Ubi boss loves PS3 controller

By Games Industry.biz Published 30 May, 2006

Lots of support promised.

Microsoft bigwigs may be lining up to take a pop at it, but Ubisoft president Yves Guillemot loves the PS3's motion-sensing controller - promising that plenty of Ubi titles will support it.

Guillemot's comments came in an exclusive interview with Eurogamer TV, due to be broadcast soon, with the publisher boss revealing: “We were so happy to see that Sony was taking that direction - we think it will help to have a better experience so we are going to use that a lot.”

Guillemot did not specify any PS3 games which might incorporate motion-sensing - but given Sony's announcement appeared to come as a genuine surprise to most of the games industry, any such titles are probably a long way off.

It's not just the PS3 controller that Ubi's keen on, of course. The publisher recently proved itself to be one of the leading third-party supporters of the Nintendo Wii's remote controller, showing off titles such as Red Steel and Rayman Raving Rabbids.

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Comments (71) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • tonynibbles #1 6 years ago

    Well, there's a first.

  • 786Beast #2 6 years ago

    Brill stuff, hopefully in assassins creed eh?

  • Steroyd #3 6 years ago

    Wow i can't put this into words....

    ...yeah i can....

    PS3's CONTROLLER GOT PRAISE.

    Wow!!

  • stuarty_2003 #4 6 years ago

    An updated version of Blazing Angels maybe?

  • killyourtv #5 6 years ago

    i dont want games to support this crap. these publishers and developers should be saying 'wtf you doing sony, sort it out', instead of saying this motion sensing **** is good

  • faridmon #6 6 years ago

    why in the hell is Ubisoft says it is good to copy nintendo, i'll wait if that thing sell first, then decide to buy it in 2010.

  • smelly #7 6 years ago

    They're not copying nintendo. It's just a tilt sensor. The wii controller is a full 3d controller.

  • JediMasterMalik #8 6 years ago

    OMFG stop with the fucking "they copied ninty" already. It's old and not really true. It's good Ubi want to support the PS3 as well as the Wii. Why does everyone hate Sony for following the same standards all other companies live their lives by. "stealing" as people put it is nothing new, it's been happening for centuries. Get with the program people. *rolls eyes*

    Thanks Ubi guy. :D

  • gizmo #9 6 years ago

    Oh no, shoe-horned controller gimmick alert.

    Think I'll stick to the 360. Although I'm willing to take a good look at the Wii, where ITS NOT A LAST MINUTE BOLT ON.

  • kangarootoo #10 6 years ago

    @killyourtv

    Are you really that sure that gamers don't want the tilt sensor controller? I know poeple rant and rave about it on here, but I've never trusted mass hysteria as a means for garnering accurate market info and now isn't the time to start.

    I think that Ubisoft have shifted a few games in their time (and if they "weren't listening to gamers" they wouldn't be making sales, right?), so if they say they like it we should at least hear them out.

    As for the "copying nintendo" angle, I second what JediMasterMalik but I'll go further. For me its not a matter of it being true or not, for me its a matter of "I don't give a f*ck who copied who, so long as the games are good".

    We aren't talking about someones GCSE geography homework here. We are all adults (I presume) so when it comes to copying, frankly who cares?

  • kangarootoo #11 6 years ago

    @gizmo

    Let me extend my mantra to your good self (and please take it in the light hearted spirit in which its intended).

    I don't give a f*ck if its a last minute bold-on, so long as the games are good.

    ;)

  • Drakron #12 6 years ago

    I am reading this as "Ubi prepares a careload of shitty gimmick games".

  • CrumpledPaper #13 6 years ago

    Lots of developers were happy to hear this at E3. Criterion see big things for it in the next Burnout. The controller works excellently by all accounts from E3, that's all that matters beyond the politics of competition, and that's what matters to developers - and ultimately what should matter to us.

  • GuiltySpark #14 6 years ago

    I really cant see how this ps3 controller can work really...

    I never keep my hands perfectly still when im playing a game and i dont want something on screen to represent my "scratch nose" action...

    It seem as though you would have to be pressing pause every 30 secs..

  • JediMasterMalik #15 6 years ago

    I don't think Ubi, as a well known and respected publisher would be creating "gimicky" games. They have a very good track record last gen.

  • ShekkyBoy #16 6 years ago

    You're right - we're not talking about someone's GCSE geography homework. We're talking about copyrighted intellectual ideas being implemented on a mass scale. These ideas need to be protected. I'm not arguing Sony has copied Nintendo, but to simply dismiss it as some high school hijinks trivalises the situation.

  • gingerlink #17 6 years ago

    @kangarootoo

    yer, but consdering it is a last minute bolt-on, the games are much more likely to be rubbish and laggy (as nintnedo reported when trying to usee the wii controller for the gamecube originally...)

    plus, consdering ubi like the motion sensing bit, most of their support will probabbly end up with nintnedo instead...

  • CrumpledPaper #18 6 years ago

    @ gingerlink

    We're roughly six months from the arrival of the first PS3 games. Warhawk implemented its controls in just 10 days, and it worked excellently.

    @ ShekkyBoy

    None of the technology in either Wii's or PS3's controller are new. Just the application of it, and its inclusion as standard in the system. Sony's eyetoy team publically talked about working with gyroscopes and accelerometers years ago - Nintendo did not invent this technology.

  • inpHilltr8r #19 6 years ago

    I played Warhawk at E3, and a bunch of Wii games, and the PS3 pad was better than I expected. It's full 6-dof, not just tilt, and there was no lag I could note. The thing the Wii adds over it, is that it can tell where the screen is, and re-calibrate itself on the fly. For games that don't use on-screen pointers (e.g. Excite-Truck) they're functionally equivalent.

    Still, fanboys will FUD and flame away until these things are actually in the shops / Hell freezes over.

  • JediMasterMalik #20 6 years ago

    Some people are obviously wrong for two reasons.

    1 - all the people who reported using the controller for warhawk said it was responsive and felt natural.
    2 - They've been working on this since 1999 at the latest

    http://v3.espacenet.com/textdoc?DB=EPODOC&IDX=JP1109 9284&F=0
    Edited by 1 at 30/05/06 @ 19:34

  • SeesThroughAll #21 6 years ago

    Ubisoft happy with tilt sensor? Hmmmmm... expect Red Steel to be ported to the PS3 :p

  • gizmo #22 6 years ago

    In which case I stand corrected. I had picked up negative feedback of warhawk whilst scouring the web and assumed it was poorly implemented.

    I still have reservations about its value in a game.

  • smelly #23 6 years ago

    Ubisoft happy with tilt sensor? Hmmmmm... expect Red Steel to be ported to the PS3 :p

    Is that being ironically stupid? Or are you yet another person who doesnt know what the difference between the wiimote and the ps3 tilt sensor?

    That wont work.

    You can port games which just use tilt from the ps3 to the wii. But a full on fps game using the wii controller properly wont work on the ps3 tilt pad.

    Surely this isnt so complex for people to understand?

  • JediMasterMalik #24 6 years ago

    Erm, smelly?

    He was being sarcastic, the ":p" indicates his sarcasm.

  • smelly #25 6 years ago

    Thats okay then. As I said, ironically stupid.

    But the number of forums ive been to where people just dont GET that there is a huge difference between the two is quite shocking.

    Which might be a problem for nintendo, if joe public believes the controllers to be the same.

  • gingerlink #26 6 years ago

    @crumpled paper

    the eurogamer review (i know not always the best source but still...) said it was laggy, but responsive
    i.e. u turn, then it turns....

    go find it...
    Edited by 1 at 30/05/06 @ 20:57

  • ecureuil #27 6 years ago

    Why the fuck is everyone so critical of the motion sensor in the PS3 pad? It will undoubtedly benefit our games. We know the rumble would have gone regardless of it, so it's not motion sensing vs. rumble. I don't see how everyone can be so negative towards it..

  • Drakron #28 6 years ago

    Because we wanted the batarang so we could fight crime!

  • SeesThroughAll #29 6 years ago

    Aye, I was joking, smelly.

  • Zero Beat #30 6 years ago

    +5 devkits for Ubi. :D

  • Xerx3s #31 6 years ago

    UBI Boss luvs big bags of money as well. ;)

    "2 - They've been working on this since 1999 at the latest "

    Then it would still be a rip considering that the Sidewinder Freestyle Pro was there already.

  • JediMasterMalik #32 6 years ago

    I don't think that really counts, because it was not on a console, and practically everything was tried using a PC one time or another. lol

  • kangarootoo #33 6 years ago

    Wow, this thread has levelled off and I'm seeing the beginnings of a proper discussion.

    @gingerlink

    "the games are much more likely to be rubbish and laggy"

    I really feel that comes down to design. Some tilt utilising games (both for PS3 and Wii) will undoubtedly suck, but I'm sure some wil be very good on both platforms.

    Think about it, tilt control is neither new nor particularly original. I mean, its what many real life controls do already. Even a joystick is a tilt controller of sorts with a hinge at one end.

    I sigh when people flip out like the PS3 tilt it will end all games of depth. Is anyone really suggesting there wasn't gimmiky crap back on the Atari 2600 with its single button joystick, or on the SNES with its basic D-pad and buttons.

    Cynical attempts at a quick buck will always be around and they will almost always result in sub-par games. A controller is just that, nothing more. It won't create quality where it doesn't exist but netiher will it kill a good design just because it might be viewed by modern witchunters as "gimmicky".

    I'm sure the hot air balloon and the microwave oven were seen as gimmicky, and they are a damn sight more inovative than a simple tilt controller.

  • Arwin #34 6 years ago

    Smelly, for the 100th time, the PS3 Controller is NOT JUST A FRICKING TILT SENSOR. It's a complete, six way motion detector, accellerator and all.

    Jeez.

  • JediMasterMalik #35 6 years ago

    @kangarootoo

    You are totally right. In the end it is going to be up to the developers to make sure the games take advantage of the hardware in a useful and non-gimmicky way.

  • Mordum #36 6 years ago

    @GuiltySpark

    "I really cant see how this ps3 controller can work really...

    I never keep my hands perfectly still when im playing a game and i dont want something on screen to represent my "scratch nose" action...

    It seem as though you would have to be pressing pause every 30 secs.."

    ------------------------------------------

    Thats exactly what I have concerns about... its going to be very frustrating when little natural movements cause your plane to take a nose-dive towards the rocks below (for example).

    I'm just interested if Sony have discussed how they will combat this problem on another site or something?

  • CrumpledPaper #37 6 years ago

    @ gingerlink

    I'm looking at Eurogamer.net's E3 hands-on preview of Warhawk here:

    http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=64446
    There is no mention of lag. In fact, it just talks about how "incredibly natural" and fun it was.

    Go read IGN's impressions, or Gamespot's, or 1up's, or Ars Technica's also - they're all glowing, in particular with regard to the controller.

  • NegativeZero #38 6 years ago

    "Ubisoft president Yves Guillemot has been paid a bucketload of cash by Sony - promising that plenty of Ubi titles will support PS3's motion-sensing controller."

    Fixed to reflect reality.

  • Psi #39 6 years ago

    not sure whether this is a pay off or this ubi boss is pitying sony from getting a kicking since e3, or he's just a glass half full kinda guy.

    ..hang on he's the boss of a company, no chance on that glass crack.

  • JediMasterMalik #40 6 years ago

    I can't beleive you 2 don't beleive that this guy could actually like the new controller. How cynical. I like the controller, why can he not like it aswell?

    [sarcasm]
    Oh that's right because he is remotely important and runs a business, he must be immoral and taking bribes.
    [/sarcasm]

  • Psi #41 6 years ago

    no of course not, im sure he's all sugar smiles and dancing fairies

    i love the new controller too! it's basically the ps2 controller which is very good at what it does :) but with tilty swooshy bits that give my nuts pins and needles.#



    each and every one of these 'unnessisary' 'news' reports is spin, or at least so many of them that it's hard to see the wood for the trees, so the moment any of these 'unassociated' people give a little felatio in any direction you have to ask... why did this come out in the first place? were eurogamer desperate to know the ubi bosses take on the new controller so much they beat his door down?

    its a sony reach around.

  • TripSkyway #42 6 years ago

    I think the ps3 controller looks good, the motion sensing is a nice addition. Shame it apparently came at the expence of rumble.
    Edited by 2 at 31/05/06 @ 07:20

  • prettyboytim #43 6 years ago

    I think the tilt function is neat. I'm sure most games won't use it as the primary means of control, but you can see it being very useful for things like camera control, or perhaps putting a bit of spin on the ball in a sports title.

    I will miss rumble though. I was just playing Shadow of the Colossus last night, and they use rumble to great effect. It just won't be the same.

  • Raziel #44 6 years ago

    So, basicly he's saying he's happy with the PS3 controller cause it will let Ubisoft make more profit with Wii/PS3 multiplatform games due to a few similar options? (obviously the Wii allows for more freedom).

    Sounds like a goot thing then.

  • 3william56 #45 6 years ago

    @Guiltyspark and Mordum

    You guys must be damned cack handed if you can't scratch your nose without waving the other arm about. Well, I guess you're screwed. :D

    I'm curious what you do at the moment, seeing as all current controllers are two handed affairs. Can you play Burnout with one hand whilst scratching your nose with the other? Impressive! I can't think of any current flight sim (or any other action game) that's wise to put the controller down without pausing.

    Though I guess we're all familiar with one handed Tomb Raider players...

    And what disease do you (and apparently Bill Gates) have that requires you to scratch your nose every 30 seconds? Consider an antihistamine, maybe?

    A little realism please. Like any analogue controller (wiimote included), it will be calibrated (and probably in game calibratable) to allow it to ignore small twitches, and respond to deliberate motions. In fact, it's one of the selling points of both - you'll no longer be tied to millimetre thumbstick movements, and can control with larger tilts and waves.

    Edited by 1 at 31/05/06 @ 09:06

  • Eighthours #46 6 years ago

    Is this the same Ubi bloke who was slagging Sony off last week?

    EDIT: No. That was Clint Hocking, Ubisoft Montreal's creative director. Ubi's left hand doesn't know what its right hand is doing!
    Edited by 1 at 31/05/06 @ 09:17

  • drumbaby #47 6 years ago

    Didn't Mr Guillemot know that putting the 'tilt' controller down could very well crash the plane? Someone ought to warn him/ send a link to the Bill Gates interview before he wastes Ubisoft's time on it.

  • NoCodeNed2 #48 6 years ago

    @FluffyTucker - so you won't be playing Assassin's Creed?

  • Kafeen #49 6 years ago

    Is this the same Ubi bloke who was slagging Sony off last week?

    EDIT: No. That was Clint Hocking, Ubisoft Montreal's creative director. Ubi's left hand doesn't know what its right hand is doing!

    OMG, you mean 2 people in a large company don't have the same opinions on something. The world is doomed.

  • foxy2006 #50 6 years ago

    He's French.

  • NoCodeNed2 #51 6 years ago

    I like monkeys in balls. Assassin's Monkey in a Ball?

  • Skooch #52 6 years ago

    On this whole tilt-sensor debate people are missing the point that the PS3 has lost rumble. MAYBE the tilt-sensor will be well implemented, MAYBE it won't be used as a cheap gimmick in games, MAYBE everyone will love the extra functionality it brings, but the PS3 pad has STILL LOST RUMBLE.

    Imagine getting no feedback when your shooting someone with a machine gun playing an FPS, imagine no bump feeling when you stack your Ferarri into a crash barrier at 200mph playing a racing game, imagine NO SUBTLE RUMBLE FEEDBACK WHATSOEVER FOR ANY GAME.

    Personally, you Sony Fanboys can keep your motion/tilt sensor. Even if it is implemented exceptionally well I'd still take rumble any day.

  • #53 6 years ago

    PS3 = Maybe

    To me, right now, anyway.

    EDIT: To thoe who think rumble doesn't matter I say this: Try playing Table Tennis without it!
    Edited by 1 at 31/05/06 @ 10:59

  • Rash' #54 6 years ago

    @ Skooch: NO SUBTLE RUMBLE FEEDBACK WHATSOEVER FOR ANY GAME
    Meh, it won't really bother me. It doesn't when I play portables or on my wavebird (remember that?). To me the redesign takes one superficial element and replaces it with one that actually does something for the game. This as they is a moot point.
    Edited by 1 at 31/05/06 @ 11:00

  • JediMasterMalik #55 6 years ago

    @ skooch:

    We've been playing PC FPS's and other games for years on end without rumble. Any PC FPS gamer can tell you that PC FPS's are better ion general that console FPS's. Your point is partly valid, but doesn't quite garner the same enthusiasm if you think about it more carefully. If you don't have rumble, you will get used to it. It's not essential to having fun.

  • ecureuil #56 6 years ago

    THE RUMBLE IS OUT BECAUSE SONY LEGALLY CAN'T USE IT ANYMORE.

    For fucks sake people, it has NOTHING to do with the motion sensor. The only reason we have no rumble is because Sony have lost the lawsuit with Immersion every time, and they will lose it again. If the pad didn't have motion sensor, it still wouldn't have rumble.

  • #57 6 years ago

    Jedi,
    Rumble in FPS is bullshit.
    It is other games where the rumble feature gives genuinley good feedback. As I have mentioned before, the implementation of rumble feedback in Table Tennis is superb, and you actually wouldn't be able to play the game at all well without it.
    I know this won't bother you as you seem completely closed to the idea that the 360 could be a good platform - forgive me if I'm wrong.
    I have played FPSs before where the on-screen feeback when you're being shot is inadequate, and I have died not even knowing I was being shot at. The use of rumble for this is infallable.

  • JediMasterMalik #58 6 years ago

    @Jamesphilip - You are wrong, I have nothing against the 360. I may get one after my ps3 if many games for it do not come out for PC. I simply dislike people insulting things they have yet to try. I haven't insulted the 360, as I haven't used it.

  • Skooch #59 6 years ago

    @ecureuil

    I did know this (and lots of other people also I'd imagine). And in this respect, Sony should pay up and bite the bullet. Of course, they won't as they don't want to lose face, millions of dollars, AND end up paying MS royalties for using this technology - that would really stick in the throat of Sony execs. I just think that a last-minute add-on bit of functionality is a bit lame, although I am sure it will distract the masses who will still buy a PS3 and only realise about the rumble when they get it home and start playing.

    @ Jedi Master Malik

    Your point about FPSs on PCs is a valid, and good, point. Being a console gamer I am used to automatically thinking about playing games on consoles - and rumble is such an established feature that I really think it will feel odd to lose that. Any FPS gamer is bound to sing the praises of their chosen platform and I wouldn't expect it any other way. Personally I find clicking a mouse cursor on someones head is not as satisfying as having to accurately gauge a movement on a stick in order to bring a reticle to an exact position for a head shot - but don't want to get into that debate today ;-P

    I am not saying no rumble = no fun. Just that I think it will be sorely missed by a lot of console gamers playing the PS3. At the end of the day, if you play on a PC, the presence of a tilt-sensor and lack of rumble in the PS3 pad doesn't affect you anyway.

  • Teeth #60 6 years ago

    Stop calling it a "tilt sensor", you morons, it's more than that.

  • Skooch #61 6 years ago

    @ Rash

    Your statement "To me the redesign takes one superficial element and replaces it with one that actually does something for the game" is a silly one considering rumble is an established, well-implemented design feature that for the PS3 is being replaced by a rushed add-on. The tilt-sensor feature is the definition of 'superficial' - hurried, shallow and implemented largely for show.

    Now stop making 'Rash' comments... :-)

  • Skooch #62 6 years ago

    You tilt it, it senses that you tilted it - seems pretty straightforward to me.

  • DrDamn #63 6 years ago

    I noticed from reports that the PS3 controller will last for about 10 hours on one charge. The X360 rechargable ones last about 20 hours, and from my experience this is about right. So why the difference? Sony have good experience of rechargable stuff, and you would expect the rumble in the X360 pad to use more power than the motion sensors in the PS3 pad. Conspiracy theory - Sony are developing their own rumble which will be announced closer to the release date. One which doesn't infringe patents and doesn't interfere with the sensors (like it ever did ;-).

  • Skooch #64 6 years ago

    @ Dr Damn - ever used Sony batteries? :-D

  • DrDamn #65 6 years ago

    @Skooch

    I have a Sony MP3 HD player with excellent rechargable battery performance.

  • JediMasterMalik #66 6 years ago

    No it's said to last about 24 hours not 10. :)

  • Skooch #67 6 years ago

    @ Dr Damn - I'm glad for you, I've got a Sony Cybershot Digi camera and the battery is absolutely screwed and it's not very old, or particularly used a lot.

  • Teeth #68 6 years ago

    Skooch, and how do you include the acceleraometers sensing movement along the three axes as well as around them in that? That's right, you haven't. So saying it's a tilt sensor is inaccurate at best; I'm more inclined to go with 'wrong'.

  • Kafeen #69 6 years ago

    Imagine getting no feedback when your shooting someone with a machine gun playing an FPS

    It'll be just like on a PC and we all know how unsuccessful PC FPS's are.

    I would have liked to have kept the rumble feature but in all honesty the tilt sensors were nothing to do with its removal.

  • BBIAJ #70 6 years ago

    CrumpledPaper

    Lots of developers were happy to hear this at E3. Criterion see big things for it in the next Burnout. The controller works excellently by all accounts from E3, that's all that matters beyond the politics of competition, and that's what matters to developers - and ultimately what should matter to us.

    You are joking, right? Did you even see how poorly Phil Harrison coped with it on Warhawk!?

    And as for Burnout, that'll be great! Tip it forward to accelerate, back to brake, and left and right to steer...

  • Les #71 6 years ago

    I think this tilting thing could work really well, sort of like the mouse gestures that you have on PC (so I'm a bit startled by mr. Gates' remarks that motion sensing wouldn't work in games, because if it works in Windows, then it must surely work everywhere else). Especially in FPSs you could use it to duck, dive, roll, etc. out of the way of shots fired at you.

    But it's a shame the rumble must go.