Sixaxis
From PS3Wiki
The Sixaxis controller marketed as the "SIXAXIS" was the official wireless controller for the Sony PlayStation 3, until a newer DualShock 3 was released which improved the Sixaxis with rumble abilties and other things. The word "Sixaxis" (contraction of "six axis" for the directional movements) is a palindrome.
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History
At E3 2005, Sony showcased their "boomerang" design for the PlayStation 3's controller. Accompanied by much criticism, most of which were for its looks, this design was later abandoned. Sony later stated that the original controller "was very clearly designed as a design concept, and was never intended to be the final controller, despite what everybody said about it."
The original design was replaced by an altered, wireless version of the DualShock 2 controller at E3 2006.
The Sixaxis controller is currently being phased out, and the DualShock 3 is the new official controller. However Europe will still have the Sixaxis controller during summer as the European Metal Gear Solid 4 PlayStation 3 bundle includes a Sixaxis. The Sixaxis is no longer being produced, and will not be available after supplies sell out, likely by summer 2008.
Release
The Sixaxis was the official controller of the PS3, and so came bundled with the PS3. In Japan, individual Sixaxis controllers were available for purchase simultaneously with the console's launch, without a USB to USB mini cable. Individual Sixaxis controllers were also available at launch in many other countries.
Feature and Design Changes
The Sixaxis can operate for up to 30 hours on a full charge. The battery was originally not thought to be replaceable when a Sony spokesperson stated that the Sixaxis should operate for "many years before there's any degradation in terms of battery performance. When and if this happens, then of course Sony will be providing a service to exchange these items". Later, it was revealed that the Sixaxis came with instructions on how to remove the battery and that the battery was fully removable.
A major feature of the controller is the ability to sense both rotational orientation and Translation (geometry) acceleration along all three dimensional axes, providing six degrees of freedom. This became a matter of controversy, as the circumstances of the announcement, made less than eight months after Nintendo revealed motion-sensing capabilities in its new game console controller, the Wii Remote; this led to speculation that the addition of motion-sensing was a late-stage decision by Sony to follow Nintendo's move. Further fueling the speculation was the fact that only one game shown at E3 that year demonstrated the motion-sensing feature. Also, some comments from Incognito Entertainment, the developer behind the motion-sensing PlayStation 3 game, Warhawk, said that it received development controllers with the motion-sensing feature only 10 days or so before E3. Developer Brian Upton from SCE Studios Santa Monica later clarified that the Incognito had been secretly working on the motion-sensing technology "for a while", but did not receive a working controller until "the last few weeks before E3".
The Sixaxis features finer analog sensitivity than the DualShock 2, increased to 10-bit precision from the 8-bit precision of the DualShock 2. The frame around the L2 and R2 buttons has been omitted, resulting in more trigger-like buttons, with an increased range of depression. In the place of the "Analog" mode button switch of previous dual analog models is a jewel-like "PS button" with the PlayStation logo, which can be used to access the home menu and turn the console or the controller on or off. Also since update 2.40 it can be used to access the in-game XMB.
Some Sixaxis are made from translucent plastic, which, when held against light, reveals the inner components of the controller.
LED lights
A row of four numbered LED port indicators are on the top of the controller, to identify and distinguish multiple wireless controllers. Due to there being only four player LEDs on the controller itself, multiple indicators light up for players 5, 6 and 7 (for example, if the '4' and '1' indicators are illuminated at the same time, the controller is assigned to Player 5). While the PS3 is turned on, pressing the PS button will bring up a menu displaying the battery charge of all synced controllers among other options.
Removal of vibration capability
Sony announced that because of the included motion sensors, the vibration feature of previous PlayStation controllers was removed, stating that the vibration would interfere with motion-sensing. Haptics developer Immersion Corporation, which had successfully sued Sony for patent infringement, expressed skepticism of Sony's rationale, with company president Victor Viegas stating in an interview, "I don’t believe it’s a very difficult problem to solve, and Immersion has experts that would be happy to solve that problem for them," under the condition that Sony withdraw its appeal of the patent infringement ruling. Immersion later emphasized compatibility with motion-sensing when introducing its next-generation vibration feedback technology, TouchSense. Subsequent statements from Sony were dismissive of the arguments from Immersion, with Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) Senior VP of Marketing Peter Dille stating, "It seems like the folks at Immersion are looking to sort of negotiate through the press and try to make their case to us … we've talked about how there's a potential for that rumble to interfere with the Sixaxis controller."
However, in a press release made some eight months later, Phil Harrison, Sony's president of worldwide studios, said: "Now, rumble I think was the last generation feature; it's not the next-generation feature. I think motion sensitivity is." He added that rumbling would, in the future, only come from third-party controllers. That statement was proven false less than a year later, with the announcement of the DualShock 3.
