As it has promised in February, Sony will start to ship PlayStation 3's DualShock 3 controller in the United States, starting next week.

The price of the new controller is $54.99. Kazuo Hirai announced the DualShock 3 controller last year at Tokyo Game Show. The controller is compatible with over 100 titles for PlayStation3.

Many games will require a patch in order to enact the rumble feature, but Sony said it will be automatically download to your PS3 if you are connected online.

Initially, Sony claimed that rumble capabilities are not “next-gen” features, but one of the main reasons for which Sony did not include rumble features into the current SIXAXIS controllers for PlayStation 3 is the patent lawsuit filed by Immersion, which owns the intellectual property over some key aspects of the technology integrated in PS2’s DualShock controllers.

After settling the lawsuit with Immersion in March 2007, Sony was quick to announce DualShock 3 that went on sale in Japan in November last year as a separately sold accessory. Also the non-rumbling motion-sensing SIXAXIS controller has been discontinued.