the world. They used to have a good name that fit properly with great technology, they got too big and stopped focusing on quality a long time ago.

[Martin @ Dec 13th 2006 2:43PM]

OOOOOOOOO!!! I agree with TyLord

[Smoke_Dawg_187 @ Dec 14th 2006 12:15AM]

Frankenstein Black

I totally agree with you! Finally someone has the balls to tell the truth.