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Razer’s Kishi is the Switch-style phone controller I've been waiting for
Razer's Kishi is an easy recommendation if you want a Gamevice-style peripheral. But if you're comparing the device to a full-size controller and phone clip, there's no clear-cut winner.
Gamevice's patent war against Nintendo rages on at the ITC
Even though Gamevice lost its years-long case against Nintendo last month, the company is brining a new complaint against the console manufacturer.
Nintendo prevails in lawsuit over Switch console and JoyCon design
After two and a half years of back-and-forth, a patent battle around the Nintendo Switch's design has ended in a win for the Japanese gaming company. In 2017, Gamevice filed suit against Nintendo, claiming that the Switch was too similar to its gaming tablet and that Nintendo's JoyCons were a ripoff of its snap-on tablet and smartphone controllers. Gamevice even tried to stop Nintendo from importing Switch units to the United States in 2018. All that effort didn't pay off, though.
Razer's Kishi gamepad plugs into your phone for minimal latency
No, that's not a Razer Phone 3 in the photo, but it's a Pixel 3a XL wedged between two halves of a new Razer gamepad. Following the Junglecat, Razer chose CES to launch the Kishi controller, which plugs straight into your Android (via USB-C) or iPhone for lower latency and hence faster response. Obviously, this can be life or death in world of competitive mobile gaming, especially with cloud gaming being pitched as a growing trend in the 5G era. On a similar note, the Kishi provides passthrough charging at the bottom right side, so you wouldn't have to worry about battery life while busy shooting at enemies.
Nintendo faces Switch patent infringement investigation in the US
Nintendo is under investigation by the US International Trade Commission, and the fate of the Switch hangs in the balance. Gamevice, the company behind the Wikipad and a line of snap-on controllers for mobile devices, says the Nintendo Switch violates its patents on attachable handheld gamepads and their related accessories. Alleging violations of the Tariff Act of 1930, Gamevice is requesting a cease and desist order against Nintendo, a move that would halt imports of the Switch into the US.
Nintendo faces lawsuit over the Switch's detachable controllers
The Nintendo Switch certainly isn't the first gaming tablet, but is it directly riffing on others' ideas? Gamevice thinks so. The accessory maker is suing Nintendo for allegedly violating a patent for concepts used in the Wikipad, its gaming-oriented Android slate, as well as its namesake add-on controllers for phones and tablets. According to the suit, the Switch and its removable Joy-Con controllers are too close to Gamevice's vision of a combination of detachable game controller and a device with a "flexible bridge section." Not surprisingly, the lawsuit calls for both damages and a ban on Switch sales.
Wikipad breaks off controls into mobile Gamevice gamepad
In its ongoing effort to announce products people may not want long before said products are available to buy, Wikipad today unveiled its Gamevice tablet game controller. The mockup above is an example of what the Gamevice might look like when we get our hands on it sometime later in 2014 -- it won't be at CES next week and it doesn't have a projected price or release window (other than this calendar year). Rather than focus on the larger tablet form factor, the Gamevice adapts the 7-inch Wikipad's controls for -- the company's hoping -- a variety of Android and Windows 8 devices. It sounds like iOS support is also in the works, but there's nothing officially confirmed just yet. Whether there's a market for Wikipad's Gamevice is another question altogether. There's no shortage of mobile gamepads out there, and it's not clear that Gamevice is any better than the competition. If anything, based on previous experience with the Wikipad's controls, we're a bit skeptical. The company also announced an OTA update for the 7-inch Wikipad that adds Jelly Bean 4.2 and mappable controls. It should be available today.
