I'm pretty sure that only applies to Sony selling them to retailers. Not retailers selling them to consumers. My g/f's brother bought a brand new one today. God damn those things are tiny too.

Also, this is being appealed, so it's unlikely any real difference will be noticed in the next year or more. And the patent they got seems so flimsy anyway. They couldn't sue Nintendo, even though it's the exact same thing. An unbalanced weight controlled by a motor that's activated by the game software... Seems like too broad of a thing to really patent.

I bet this will be shot down in the appeals. Perhaps even the patent could be altered to prevent Immersion from filing more lawsuits against companies that make vibration controllers since the idea itself has been around for many many years anyway.