According to a recent study conducted by market research firm Ipsos Insight, consumers' console purchasing behavior may be affected by vibration feedback technology (a.k.a. rumble). It should be noted that this survey was sponsored by rumble experts Immersion Corporation, the folks who won a major lawsuit against Sony, which many believe is the reason for the lack of vibration in the PS3 controller (Sony contends it's the interference the controller's motion sensing has with rumble technology).

Nevertheless, the survey (which included 1,075 respondents aged 18 and older who both own a video game console and play games for more than four hours each week - drawn from a statistical sampling of the Ipsos North America online panel of more than 800,000 U.S. households) found that a majority of gamers feel that rumble is quite important to the game playing experience. 72 percent stated that rumble enhances the experience by making the game more fun, involving the player more in the action, increasing realism in the game, and even helping the gamer play better.

The report then further breaks down the importance of rumble to certain genres. Respondents said, "I like it and I want it in the game" or "I think it's essential to the fun, realism and overall experience" regarding vibration feedback for racing (71 percent), action/adventure (70 percent), first-person shooter (69 percent), fighting (66 percent), and sports (61 percent) games. Additional comments from gamers stressing the importance of rumble were also highlighted, such as, "It is good in games like Madden because it seems so life-like when guys get hit. I also think that without it Madden would be just an ordinary game," and "For PS2, Gran Turismo 4 needs the rumble feature to connect you to the car so you can more adequately feel how the car is handling."

Furthermore, 74 percent of those surveyed were not even aware that Sony had decided to remove the rumble technology and upon hearing the news 58 percent said they were disappointed. "Respondent disappointment may have been tempered by the fact that 82 percent believe there will be or probably will be third-party gamepad controllers that will support vibration feedback for the PS3 console system within the first year after its launch," noted Ipsos. "However, thus far Sony has not announced capability in the PS3 console for vibration feedback, and it is believed that many console gamers are unaware that this capability must be present in the console to experience vibration feedback with any gamepad controller, first- or third-party."

Interestingly, the inclusion of vibration feedback seemed to be more important than motion sensing, regardless of platform. When asked what feature they would like in a controller, assuming both motion and rumble were technically feasible, gamers chose the rumble feature (with or without motion); 59 percent selected rumble for the PS3, 52 percent on the Xbox 360, and 44 percent on the Wii. As for motion sensing, it was selected over rumble by just 8 percent of respondents for the PS3, 7 percent for Xbox 360, and 6 percent for the Wii.

So what does this all mean for Sony's market share? According to Ipsos, of those who had indicated that they originally wanted to purchase a PS3, five percent said they would not get one because of the lack of rumble, 32 percent said that they are "somewhat less likely to purchase," while 14 percent were unsure. 46 percent noted that they definitely would still buy a PS3, however. Overall, Ipsos explained that "respondent purchase plans indicate a possible decrease to 48 percent share of next-generation consoles units for PS3 by summer 2007, compared to an increase to 37 percent for Xbox 360, and decrease to 15 percent for Wii."

Todd Board, senior vice president of Ipsos Insight, summed it up as follows: "There's a lot of chatter about how next-gen consoles and highlighted features may shake up the console market-share picture. What's interesting about this study is that, although it focuses on what many may see as a secondary purchase driver, in fact a majority of console gamers use rumble/vibration quite regularly and clearly value it, and a majority expect existing rumble/vibration capability to carry forward to the PS3. In addition, a majority don't currently realize Sony's PS3 controllers won't allow for this backwards compatibility, and that there's no particular reason to expect third-party solutions to fill that gap.

"In light of the price premium we've all seen discussed regarding PS3, this appears to be a potentially hidden but pervasive risk factor attached to their release strategy. A whole lot more gamers clearly value rumble than have had any chance to try or place any value on motion/tilt sensing. Certainly there's little evidence in our data that motion/tilt sensing should come at the expense of rumble," he concluded.