The two controllers were said to be arriving sometime in October when we caught a gander at them, but a photo from Gamestop seems to show that the two will be hitting on Sept. 22.

And just in case you forgot, Sept. 22 is two days before the official start of the Tokyo Game Show. Sounds like perfect timing for a press conference.

Those shades are “Deep Red” and “Metallic Blue”, both of which you’ve seen before as PSP colours.

Sony’s red and blue DualShock 3 controllers land in October, love this country [Engadget]

Away from the chaos of E3, we’ve gotten a chance to swing a MotionPlus-appended Wii Remote to control Wii Sports Resort, the showcase game for Nintendo’s latest controller add-on. Yes, the chaos of the big show was absent, but present were guys from Nintendo. And here’s the thing: the more one spends time chatting with guys from Nintendo of America, the more one feels that that parts of their headquarters must feel like a gamer variation of a varsity locker room, where the jocks walk around with swelled chest bragging not about how much they can bench press but how many more times they can return a serve in Wii Sports Resort table tennis.

With meager skills and a willing attitude, Kotaku took a swing.

What Is It?
Wii Sports Resort is the sequel to Wii Sports, which is, Guitar Hero and World of Warcraft notwithstanding, the most-discussed game of the last five years. The original Wii Sports was packed in with every Wii sold in North America. The new Wii Sports comes bundled with MotionPlus, the required add-on that enables a more direct relationship between a player’s hand movements and those rendered on-screen. Wii Sports had four sports. Wii Sports Resort has 12 — well, more than 12 given some of the unlockable variations of the core dozen.

What We Saw
We binged and played five sports: archery, basketball, table tennis, swordplay and skydiving.

How Far Along Is It?
Wii Sports Resort is out in mere weeks. It’s done.

What Needs Improvement?
Uh, nothing? This game’s quite good. Maybe we should complain about how simple these Miis look. Or about how there’s no online play. Or how some of the sports, like bowling, are built upon (or recycled) from what was in Wii Sports. Or how the game would be cooler if it came bundled with two MotionPlusses instead of one to more easily enable multiplayer gaming. But such criticisms would be like yelling at a cute puppy to put on a hat: an ineffectual recommendation and one hardly guaranteed to improve something that’s already plenty capable of providing delight.

What Should Stay The Same?

Archery: Seen at E3, previewed by many. Hold the Wii Remote vertical as one would hold a bow and yank back with the nunchuck to pull back the arrow. Hold steady. Account for wind and how gravity will tug on a long-flying arrow. Release. After the easy levels, a batch of new areas and harder difficulty options open up.

Basketball: Select three-point contest (other variations are offered). Hold the remote sideways. Tap the b-button to grab a ball from a rack. Make a flicking motion. Put some spring in your toes. Work through racks all around the half court, just like the pros. It feels perfect, though somewhere a Sony designer is growling that they already did this with Sixaxis for the first NBA game on PS3. Sorry, dude.

Table Tennis: It controls like Wii Sports tennis but plays faster. The variation on head-to-head is a challenge to return serves. Kotaku army, try to beat Nintendo man Melvin’s 352 points. That’s an order. And don’t call the Achievement-like things in this game Achievements. They’re Accomplishments. It’s unclear, though, whether the times one hits the computer character on the other side of the table with a ball to the head is an Accomplishment or not.

Swordplay: One on one? Played it at E3 last year. Alternate mode involving chopping stalks of bamboo? It’s probably dandy. But if there’s a trophy for Mini-Game Of The Year, polish it for whatever Nintendo is calling Wii Sports Resort’s light variation of Gears of War Horde. You are your Mii. You’re holding a sword. And those waves of Miis coming down that rope bridge toward you need to be whacked. Batter them off the bridge and a balloon lifts them to some sort of Wii Sports Resort heaven. Boss Miis with extra health hearts and better blocking abilities await. By the way, imagine if those Miis rushing at you resemble your friends, family and favourite celebrity Miis.

Skydiving: Hold the Wii Remote like it’s a small doll and tilt it to make him dive. Shades of the Pilotwings sequel we behaved so well to get but Nintendo never made. Points are taken for linking the diver to other divers, which sends a photographer down to snap a shot. Parachutes open automatically to prevent that Pilotwings pastime of planting skydiver into ground. The unlockable modes for this one include an aeroplane dogfighting mode, stretching the definition of sport in a manner few will protest.

Final Thoughts
What originally could have been accused as a cash-in or pointless sequel instead appears to boast more depth than any game Nintendo’s internal teams have made in a couple of years. There’s little to complain about from last night’s preview session. In short bursts these games control splendidly.

This is one of those Nintendo games that, when you play early, feels like it’s going to both intimidate and inspire game creators. For gamers it will need to prove its depth is equaled by longevity. A healthy sampling of what’s on the game’s menu suggests that it will. Things are looking up for this one.

Packaged Korean pop group Wonder Girls air grind with a PS3 Sixaxis controller and Gran Turismo 5 Prologue in the video for tune “Now.”

Forget that the game doesn’t support motion controls! There’s grinding. There’s also jello, a 8mm camera and a dude on a motorcycle in the video if you’re into that kinda stuff.

The song is a cover. Dance pop outfit Fin.K.L. released the tune back in 2000 on their album Now. That video also has a PlayStation — but, a PS2. Sign of the times!

The K-Pop group is best known in Korea for its reality show and single “Tell Me“, which caused a dance craze of sorts. Next month, the Wonder Girls are set to make their US debut.

Wonder Girls – Now [world wide asianz via PlayStation Joystiq]

Katamari Damacy and Noby Noby Boy creator Keita Takahashi gave Game Developers Conference attendees a chance to learn “All About Noby Noby Boy” today, including that the game was originally developed on the Xbox 360.

Takahashi showed off an early prototype of the title, way before it was bound for release via the PlayStation Network. While crude, it showed off many of Noby Noby Boy’s gameplay mechanics. But there was a problem, forcing the game to change platforms.

Takahashi says that, because the Xbox 360 was selling so slowly in Japan at the time, you might think that it was a political decision. But the switch from the Xbox 360 to PS3 was due to one thing: the horizontal layout of the PlayStation 3’s DualShock/Sixaxis.

The Xbox 360 controller’s diagonal analogue stick layout was simply no good.

Besides, Takahashi says that one of his hopes for Noby Noby Boy was that it wouldn’t sell very well. More on that later.

What motion controls would you like to see in the Playstation 3 version of Batman: Arkum Asylum? Because Sixaxis support will likely be in there.

Warner Brothers Interactive wouldn’t comment on possible motion control in the game, actually blanching a little when asked. But we’re fairly certain that some form of motion control will be present in the PS3 version.

Me? I’d like to be able to wing a batarang at people by snapping the controller at enemies. Wait, that’s a horrible idea! I like my TV.

Check back tomorrow for my hands-on preview with the game’s challenge modes… on the Xbox 360.

The wireless keyboard also features a touchpad mode to allow for mouse input. David Reeves, president of SCEE, said that this touchpad control mode may be used in future game development.

The keyboard will ship in eight configurations in Europe to support the numerous languages and keyboard types in the continent.

Nothing official from Sony on this of course, but GI remains confident that something concrete will be announced in the coming month, possible at the E3 expo this July.

Sony working on ‘break apart’ motion PS3 pad [GamesIndustry.biz]