More Dual Shock 3 Details Emerge

Unless you've been living under a rock on Mars, you've already heard about the Dual Shock 3, recently confirmed during Sony's keynote address at the Tokyo Game Show. And when it was unveiled, most noted a couple things; one of which was an important question: 1. it doesn't seem to change the cosmetic appearance of the Sixaxis, and 2. is the new rumble functionality any different than what we had in the Dual Shock 2?

Well, it appears the answer to that remains a bit up in the air, but the consensus seems to be that the rumble feature in DS3 does indeed feature new technology. Initially, one Sony source said the Dual Shock 3 will be identical to the Dual Shock 2- According to the Advanced Media Network, Sony's Kimberly Otzman said the rumble "will be exactly the same in both controllers with no difference in technology." This doesn't appear to be the case, though, as several sources, including 1Up, have put their hands on the new controller and found the rumble actually comes from different spots. They were playing MGS4 with it, for example, and when getting shot at from a certain direction, the controller would…well, rumble in that general direction. That'd be like our own little personal radar!

But the final aspect of concern is logical- what impact will this have on the battery life of the wireless controller? We needn't worry about that, though, as Otzman said the rumble won't have any "great strain" on the battery life. Sony expects the controller to last up to 15 hours with rumble enabled, although you'll still be able to get 30 hours out of it without the feature enabled. If you're wondering, the Xbox 360 controller last about 10 hours with the rumble on.

"The battery life depends on how often the rumble feature is used," said Otzman. " When the rumble feature is completely turned off, its equivalent with the Sixaxis and when the rumble feature is active it's about 15 hours, under SCE standard testing conditions."

Okay, sounds good to us. We wouldn't mind some official clarification on that "localized rumbling," but beyond that, it all sounds pretty good. Bring it on!