SixAxis sold without USB cable

Thursday 16 November 2006
Stand-alone SixAxis pads purchased in Japan do not come packaged with the USB cable required for charging the controller's battery, GamesRadar has discovered. This leaves the single cable included in PS3's box as the only way to charge your pads, regardless of how many you buy.

As we revealed last week, our friends at PSM3 sent an intrepid reporter across to Tokyo to pick up one of the world's first PS3's. They also grabbed an extra controller - only to find that it was supplied without an accompanying charge cable when the pad's package was opened.

Sony UK states that it is unable to comment on whether this situation will be the same when PS3 launches in the UK. "We won't know about the UK until closer to our own launch," we were told.

Fortunately, GamesRadar can confirm that standard mini-USB to USB cables will function as a stand-in - although the wire provided with PS3 is longer and more suited to gaming. But it could work out cheaper to pay around £4 for a regular wire than cough up for the officially licensed cable that will no doubt appear if the same SixAxis situation occurs over here. Or are we just being cynical?

Ben Richardson is a former Staff Writer for Official PlayStation 2 magazine and a former Content Editor of GamesRadar+. In the years since Ben left GR, he has worked as a columnist, communications officer, charity coach, and podcast host – but we still look back to his news stories from time to time, they are a window into a different era of video games.