We'd been hearing that the DualShock 3 wasn't supposed to land until April 15th, but apparently Sony decided that getting gamers good and buzzed couldn't wait until Tax Day -- the official PlayStation Blog says the vibration-enabled controllers will hit US stores next week. There's a new DS3-compatible logo for rumble-compatible games, and quite a few titles will be getting updates to support the new controller. Everyone got their $55 together? Sweet, now all we need is an early release of MGS4.

[Via PS3 Fanboy]

Read - PlayStation Blog announcement
Read - Full list of compatible games

Sure, you've been able to get a DualShock 3 on the gray market for a while now, but it looks like that "early 2008" rumor was spot on -- Sony just announced that vibration-enabled version of the SIXAXIS is due to arrive in North America in April 2008 for $55, along with that new 80GB PS3 SKU. We doubt much will have changed from the Japanese version we've already played with -- if you can't stand the anticipation the whole gallery is right here.

Everyone's favorite last-gen feature is just about ready to make its grand appearance on the PS3: although firmware 1.94 hasn't been officially released yet, ShackNews is reporting that copies of Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction contain an updater to Sony's latest code, and it provides support for the rumblin' DualShock3 controller due out in Japan in November and in the US sometime this spring. No word on what other updates 1.94 provides, but it's not like anything else is even close to as important.

[Via Joystiq and Tech.co.uk, thanks sk]

Nope, not an early sign of cataracts, you're looking at Sony's ceramic white 40GB PS3 and DualShock 3 controller just loosed in Japan. Like its European 40GB cuz, the CECHH00 Series PS3 aces the backward compatibility, memory card slot, and 2x of the 4x USB slots in favor of a low, low ¥39,980 (about $341/€242) price tag when it ships on 11 November. The DualShock 3 wireless rumbler (sold separately) first revealed at Tokyo Game Show hits shelves the same day for ¥5,500 or about $47/€33. Yes, both the PS3 and DualShock 3 are available in black if you're feeling the ebony over new-school ivory.

[Via Akihabara News]

The PS3 rumor mill is working overtime today, delivering not one, not two, but three whoppers that should have fans and foes alike feeling alive with pleasure. The first top-secret super-rumor comes direct from the BBC, a small, but fairly trustworthy news organization, who is reporting that Sony's game box will be getting a digital TV tuner (at least in the UK) which allows you to record your favorite shows à la TiVo, called PlayTV, which will also let you transfer those shows onto your PSP. Of course, this news was announced by Sony at their not-so-secret Leipzig Game Convention keynote, so you can probably bank on this one. Additionally, Sony has partnered with Britain's BT Group to bring video and voice telephony to the PSP via the Go!Messenger software, which is set to launch in January of 2008. In other, less official PS3 news, word on the street is that the DualShock 3 -- not the infamous SIXAXIS -- will be compatible with Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, at least based on a second-hand report from the Japanese game magazine Dengeki PlayStation. The report has fueled suspicion that the new controller pictured in silhouette in recent GT5 ads is actually the DualShock 3, and that the controller will be made available coupled with a GT5 demo. We'll have to wait and see on this one, so try and stay tuned.

Read -- LGC07: SCEE announces PlayTV for PS3, "watch, record and replay TV shows"
Read -- BT, Sony unveil PlayStation with video calling
Read -- DualShock 3 rumbles with GT5 Prologue, Japanese gaming mag claims

So the PSP "lite" didn't exactly usher in a golden age of dual analog stick gaming that many Sony fans have been pining for, but it looks like a stop-gap savior might be in the works all the same. Sony has applied for a patent to hitch its DualShock or SIXAXIS controllers to the PSP as a sort of dock, allowing for wired or even wireless control of the PSP. Of course, dual analog control won't be much help on most PSP games, but gamers will be able to enjoy that downloadable PSX content as it was originally intended. That is, of course, if this harebrained scheme ever makes it to market.

[Via PSP Fanboy]

Another PlayStation 3 firmware update, another list of issues. Unfortunately, this seems to be somewhat of a recurring theme, and while users may not have found issues with last month's refresh, the v1.7 isn't as kind. Reportedly, the latest update enables the PS3 "to play PSOne titles that are already saved on your PSP," but numerous sources are suggesting that the feature, um, doesn't work. On a lighter note, PSOne and PS2 dual shock controllers will now shake, rattle, 'n rumble when connected to your PS3, and those with PSPs sitting around can also hit up v3.4 (required for the PSP-to-PS3 playback) on their handheld machine. So, dearest readers, we'll point the question at you: is your recently update PS3 playing nice with those PSOne selections?

[Via Joystiq, thanks to everyone who sent this in]

You're fairly aware by now of how Team Xtender's XFPS was all set to shake up the FPS realm on the Xbox 360 by giving gamers the ability to use the undisputed king of controls (that'd be the keyboard / mouse tandem) -- or Sony's widely adored Dual Shock controller -- instead of Microsoft's own rendition, but according to Xbox360Fanboy's review, it's not quite the post-Christmas miracle we were all hoping for. While expectations were admittedly set rather high, it seems the unit simply underperforms where it mattered most, and excelled in a somewhat less important department. Using Gears of War, Halo 2, and Rainbow Six 3: Vegas Demo as tests, reviewers found the keyboard / mouse setup to be a breeze, but actual in-game results were not only poor, but relatively unacceptable. If the "slight button delays" weren't enough to turn your nose up, the simply inability for a keyboard to emulate the "analog support of the Xbox 360 controller" made critical run / crouch movements next to impossible to pull off, and the mouse aiming was purportedly dreadful as well. It was stated, however, that it worked perfectly with a Dual Shock (PS1 or PS2 flavor) controller, so folks digging the Sony design but unable to locate (or afford) a PS3 should take note. Overall, the XFPS reportedly fails fairly miserably at giving Xbox 360 owners the chance to use their keyboard / mouse combo to shoot it up on a console, and just seems relatively expensive for a simple Dual Shock-to-Xbox 360 liaison, so unless you just have to learn things the hard way, we'd suggest holding off.

Have an Xbox 360 but secretly prefer your PS2 Dual Shock controllers over Microsoft's offerings? XCM's just released some photos of its latest adapter prototype, the XFPS 360, which include a pair of USB plugs, two PS/2 (the boring kind) jacks, and a place for your beloved PS2 (the fun kind) controller. In some ways, this is just a role reversal for that Xbox controller to PSP hack we spotted last year, don't you think? Anyway, the XFPS 360 hasn't quite yet entered mass production, so we've got no price or availability deets for the time being.

[Thanks, Bob E., via MaxConsole]

Press releases are boring. We go through literally hundreds of them a day, and for the most part, they're self-serving documents full of half-truths and inflated claims about products and services. So imagine our delight when we stumbled upon this little doozy of a release from marketing firm Ipsos Insight, which details a study done on behalf of the Immersion Corporation concerning gamers' preferences and purchasing plans with regards to the trio of next-generation consoles. You probably remember Immersion as the company that successfully sued Sony over the use of computer-controlled vibration technology in its PlayStation and PS2 Dual Shock controllers, and since Sony has apparently neither paid Immersion the $90 million it owes nor licensed the rumble tech for its SIXAXIS PS3 gamepads, the release comes across as a thinly-veiled reminder that gamers really, really like playing with input devices that shake and buzz in their sweaty hands.

Not only does the (completely unbiased) poll report that 72% of the 1,075 respondents agree vibration feedback enhances their game experience, it goes on to note that 59% of those surveyed would prefer rumble on the PS3 controller, while only 8% care about motion / tilt sensing (sorry, Nintendo). As if these numbers didn't paint a clear enough picture of the message Immersion is trying to convey, two further questions spell it out even more explicitly: when asked if the lack of rumble capabilities would affect their buying decisions (apparently 74% of those polled weren't even aware of the "no rumble" policy -- clearly no Engadget readers amongst that bunch), 5% said that it would definitely cause them not to buy a PS3 and 32% claimed that they were less likely to pick one up for this reason and this reason alone. Now obviously Immersion knew exactly the results that it wanted before it conducted this "study," and probably phrased the questions in order to get the most desirable data set, but even non-statistics majors like ourselves could have figured out that gamers accustomed to the fun of Dual Shock would be in for a letdown the first time they picked up a rumble-free SIXAXIS controller.

Okay, Sony, the cards are on the table, and even if these numbers are skewed, you know full well that you can't be the only player in the game without a little vibration action going on. So what's it gonna be: are you going to keep hoping that some appeals court finally overturns the numerous prior decisions against you, or are you going to shell out some dough just like Microsoft and Nintendo did, and finally give the majority of your target audience what it wants? To us, it doesn't really seem like much of a choice at all.

Why doesn't  Sony's Playstation 3 controller give you the shakes? According to the company, the familiar DualShock-style force-feedback was dropped from the new controller in favor of motion-sensors. However, Immersion Technologies -- which sued Sony for using its haptic tech in earlier controllers -- believes that the controller could be made to rumble, and has some ideas for Sony about how to do it. The catch: Sony needs to drop its appeal of the verdict in Immersion's 2004 lawsuit, and pay Immersion the $90 million that the judge in that case awarded the company. And, of course, Sony would have to pay Immersion for whatever technology they use in the PS3 controller. Frankly, it doesn't sound like a bad deal. By continuing to appeal the lawsuit, Sony's risking another loss and piling up legal fees, and by dropping the shock, they're left with a controller that many have called a weak attempt to copy the Wii. Working with Immersion on a haptic solution could solve both problems.