Nintendo patent application reveals plans for motion-sensing handheld
By Donald Melanson 
posted Aug 7th 2007 12:31PM
posted Aug 7th 2007 12:31PM
Nintendo's already dipped its toes into motion-sensing handheld gaming with the gyro-equipped WarioWare: Twisted for the Game Boy Advance, but it looks like the company looks has even grander plans to let you make a fool of yourself in public, at least if a recent patent application is any indication. According to it, Nintendo has a new "game system" on the drawing board that incorporates acceleration sensors in a "housing" to detect movement and direction. Somewhat curiously, a significant chunk of the patent application has been marked as "cancelled," but the remaining bits do have some interesting details, including what seem to be multiplayer capabilities. In patent speak, that part is described as a " game system structured at least by two game apparatuses," each of which have a means for "transmitting mutually-related data to the game apparatus on the opposite side." Of course, this simply being a patent application it could well turn out to be something entirely less exciting than it seems, if it ever actually comes to fruition at all.
[Via Joystiq]
[Via Joystiq]
Like the DS motion cart? A homebrew cart with the same capabilities and good games has been out for a while.
I love that their patent applications have stars in them. How very Nintendo of them.
How very gay of them, typical nintendo for ya.
Anyone ever tried to play a game on a moving screen??
Motion sensitive hand held = bad idea
A lot of games could end up being horrible, but have you ever played the Kirby gameboy color game, i think it was 'Tilt and Tumble'? You would tilt your gameboy around and Kirby (in a ball) would move around. It turned out to be pretty good.
There is nothing really new in this - doesn't anyone remember that Yoshi GBA game that had the motion detector in the cart. They are just patenting moving the sensor from the cart to the machine. Odd that Sony overlooked this, another feature they won't be able to put in PSP2. You'd think they'd have learnt from their litigation over vibration functionality in gamepads.
Head To Head Boxing via linked handhelds will now require actual helmets.
Gameboy Feel!
You feel the motion, and control it ;)
I miss my days of kirby tilt n tumble ;_; sp/ds lite = not compatible. :(
I still have Warioware:Twisted.
It's a very fun title, even to replay on my DS Lite.
If nothing else Nintendo has really gotten everyone thinking about unique control options, and that's nothing but good.
I hope this doesn't come true, I just don't see the point of having to move the system but also look at the smaller screen, it would be tough. I think that a touch screen for the DS is a better idea. I could be wrong, I think that Nintendo can make pretty much anything happen in the gaming industry, but what I'm saying is it wouldn't be pratical for a portable system. I love the march of innovation, but we all know what happened when Nintendo tried to be too outlandish, the result was pretty horrible for a company of Nintendo's stature.
-Innovation can be good, but it must also be practical and simple to use, Nintendo is good at both I think.
hmmm, The Nintendo Wii-S... Has a nice ring!