Sunday morning, somewhere in Japan. We dutifully make our way to a shop called Bic Camera, which is seven floors of electronics and washing machines and games, but -- confusingly -- not a stockist of Bic biros. And for what? The Dual Shock 3, of course -- this amazing new piece of technology that vibrates, almost erotically, to give you physical feedback of the events you see in your PS3 games. We really cannot resist giving our money to Sony when it provides highly innovative peripherals such as the Dual Shock 3.

You'll be happy to know that we picked up two of the new pads (at the equivalent of £21 each) at our branch of Bic Camera, purely out of loyalty and to maintain our "early adopter" status. There were eight other pads left on the shelf, which we briefly contemplated buying for an eBay moneymaking scheme before realising that we couldn't really be bothered because it's a Sunday.

And the controller itself? Very nice. Feels about three times heavier than the non-rumbling Sixaxis, which we're inclined to classify as a Good Thing (the plain Sixaxis feels too light). Rumbles like a tummy before lunch. And it has 'Dual Shock 3' stamped on its husk in blue type. The pad is also available in white, to go with the white 40GB PS3 model launched here today, but it looks a bit tacky because the sticks and buttons aren't white -- almost as though Sony is employing people to Tipp-Ex a certain percentage of the pads it manufactures.

So there you have it. Better late than never, and at last we're equipped to properly enjoy our PS3 games (the rumbling ones, anyway). If Europe behaves, Sony will Dual Shock it for the third time at some point before next summer.

Update: I've just tested the Dual Shock 3 with a trio of the PS2's finest -- Rez, OutRun 2006, and Katamari Damacy -- on a 60GB Japanese PS3 running the 2.00 firmware. Good news, people: they all rumble!

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