QUOTE
	"Next-gen gaming is supposed to be about improving the gamer's experience, not compromising features for politics or marketing."

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Here today, gone tomorrow. You've likely heard the cliché many times in your life, but when it comes to the world of technology and digital entertainment, it's literally the name of the game.

Almost a decade ago, adding force feedback to controllers was all the rage. Led by the advent of the N64 Rumble Pak, the competition was quick to jump on the bandwagon. The vibration added an element previously missing from games and served to further immerse gamers in the virtual worlds they played in. While rumble had its issues, gamers generally enjoyed the fact that it was widely adopted in the current generation of consoles.

But these days, rumble seems to be fading away. Sony continues to make excuses explaining the Sixaxis controller's lack of force feedback. While Sony will never admit it, the lack of rumble in the PS3 is because of political, not technical limitations. Sony does not want to shirk the Immersion battle, although the exclusion of feedback in Sixaxis could be seen as an admission of guilt. The irony is that your entire rumble-capable library of PSone and PS2 games will lose a key feature if they're played on the PS3. Sony had a chance to add Dual Shock support via the USB memory card adapter, yet declined to do so. PlayStation fanboys are not happy about the state of affairs, and are hopeful Sony will someday find a way to add shock back in the mix, for the sake of their fans.

Meanwhile, Nintendo does not seem to be as dedicated to rumble as it once was, either. The Wii remote does feature rumble, but the vibration is not as strong as it is in the GameCube controller. The weak Wii feedback is likely designed to sip AAs like a miser. I see this as a step in the right direction, as I always wished the WaveBird would have gained rumble, similar to the Logitech wireless controllers for PS2 and Xbox. It's better to have some rumble, over none at all.

On the portable front, gamers are getting total rumble neglect. I'm willing to bet PSP could have had shock, but got left out for the same reason as Sixaxis. But the DS is a different story. The DS has a rumble pak available, as well as a handful of compatible titles; however, Nintendo's marketing of the DS Rumble Pak is severely lacking. Nintendo chose to bundle the Rumble Pak with Metroid Prime Pinball and special promos, or you can order it online from the Nintendo store for ten bucks. Unless you're really looking for DS Rumble, it is sort of hard for gamers to find. Contrast this to the N64 days when Rumble Paks were readily available on store shelves, and it's particularly disconcerting.

Adding fuel to the flame is the release of DS lite. Nintendo ships every DS lite with a Slot 2 cover. Nintendo could have bundled a Rumble Pak instead of shipping a dust cover. Nintendo chose to leave it out, and only release the DS Lite Rumble Pak in Japan. If DS Lite had bundled Rumble, more developers would be adding the feature to their games. Funny thing is, DS games would benefit more from rumble than any other platform. The Touch Generation series would benefit from the feedback. Instead, the Rumble Pak is relegated to being an accessory for hardcore collectors and importers.

Next-gen gaming is supposed to be about improving the gamer's experience, not compromising features for politics or marketing. Yet the neglect of force feedback is an issue that flys underneath the radar. It is treated as a secondary feature that can be added or deleted at the manufacturer's discression. I'm disappointed to see this trend, as force feedback is a feature that I enjoy having over the last ten years. Perhaps if we as gamers start to grumble about the lack of rumble, Sony and Nintendo will make it more of a priority in marketing and system design.

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