IGN reports that Sony and Immersion have settled their legal differences over copyright infringement related to Immersion's vibration/rumble technologies in PlayStation controllers. Immersion CEO Victor Viegas says that they hope to take advantage of their new business arrangement with SCE and present various ideas to integrate rumble (back) into the PlayStation console.

... Okay, it's taken all of ten minutes to predict the reaction from our readers to this news, and suffice to say, predictions are all over the place. Prior to this, (and we say this as neutrally as possible) it has been quite difficult for Sony to promote any sort of rumble for the PS3, probably due to this legal sword of Damocles hanging over their legal heads.

And now that we report this in the wake of a rather bad hair day for Sony PR, we won't be surprised if we see some extensive commentaries on marketing and publicity of that below. But then, all of that would also be wild crystal balling, anyway.

To all of this, it suffices to say... until there's an official press release to the contrary, SIXAXIS is still officially vibration-free. Still, it wouldn't stop Sony from officially supporting Immersion rumble integrated into third party game-specific controllers such as steering wheels and flight sticks, right?

(Personally, the only time I miss vibration anywhere is the stick shaker stall warning on flight sims... and that's about it. After all, some people eventually get used to no rumble, but no one ever gets used to being a crater on the ground.)

On a more positive note, it's not to hard to envision a SIXAXIS Version 2.0 that incorporates rumble + tilt sense, and future PS3 games which will incorporate both (plus massive data patches to reintroduce as much rumble as possible into prior games), but again, that's all speculation. In other news, and speaking of flight sims: FAA grants airspace clearance to Porky the Pig. It was the humane thing to do, really.