Back in 2007, we had to publish a news article during the Christmas holidays to let you know that the sketches of a supposed motion sensing controller for the Xbox 360 were false. We told you at that time that we’ll reveal further info on Microsoft’s plans for a next-generation controller, but since our insiders would be in jeopardy, we decided to wait until more info was public.
We are finally able to talk more about what we know after a patent application for a gyroscopic-based input device by Microsoft has been published on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Described as a “computer pointing device (generally a mouse but alternatively a game controller or remote control device) that may be worn on the hand and operated without needing to contact a (mousing) surface,” this patent was filed back in 2006.
We were told that the motion sensing controller that Microsoft was researching had the functionality of both the Nintendo Wii Remote and the Nunchuk packed into a single device, with a shape that is neither that of a banana, nor a remote controller, but more like a “pistol grip.” On top, it is supposed to have an analog stick (that could be replaced by a trackball) surrounded by the four action buttons.
We know that Microsoft has been doing R&D on this device (as well as next-generation vision-based recognition) for the past two years and that’s why (and not because we are teamplaystation) we reported this patent application by Sony:
As you can see, we were very surprised when we saw Sony’s patent as it looked similar to the Microsoft controller revealed to us. We couldn’t tell you about the Microsoft controller at that time, but we could certainly report Sony’s invention.
From www.teamxbox.com
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