PS3 controller unveiled, motion sensor added

As expected, Sony revealed the newly design controller for the PlayStation 3 at its pre-E3 media event. The controller, which is based on the PS and PS2 controller designs, features a sophisticated in-controller six-axis sensing system that measures roll, pitch and yaw, as well as side-to-side and vertical acceleration.

From Sony's announcement:

Pursuant to the introduction of this new six-axis sensing system, the vibration feature that is currently available on Dualshock and Dualshock2 controllers for PlayStation and PlayStation2, will be removed from the new PS3 controller as vibration itself interferes with information detected by the sensor.

The shape of L2/R2 buttons located on the top of the controller has also been enlarged with increased depth in stroke for more subtle control in games. At the same time, the tilting angle of the analog joysticks has been slightly broadened to enable more delicate and more dynamic manipulation. Along with these improvements, precision of above information detection (L2/R2, analog joy stick) has been increased from 8 bit to 10 bit.

All input information will be immediately transferred to the PS3 system through the Bluetooth wireless technology. By using a USB cable, the PS3 controller can be swapped seamlessly from wireless to wired, and can be charged automatically. The cable can be attached and detached at anytime.

By integrating all these features into one standard PlayStation controller, SCEI, together with content creators, expects to further expand and accelerate the world of next generation computer entertainment.