Does anybody know what happened to the original "boomerang" PS3 controllers shown at E3 06'? Do any still exist and if so, do they even work? These are the ones I mean.
You mean the prototype controllers? The image is showing up as a ? mark for me at present. If I remember rightly the feedback from the general public was overwhelmingly against Sony doing anything drastic to their controllers. Despite trying to come up with a new, improved and funky design it just proved to be "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". The same applied to the launch revision of the controller Sony sent out. Due to some legal issues (allegedly) the "rumble" feature was removed. Again due to popular demand it was added to later revisions. Whether any of the proto controllers actually made it out into the "real" World is questionable. It was scrapped way ahead of the launch of the unit so I doubt it would surface, but you never know.
No "allegedly" on the legal issues for the rumble deal for the DS3. Immersion (the owner of the patent(s)) sued Sony, MS and Nintendo. MS and Ninty ponied up out of court and got licensing, Sony fought in court and ended up having to pay about $85 million, and eventually got licensing as well. Sony used the excuse that the rumble interfered with the six-axis accelerometers. Immersion even said that they had or would work on a solution...looks like it wasn't necessary.
I just wonder even if one does surface, will it even work with a retail unit? Anyway thanks for the info.
I would doubt whether working prototypes will ever surface, as even the early dev kits used Prototypes based on the Dual Shock 2 / Sixaxis protos.
This might've come across as more believable if Nintendo hadn't already released a controller with rumble and an accelerometer. It was also claimed at the same time that rumble was a "last-gen feature", if I'm not mistaken. I miss Phil Harrison and his hilarious PR spiel.
My guess some on threw it thinking it would come back but it never did.:icon_bigg It would be neat if someone could find one but it never looked comfortable. Then again I never liked how the PS controllers feel.
