Late Night Consoling

When questioned about why Nintendo has been so tight-lipped about Revolution, company executives have frequently responded that it does not wish to see the console's specific capabilities replicated by the competition before the console has even launched. If recent rumors about possible Revolution controller competitors by Sony and Microsoft are to be believed, that may be happening in some form. Today, GamesIndustry.biz reports that Sony may also be attempting to implement a legacy game download service, similar to Nintendo's Virtual Console service for Revolution. Speaking to a source "from the development arm of a major third-party publisher," the article claims that Sony is "discussing the technical feasibility" of offering downloadable games from PS1 and PS2's back catalogue for PS3. Such capability would certainly require a hard drive, as PS1 and PS2 games shipped on CDs and DVDs rather than the smaller-capacity cartridges of Nintendo's NES, SNES, and N64. Sony has already explicitly stated that PS3 will be backwards compatible with physical PS1 and PS2 discs, so it's easy to imagine the company allowing for legacy games to be run entirely digitally. That said, the source did indicate that the company is still in the discussion stage of such a service. This suggests it probably won't be part of Phil Harrison's GDC presentation, but if true it may be a topic at this week's publisher-only PS3 info session.

Four years ago, Immersion Corporation sued Sony and Microsoft for infringing upon Immersion's haptic force feedback technology. Microsoft settled the case with Immersion, licensing the technology in question and ending up with a 10% stake in the company. Sony chose not to settle, and last year a federal judge ordered the company to pay Immersion $91M and halt sales of its offending products, which include PlayStation, PlayStation 2, their respective DualShock controllers, and a variety of games. Sony appealed that ruling.

The Wall Street Journal reports that last week, the judge denied Sony's appeal. The conflict seems to go back to the inventor of the technology, Craig Thorner. Sony claimed that Immersion hid information about older haptic technology invented by Thorner, and stated that it could have called into question the validity of other Immersion technology invented by Thorner. Immersion countered this, and alleged that Sony's $150,000 payment to Thorner was a payoff for testimony on Sony's behalf. Sony said that that sum was an "advance royalty" to another firm holding Thorner patents, Electro Source. The judge, however, ruled in favor of Immersion, citing "strong evidence" that the $150,000 was a quid pro quo payment.

Sony has not yet announced its next action. Because of prior rulings in the case, Sony has been paying Immersion a 1.37% royalty for the use of the technology, but Immersion's standard rate to its licensees such as Microsoft and BMW is 5%. Though Sony is clearly reluctant to pay the court-ordered $91M settlement, the company will likely be more reluctant to cease sale of its gaming hardware. The company still has an appeal on the sales injunction in the works, but if it is not upheld, the company will have to become an Immersion licensee and pay the settlement, or modify its force feedback mechanism such that it does not infringe on Immersion's patents.

Last month, Eurogamer allegedly obtained leaked marketing materials from SCEE detailing, among other things, a PlayStation 2 sequel to the PS2 hit God of War. Within hours, the news was removed from Eurogamer under Sony's threat of legal action. With the newest issue of Game Informer, those rumors have been confirmed: God of War's sequel is indeed heading to PS2. Like the original game, it is in development by Sony's internal Santa Monica studio. We should hear a great deal more at E3. The original Eurogamer report claimed the planned release is February 2007, but right now the best guess is generally early next year.

Microsoft's Xbox.com has been updated with a description of a downloadable demo for the Xbox 360 version of Ubisoft's Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter. However, I've been unable to actually find the demo for download at the Xbox Live Marketplace. Various reports by gamers online suggest I'm not the only one. It is also listed as one of the 14 Xbox 360 demos on the Marketplace demo page, along with the also mysteriously absent demo for Ubisoft's Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie.

Level 5, the developer of last year's Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King (PS2) and Rogue Galaxy (PS2), is apparently making several new games, according to translations of an interview with Japanese-language site gpara.com. The company is working on a "non RPG," a "something-something RPG" (presumably a hybrid of some kind), as well as its traditional "epic-scale RPGs." And there you have it.

IGN breaks down the Top 20 Essential GameCube Games: Part 1.