2006 – 2017retired
PlayStation 3
“The supercomputer for the living room finally took its well-earned nap.”
“A palindrome to the end: gone forward and backward all at once.”
The Sixaxis was the wireless gamepad Sony shipped alongside the PlayStation 3 in 2006, and it served as the console's official controller until 2008. Its name promised motion sensing across six degrees of freedom — a contraction of six axis, and, charmingly, a palindrome. Fans also got a good chuckle out of the fact that the name was technically a misnomer, since there are only three axes.
The Sixaxis existed partly by accident of litigation: Sony's usual DualShock line, with its haptic feedback, was tangled up in a 2004 patent dispute with Immersion, so the rumble-free Sixaxis filled the gap. It hung on officially until 2017, when it was finally discontinued. Its true heir, the DualShock 3, eventually brought the rumble home.
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“The supercomputer for the living room finally took its well-earned nap.”
“It fit a console in your pocket, and for a while, that was enough to change everything.”
“Second screen, first in our hearts”