When Sony finally unveiled its new rumble controller for the PS3 at the Tokyo Game Show, details were somewhat scarce. Would the DualShock 3 feature some new kind of rumble functionality? Would Sony take advantage of Immersion's new next-generation vibration technology?

Apparently the answer is no. Sony Computer Entertainment America's Kimberly Otzman, corporate communications, confirmed to GameDaily BIZ, "The rumble feature on the DualShock 3 is the same as DualShock 2."

One of the rumors in the months leading up to the announcement was that in addition to figuring out how to balance motion sensing and rumble in one controller, Sony's engineers also had to figure out how to maximize battery life with rumble reintroduced.

Otzman said that "battery life depends on how often the rumble feature is used." She added, "When the rumble feature is completely turned off, it's equivalent with the Sixaxis (maximum of 30 hours) and when the rumble feature is active it's about 15 hours, under SCE standard testing conditions."

Another burning question we had was whether or not the DualShock 3 would effectively replace the Sixaxis. The original announcement from Sony indicated that the DualShock 3 would launch as an accessory in Japan, but did not indicate if the North American release would be as an accessory or as part of a new PS3 purchase. Our guess is that the DualShock 3 will eventually be packed in with PS3 hardware shipments and will become the de facto standard controller over the long-term.

Regarding a pack-in with PS3 hardware Otzman said, "Nothing has been decided yet, stay tuned."