The DualShock 3 was originally intended to be bundled with the PlayStation 3 in time for the console's launch; however, Sony was in the midst of appealing a decision from a 2004 lawsuit involving patent infringement claimed by Immersion.

The legal battle led to a decision to remove the vibration capabilities from the PS3 controller's initial design, which became known as Sixaxis.

[2] A major feature of the Sixaxis controller, and from where its name is derived, is the ability to sense both rotational orientation and translational acceleration along all three-dimensional axes, providing six degrees of freedom.

[3] This became a matter of controversy, as the circumstances of the announcement, made less than eight months after Nintendo revealed motion-sensing capabilities in its new game console controller (see Wii Remote), led to speculation that the addition of motion-sensing was a late-stage decision by Sony to follow Nintendo's move.

Immersion later emphasized compatibility with motion-sensing when introducing its next-generation vibration feedback technology, TouchSense.

[10] Subsequent statements from Sony were dismissive of the arguments from Immersion, with SCEA Senior VP of Marketing Peter Dille stating, "It seems like the folks at Immersion are looking to sort of negotiate through the press and try to make their case to us … we've talked about how there's a potential for that rumble to interfere with the Sixaxis controller.

"[11] However, in a press release made some eight months later, Phil Harrison, Sony's president of worldwide studios, said he didn't see a need for Sony's controllers to have rumble noting that rumble was the "last generation feature" and that he thought "motion sensitivity is [the next-generation feature]."

He added that rumble and other forms of feedback would continue to be valuable for certain types of games, but that it would likely come from third-party controllers.

In a change from previous PlayStation controllers, the Sixaxis features wireless connectivity based on the Bluetooth standard.

PlayStation 3 controllers are compatible with Bluetooth-equipped Apple Macintosh computers, with no external software required.

[14][15][16] The Sixaxis wireless controller features an internal 3.7 V Li-ion battery, which provides up to 30 hours of continuous gaming on a full charge.