The Wiimote, circa 2001
This is a controller prototype created by Gyration for Nintendo back in 2001, called the GyroPod. It could be held like a PlayStation-style controller, or snapped apart into a Wiimote/Nunchuk configuration.
Nintendo licensed Gyration's motion-sensing technology, and commissioned them to create controller concepts like the one pictured. So basically you're looking at a direct ancestor to the Wiimote of today. We like the connecting concept, and wish Nintendo had held on to it. Although it wouldn't work too well with the current controller shapes, and the iconic remote-controlness of the Wiimote is a big part of what gets nongamers into it.
That, in turn, allows us to write those triumphant NPD posts month after month. So, in summary, never mind.
[Via Kotaku]
