Tsunoda: Kinect goes way past rumble

By Tom Bramwell Published 9 July, 2010

People's obsession with it "laughable".

Microsoft Game Studios general manager and chief Kinect cheerleader Kudo Tsunoda has said it's "almost laughable the way people hold on to rumble as the holy grail of haptic feedback".

"The overwhelming thing we've discovered is that rumble is such a rudimentary form of haptic feedback," Tsunoda told Edge at E3.

Tsunoda, whose lively physical performances have been a mainstay of Kinect presentations since it was first unveiled as Project Natal at E3 2009, admitted that at first he was cautious about a technology that offered no physical feedback, but said that players' responses to the visuals were different when they used their bodies as controllers.

"We've gone so far past anything that can be done with rumble, or that kind of restrictive thing you have to hold," he said. "It's been creatively liberating to work on this stuff."

Tsunoda isn't the first videogames exec to have a pop at rumble, of course - then-boss of Sony Worldwide Studios Phil Harrison famously defended the loss of rumble in the original PS3 Sixaxis controller by saying it was a bit old hat, which made the fickle old internet rather cross.

Sony later introduced it in the DualShock 3 revision of the pad - not really an option physically available to Microsoft with Kinect, unless those claims of immersive experiences go both ways. Eek.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (38) Latest comment 2 years ago

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

  • Beano #1 2 years ago

    Yes... rumble is a last-gen requirement. Sony was right then? LOL

  • atomised #2 2 years ago

    pfff, what would we expect him to say...
    Edited by 1 at 09/07/10 @ 16:06

  • davisorle #3 2 years ago

    MY stance wont change. Its known ( google it if you cant remember ) that Sony let go of rumble for other reasons... Calling rumble useless is just an excuse. Yeah Kinect is a step further and cant be combined with rumbe ( unless you use both Kinect and a controller ) but there is no way in hell I would prefer or choose a controller without rumble.

    Its like they expect their women to say " Yes I prefer a dildo than a good quality vibrator"... No fkn way.

  • Eraysor #4 2 years ago

    You simply can't deny that rumble aids immersion, especially in racing games for me.

  • patch #5 2 years ago

    I've seen some of the videos of people using Kinect, they're far more laughable than someone wanting rumble. It's fine for him to say "I don't think rumble is the future", but to call his customers laughable is more than a little insulting.

  • flaming.carrot #6 2 years ago

    What, rumble is sh*t as opposed to no feedback whatsoever, which is what you get from Kinect?!? Not convinced.

  • Sunyavadin #7 2 years ago

    If they ship kinect with some sort of vibrating chair - then we'll talk.


    Oh wait, it doesn't work sitting down - you know, the default position 99.9% of gamers play in.

  • Steroyd #8 2 years ago

    Hmmm... I've heard this before.

    Rumble has got to the point where it's sublimable when playing games, heck the only thing that was significantly noticeable when I first got my Dualshock and still to this day is that the analogue sticks are better.

  • ignatiusjreilly #9 2 years ago

    I have ripped on Kinect many times, but here I think he is right. Rumble is the single most over-rated aspect of gaming hardware, and usually adds nothing whatsoever to a game. What relation does that phone-like vibration have to getting shot or hitting the ground after a long fall?

    Occasionally it adds something, like an F1 car's wheels touching the rumble strips, but the vast majority of times it is complete rubbish :)

  • Doctor_What #10 2 years ago

    Isn't he making up stuff here? I don't recall anyone criticising the Kinect for the lack of rumble: the apparent lack of accuracy, the lack of buttons, the games line-up, yes, but lack of rumble? Nope.

    It's a good attempt to divert attention though. Well played.

  • Markitron #11 2 years ago

    How can you call rumble over-rated? Its just a standard feature that has no reason NOT to be included in a standard pad. Playing Goldeneye for the first time with it was awesome but now I barely notice it. Id miss it if it wasnt there tho, anyway Kinect has a LOT bigger problems than the lack of rumble

  • miiiguel #12 2 years ago

    I don't recall anyone criticising the Kinect for the lack of rumble

    Get ready for something shocking: the world is not just EG.net. Sorry, someone had to tell you, sooner or later.

  • Darren #13 2 years ago

    I notice rumble when it ISN'T there to be honest, say if I hit another car in a racing game or drive onto the red/white things on the edge of the track and don't get any kind of feedback. Also it feels odd playing shooters and not getting feedback when you fire the weapon or get shot. It's a subtle effect but I can honestly say that I missed it during the first year or so of the PS3's life so I was really pleased when the DualShock 3 was released.

    I hadn't thought about Kinect's lack of feedback to be honest (actually I generally haven't thought about Kinect full-stop!) but, yes, I think it would feel strange to play console games not have any rumble. I guess that's another reason not to bother with Kinect then! :D

  • IronGiant #14 2 years ago

    What's laughable is MS attempting to peddle this tat with some truly awful games played by complete idiots.. The tech is good but should be being used for other things. They should sack this guy Tsunoda for a start as he's coming across as an incompetent twat! Rumble adds plenty to games especially racing games, the only feedback from kinect will be your mates laughing as you flail about like a gimp trying to control it :)

  • Doctor_What #15 2 years ago

    Noooooooooooooooooooooooo!

  • sfp_noodle #16 2 years ago

    Oh dear he really did not just say that did he? Have they learnt nothing from the failures of Sony? Although to be fair they said we didn't need rumble because at the time they were fighting a lawsuit with Immersion. MS owns half of Immersion! MS are making the same expensive mistake that Sony made at the beginning of the ps3's life cycle. It will bite them very hard in the arse. Only the utterly clueless will pay $150 for the kinect. That last comment of mine is true at least. Unlike MS calling rumble lovers laughable. Has he ever tried playing a shooter or racer without it? I have. On the ps3. It sucks donkey balls. Sony and Nintendo know this. It's why they made sure they kept it.
    Edited by 1 at 09/07/10 @ 10:16

  • ignatiusjreilly #17 2 years ago

    How can you call rumble over-rated?

    Easy. It's like adding a red LED to the controller and flashing it when you get shot to simulate the blood spurts.

  • metalangel #18 2 years ago

    So what's the big thing then, you arrogant cunt? Force Feedback? For Kinect? How much is the force feedback suit going to cost? And will you be able to handle all the lawsuits as people have muscled strained as it wrenches their arms backwards?

  • BritishBlue1 #19 2 years ago

    Sony was absolutely vilified for this exact same comment.

  • kangarootoo #20 2 years ago

    Two thoughts.

    1. Rumble is a useful feature, but tbh its not that big a deal. I never missed it on my first PS3 controller. I think its one of those things that if its working you don't notice it, and if its absent you barely notice it, and if its present and done badly you really notice it. When you think about everything that a game gives you in terms of feedback, is a bit of vibration really that significant in driving the experience? Would RDR (to pick my current fave) suck ass if it didn't have rumble, and would "insert name of very sucky game here" be profoundly improved by its addition?

    2. Companies always say "XYZ isn't important" when they don't have XYZ and "ABC is crucial" when they do have ABC. No big surprise there. I also think the same applies to a lot of gamers for that matter. People that dislike company X will rail against them on matters such as this, and gamers that like company X will agree with their statements of how XYZ doesn't matter.


    Seems to me that the presence or absence of rumble is far more important in PR and forum discussions than it ever was in actual games.

  • Paulie_P #21 2 years ago

    I must be in the minority - I've turned off the rumble when I've had the option to for years.

  • 00.00.01 #22 2 years ago

    Just glad to see Sony implemented rumble in the Move-controllers from the beginning. No internet-rage this time.

  • Drpwnage #23 2 years ago

    I agree rumble is so rudimentary, and so are fast, responsive controllers you hold in your hand - nothing more than a gaming relic from the 80's. In 2010 nothing is more immersive than pretend steering wheels and full motion body-lag.
    Edited by 1 at 09/07/10 @ 11:52

  • Arwin #24 2 years ago

    Maybe they're secretly working on a glove that can detect finger movement, pointing and give rumble feedback through tiny electric shocks. Should be a great addition to full body movement detection.

  • Cronan #25 2 years ago

    Is Kudo that twunt in a shell-suit with wankier glasses than Bono?

  • Cronan #26 2 years ago

    Haters gotta hate.

  • makeamazing #27 2 years ago

    Errm doesnt the Xbox have a rumble controller?

    So not only are they saying you dont need a controller, you dont need rumble, both things that are in the Xbox.... very strange... promote your latest product by slating the one thats dont pretty well for you. (bit like the fable 2 was crap but 3 is much better comments ms made).

  • CHAZBIGPOTATO #28 2 years ago

    I've not really got an opinion on rumble, but I must say I'm dismayed at the time and effort Microsoft have put into Kinect seemingly at the expense of everything else. It better be flippin good or I'll be one peed off Xbox fanboy.

  • Feanor #29 2 years ago

    Ever wondered what a douchebag MS developer would say about rumble?

    Well BAM! There it is.

  • BlinxHDD #30 2 years ago

    Kinect is laughable. What next, it doesn't work properly with children?

  • des #31 2 years ago

    "Just glad to see Sony implemented rumble in the Move-controllers from the beginning. No internet-rage this time. "

    Dildo without rumble????....pffttttttt

  • Machiavellian #32 2 years ago

    So not only are they saying you dont need a controller, you dont need rumble, both things that are in the Xbox.... very strange... promote your latest product by slating the one thats dont pretty well for you. (bit like the fable 2 was crap but 3 is much better comments ms made).

    No, they are saying that the types of games you will play with Kinect, you do not need a controller or rumble because the controller is you and the immersion that rumble gives you with a controller is replaced by the immersion you get with the body motion controls. I guess it all in how you look at something.

  • Rack #33 2 years ago

    Rumble was a cute gimmick for 3 seconds on the PS1 and N64 but the controller shaking constantly according to virtually any action isn't really a big deal, just something s few people have gotten used to. The tactile feedback of using an analogue stick or buttons is not so easily dismissed though, you can't get precision control without that (or a mouse/trackball equivalent).

  • azix2 #34 2 years ago

    Rumble is feedback. you don't get feedback with kinect... kinect is a sixaxis basically in that aspect. Feeling something back will always be better than just providing input to the game. Rumble is ahead of move(if it has no vib) and kinect in that

  • Miths #35 2 years ago

    I think I might be able to live without rumble these days. I rarely notice it, although I guess that doesn't rule out the chance that I would actually notice if it was absent.
    I can't really remember if my reasons for complaining about the lack of rumble in the original SixAxis was because I genuinely missed it, or more out of principle because I had come to expect it - even as previously mostly a PC gamer.

    There's one game genre where I definitely would severely miss tactile feedback though, to the point where it could actively diminish my skill level - racing games. But outside of pure arcade racers I play racing games, on PS3 and PC, with my Logitech G25, and proper force feedback is obviously something entirely different than the simple rumble effects in a gamepad (and perhaps some cheap wheels as well?).

  • jjolley #36 2 years ago

    For me, I couldn't play these games without some sort of Rumble. Take UFC 2010, there are differing styles of rumbles for takedowns, submissions, etc. Being totally blind and using this stuff myself, rumble offers more than people imagine.

  • SilentNinja92 #37 2 years ago

    I really dont see the big thing with rumble. Its alrigth on the 360 but its hardly a big thing. Many games dont even bother with it.

    Ive still got sixaxis controllers for the ps3, and if i want more I'll get sixaxis, much cheaper and theyre really light which is quite nice.

  • man.the.king #38 2 years ago

    @jjolley

    "Being totally blind and using this stuff myself, rumble offers more than people imagine. "

    Forgive me if I appear to be insensitive, but I'm curious as to how a gaming device works for blind people. Could you please elaborate?

    Again, I'm not jerking your chain or anything, just curious...