28th March 2005, 7:37 PM
It's a spinning off-center weight. It's not like they could really come up with that patent being different than this Immersion version. The only real difference is Nintendo's is plugged into the controller. The question is this. Is the rumble pak patented for both "an add-on adding this ability" and just "a device that makes the controller shaka shaka"? If so, I think Nintendo is in a position where they could easily sue Immersion, and Immersion couldn't do a single thing about it.
Who knows? Maybe Nintendo is being a GENIUS and just waiting for this case to be over. If Sony wins, Nintendo does nothing, and loses nothing. If Sony loses, then Nintendo sues Immersion and wins THAT case, and then everything that was GOING to go to Immersion goes to Nintendo. Also, the deal with Immersion will be broken and Microsoft will come crawling to Nintendo to make a deal with THEM instead. Finally, Nintendo goes after the miriad of hardware designers with shaky motor tech in various PC controllers, and boom.
My diety... It's... it's brilliant! The... the perfect plan!
At the very least, the wait and see approach is a sure thing for Nintendo. It's NINTENDO.
Who knows? Maybe Nintendo is being a GENIUS and just waiting for this case to be over. If Sony wins, Nintendo does nothing, and loses nothing. If Sony loses, then Nintendo sues Immersion and wins THAT case, and then everything that was GOING to go to Immersion goes to Nintendo. Also, the deal with Immersion will be broken and Microsoft will come crawling to Nintendo to make a deal with THEM instead. Finally, Nintendo goes after the miriad of hardware designers with shaky motor tech in various PC controllers, and boom.
My diety... It's... it's brilliant! The... the perfect plan!
At the very least, the wait and see approach is a sure thing for Nintendo. It's NINTENDO.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)