During its "Destination Playstation" meeting with retailers and third-party teams, Sony announced an official release date for its DualShock 3 controller, as well as two upcoming bundles for its PlayStation 3 and PSP systems.
The DualShock 3 controller will be released in North America in April of 2008, following Sony's
initial announcement late in 2007 following settlement with 'rumble' patent-owning firm Immersion.
The wireless controller will add vibration functionality to the motion-sensing ability already available with the PS3's current Sixaxis controller, and will "work with more than 100 current PS3 titles" - it will cost $54.99.
In addition, to coincide with the "late Q2 2008" launch of much-anticipated PlayStation 3 exclusive
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, SCEA will introduce a bundle which includes the game, the 80 GB PS3 hardware and a DualShock 3 controller for $499.
In other Solid Snake-related news, a
Metal Gear Online "Starter Pack" will also be launched to support online game play, featuring up to 16 players, and a pre-sell promotion will enable gamers to pre-order
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots and be guaranteed access to a multiplayer beta test for
Metal Gear Online scheduled for late April.
Finally, Sony will also release a new (pictured) $199 PlayStation Portable bundle in June - themed around the upcoming
God of War: Chains of Olympus, set for a March 4th release date in North America.
It includes the game, a limited-edition "Deep Red" PSP console with a silkscreen of Kratos' face on the back, a UMD of the movie Superbad, and a voucher to download
Syphon Filter: Combat Ops for free from the PlayStation Store.
