Microsoft and Nintendo keep up with Sony, get sued for controller patents
These days you're hardly participating in the electronic gaming industry if nobody is accusing you of stealing from their supa' secret stash of controller design patents. Microsoft and Nintendo have been lagging behind Sony lately, but the pair of them just got a nice big lawsuit which should have their respective controller design teams grinning with pride. The suit comes courtesy of Anascape Ltd, a Texas firm that is accusing Microsoft and Nintendo of breaching a whole slew of patents. The offenses include patents for "Variable Conductance Sensor," "Game Controller with Analog Pressure Sensor," "Variable Conductance Sensor with Elastomeric Dome Cap," "Remote Controller with Analog Button," "Image Controller with Sheet Connected Sensors," "Game Control with Analog Pressure Sensor," "Variable Sensor with Tactile Feedback," "Analog Controls Housed with Electronic Displays," "Variable Conductance Sensor" (again), "Remote Controller with Analog Pressure Sensor," "Analog Sensor with Snap Through Tactile Feedback," and "3D Controller with Vibration." Yeah, we have no idea what most of those are all about, but with this many patents floating around, this lawsuit is shaping into a nice bit of summer fun.
