NintendoWhen it launched back in 2017, one of the Nintendo Switch’s many unique features was its new, shiny HD Rumble technology. The feature allowed players to experience rumble in games like never before, and titles such as 1-2-Switch actively made use of it to create gameplay experiences that wouldn’t have been possible on past hardware.
The Switch’s HD Rumble was born thanks to California-based company Immersion‘s TouchSense Force technology, a form of feedback tech which was licensed to several games companies including Nintendo. Fast-forward to 2020, and it turns out that Immersion is also responsible for the haptic feedback feature present in Sony’s latest controller, the PS5’s DualSense.
Reviews of the PlayStation 5 have consistently heaped praise on the new controller’s haptic feedback, noting that the tech allows you to ‘feel’ the difference between the different surfaces your character is walking on, or enjoy the sensation of something seemingly moving around inside the controller.
It certainly comes across as being an evolution of the HD Rumble present in Switch controllers, refining ideas that already existed on Nintendo’s platform and expanding upon them in new and exciting ways; will Immersion evolve the tech further still for future Nintendo devices? Could the company’s latest tech find its way into and new and improved Switch models?
Well, we guess time will tell, but it’s interesting to see how rumble technology is evolving across rival platforms. We’ve come a long way from the N64’s Rumble Pack, that’s for sure.
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