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Sony patents "hybrid separable motion controller"; gearing for PS4?

What?



Same thing here. I'm actually excited about the PS4 now
They aren't how many developers do you see integrating Move controls still? Even Sony first party aren't doing it. Developers didn't jump on the Wii bandwagon and even Nintendo have left it behind

Developers just aren't interested, they will be less interested next gen
 

-COOLIO-

The Everyman
With those breakapart designs, you get an awkward normal controller and an awkward motion controller. Just break it and KEEP it broken.

fNiJJ.png

im also cool with this.

i dont understand why it would need to be joined,
 

omonimo

Banned
Seen this before, but not with the Move bulbs.

Really, this is a great idea IMO.

A great way to fuse casual gamers who liked the Wii's motion control, with hardcore gamers.

If they can make a controller that is like the Dualshock, but is comfortable enough to break a part like this, it'd be a great way to bring the Move forward as a standard, since they have invested in it already.

I just am not sure about playing classic Dualshock style with bulbs. They just have to design it so that it isn't awkward.

Eh, I don't know how much precise could be without those.
 

KevinCow

Banned
I really hope this is actually the direction they're headed and not one of those random patents that people discover but never actually happen. It's the controller I've been hoping for since the Wii came out.
 

Fermbiz

Gold Member
I remember there was a 3rd party controller for the PS1 where you can split the it in half and play using the dpad using your left and and the buttons using with the right hand. I wanted to get it so I could be extra lazy gamer :p
 

alr1ght

bish gets all the credit :)
If that thing would magically connect with magnets it would be magic. I'm assuming that would screw with the other tech in it, but it sure would be cool.
 

Zaptruder

Banned
Eh, I don't know how much precise could be without those.

With the newest motion sensor tech around - it can be extremely precise.

With the addition of micro-camera technology, it can also correct for drift consistently.

With those two pieces of tech... it'd be pretty expensive for a single controller.

(but in volume, they're not that expensive... like $10 extra max (component cost wise)...)
 

MYE

Member
They aren't how many developers do you see integrating Move controls still?

Its not a standard controller.

Even Sony first party aren't doing it. Developers didn't jump on the Wii bandwagon and even Nintendo have left it behind

If its standard, Sony will support it.
Plenty of third party games used the Wii's motion+IR functions.
Nintendo still supports Wiiremote + Nunchuck for Wii U games as seen with their re-packaged boxes and games like Nintendoland or Pikmin 3, and big games like BLOPSII offer the option to play it Wii-style

Developers just aren't interested, they will be less interested next gen

okay
 

Kai Dracon

Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
IMO Sony made a big mistake by trying to "outdo" Nintendo's design and reuse the PS Eye camera. The glowbulb system is too large, ugly, and doesn't provide the IR pointer precision of the "simple" wii remote triangulation tactic with a pair of cheap leds on a sensor bar.

Now they're stuck with it moving forward, if they don't back up, abandon it, and start over.
 

Orayn

Member
I remember there was a 3rd party controller for the PS1 where you can split the it in half and play using the dpad using your left and and the buttons using with the right hand. I wanted to get it so I could be extra lazy gamer :p

Is it this?

hqNdV.jpg


Found this when searching for better examples of one-handed controllers.
 
They aren't how many developers do you see integrating Move controls still? Even Sony first party aren't doing it. Developers didn't jump on the Wii bandwagon and even Nintendo have left it behind

Developers just aren't interested, they will be less interested next gen

That's because Move wasn't standard. With so many platforms to develop for, and with the Move fragmenting so much of the PS3 community, it's not worth investing in. Make this a standard, and this will change. Some Developers have to: develop for Xbox/develop for PC/develop (separately) for PS3/develop for handhelds/develop for Wii/work with separate bugs/do patches/work on DLC. There is a crazy lack of unison in the industry and devs have to work on all or a combination of these. Why put resources towards Move, when it makes up for a fraction of the consumers? Either developers are confident and have the resources and time to be a Move seller, or they wait for Sony to make Move significant enough to develop for. None of this happened

Eh, I don't know how much precise could be without those.

Yeah, but can they not have a technology that doesnt require the silly bulbs? I understands its purpose, but surely there is a way to modify it. when they demoed Move they made it clear it was a prototype design lol

im also cool with this.

i dont understand why it would need to be joined,

That could make some core gamers mad. I dont think Id mind, but a classic controller is what everybody has been using forever.

If they can design it so that you can make it join or split it apart, and remove or fold in components, it could be great. There are third party controllers today where you can remove the analog stick and move it around to the dpad, right?

There are many ways they can go about this, but I do definitely think it'd be a good idea to bring forward motion controls, especially if Nintendo is dropping it and MS is using no buttons.I mean, there is a market on Wii that used it, why abandon them?

Along with 3D gaming, motion controls may be able to immerse you in some great ways. Wonderbook is something that looks very appealing for kids. Truth is, Sony cant ignore the more casual market, and cant just cater to core gamers. MS is promoting Kinect, Wii is promoting tablet gaming. Sony needs something, but not something that takes away from the "We are core gaming" mantra, or something that takes precedence over that.

If Sony can brand PSN to appeal to Xbox gamers, sell their core IPs to attract back PS gamers, and brand itself as casuals with a proper motion control device from the getgo, they could be successful. But since it's Sony, I have my doubts
 

demidar

Member
IMO Sony made a big mistake by trying to "outdo" Nintendo's design and reuse the PS Eye camera. The glowbulb system is too large, ugly, and doesn't provide the IR pointer precision of the "simple" wii remote triangulation tactic with a pair of cheap leds on a sensor bar.

Now they're stuck with it moving forward, if they don't back up, abandon it, and start over.

You think it's another Vita scenario? Overdesigned and trying to find its own niche going into the next generation?
 

Orayn

Member
I don't want forced motion controls please. Let there be an option for both motion and traditional controls for both types of gamers.

It wouldn't be forced, though. You have all the same inputs as a DualShock 3, just in the form of two one-handed controllers. Granted, the layout needs a little work, but I'm of the opinion that split controllers are more comfortable even if they're not being used for accelerometer/gyro/pointer stuff.
 

MYE

Member
Actually, a while ago I was predicting a shitty middle ground between Vita's touchpad and the old as shit Dualshock design sony keeps dragging along to please their fans, as a best case scenario for (finally!)a new controller.

quKQ9.jpg


I dont even know why you'd need a touchpad there but seemed to me like the boldest direction they would be willing to go besides reprinting DS with a 4 at the end. But bleh! Fuck that safe bet mentality.
I will do a standing ovation if sony has the balls to make this break-apart motion controller a standard.
Do it Sony! Go all the way or dont bother
 

Meesh

Member
Whatever their controller is, I hope they dont go the "tablet" or touch screen route...for once I'd like to see them do their own thing for their next gen console.
 
Doesn't look bad actually, and having two separate sensors for each player sounds really good. But I really hate this sensor thing. I wish we could go back to 'joystick only' gaming.
 
Just make it like this

ces-2011-razer-hydra-03530x350jan8.jpg


Put a dpad on the left controller instead of buttons And reduce the size of the light balls to be as small as a marble

Then I'm game
 

alr1ght

bish gets all the credit :)
It wouldn't be forced, though. You have all the same inputs as a DualShock 3, just in the form of two one-handed controllers. Granted, the layout needs a little work, but I'm of the opinion that split controllers are more comfortable even if they're not being used for accelerometer/gyro/pointer stuff.

Then you still get games developed with waggle in mind (see early PS3 games). It's not like games will have a yes/no motion control setting.
 

moonbox

Banned
So basically this is the Sony Wii... What's the point? The Wii is dead. You wanna play Wii Tennis all over again just with better graphics? You wanna swing the controllers around just to run in GTA V? Fuck that shit. I don't understand the hype i'm seeing in this thread at all. Remember when the PS3 controller looked like this:
controller.jpg


It made much more sense ergonomically than the crap that is the current standard. Yet that was still rejected entirely by the Sony fanbase for looking too 'odd'. Why is this Sony Wii controller any different? Ya'll be cray, man.
 
Well, ideally it wouldn't be exactly the shape of a PSMove controller. If my mockup skills were better, I'd show it looking something like the Razer Hydra - Contoured like the Nunchuk with the buttons/d-pad still directly under the analog stick, but with enough space that it wouldn't be awkward just to shift your thumb down.

I just don't see how it could work unless it's like the design in the OP. In which case there'd be no reason to not go with an optional split design instead of a permanent split. The Dual Shock works well with every genre, and that's the main reason why I think it's the best controller out there. I'd hate for them to dump that in favor of a split design.
 

yurinka

Member
And here comes the DS4/Move 2!

I assume that they would improve the resolution of the camera, so the size of the golf balls would be proportionally smaller than the resolution increase.

If they make the balls small enough, and the general design enough similar to the DS3 (maybe just improving the analogs making them more 360 like), then we'll have the ultimate motion controller.

With this and Vita with cross-controller and remote play for all games with decent lag then we'd have the winner of the gen controller wise.

Btw, consider that with double ball there would be triangulation so the pointer stuff would be even better.
 
Do the glowing balls at the top remove the triggers? Don't see any triggers in those mockup patent drawings.

No trigger future confirmed by Sony!

Fig. 7 has some kind of interface or indicated presence of triggers

Lawyer art != design art.

Yeah, pretty sure I've heard that patent art is purposely as ridiculous and stupid looking as possible for competitive reasons.

Actually, a while ago I was predicting a shitty middle ground between Vita's touchpad and the old as shit Dualshock design sony keeps dragging along to please their fans, as a best case scenario for (finally!)a new controller.

I dont even know why you'd need a touchpad there...

Back in the Revolution controller speculation days I thought it would be interesting if part of the controller was screen/touchpad. Would allow developers to add in unique buttons, quick access menu, hidden selection, perhaps other gameplay tricks (one I had was for a game like Eternal Darkness where the controls would suddenly be remapped to the touchpad and also move around). Could also be used for smaller things like maps, rear view, scanner, and so forth. Of course the Wii U Gamepad is sort of a massively expanded version of that.
 
Whatever Sony does, they can't be too radical.

Think of the nightmare it will be for developers to deal with: Kinect, Tablet, and whatever Sony does. If Sony wants third party support, they have to be relevant and significant in terms of market share. That means coming out before MS so that developers are on board.

I definitely dont want Sony to do a tablet or Kinect, because they will be treated second class.

What I really think will be great is just giving us this hybrid controller (presuming that motion control isn't a big pain to do), making developing for the PS4 much easier, and even giving us MORE buttons. Think about it, an extra two buttons, or a back trackpad (if they can ever design the controller to properly fit all this) could be great.

Wouldn't extra buttons be a huge advantage for core games?
 

emag

Member
Not to be super-pedantic or anything, but in this case Sony's filed a patent APPLICATION. The USPTO recently made the contents of the application public via a PreGrant Publication. If a patent ever results from the application, it won't be for a few years and very likely will be somewhat different from what is currently claimed.

Just FYI. Not that it has anything to do with the speculations based on the drawings, of course.
 
Maybe if they throw in an HD camera and make the balls tiny, like the little lights in Minority Report.

minorityreport.jpg


Using current Move-sized balls would look terribly stupid.
 

Orayn

Member
I just don't see how it could work unless it's like the design in the OP. In which case there'd be no reason to not go with an optional split design instead of a permanent split. The Dual Shock works well with every genre, and that's the main reason why I think it's the best controller out there. I'd hate for them to dump that in favor of a split design.

I can see where you're coming from, and I'm not at all opposed to a split design. I just think that if you're going to split something and have it still work well in both of its roles, the DualShock 3 is a terrible choice due to the short handles and angles between the buttons/d-pad and sticks.

pXmx9.jpg


Splitting this down the middle would work better.
 

Ashes

Banned
Maybe if they throw in an HD camera and make the balls tiny, like the little lights in Minority Report.

minorityreport.jpg


Using current Move-sized balls would look terribly stupid.

I used something similar in a Nissan the future exhibition. It was so very cumbersome. The act of realigning when you get to end of the screen, like in the case of a mouse on a mouse pad, needs to be fixed. - such as in in case of the mouse where you can just lift a mouse and centre it again.
 
With those breakapart designs, you get an awkward normal controller and an awkward motion controller. Just break it and KEEP it broken.

fNiJJ.png

The level of stupidity required to go down this road of making this the main controller is nothing Sony is capable of regardless of what you think of their track record.
 
Lawyer art != design art.


But even if it did turn out to be this... eh, it looks imminently usable.


This btw, is what I've been championing the whole time, that idiot gamers (specifically gamers that are idiotic) have been highly resistant to.

It's very simple - motion controls let you do something that can't be done without motion controls. But traditional controls allow you to do something that can't be done with just motion.

You want the full complement of motion and traditional control functions - so as to allow you to expand what is possible in games; not just provide a broken dichotomy between 'hardcore gaming' and 'casual waggle' gaming.
DITTO THIS!

Screw the haters. This would be awesome.
 

RibMan

Member
Whatever their controller is, I hope they dont go the "tablet" or touch screen route...for once I'd like to see them do their own thing for their next gen console.

Sony have been using touchscreens in their devices for over a decade now. Touchscreens are now a standard feature in multitasking electronics, so it makes sense to implement one in their next controller.
 
Why would you ever want to put a split controller together?

So the people that complain about traditional gaming controllers, can snap a few pieces together and, have something that resembles the Dualshock?

This is clearly just a patent image, and probably no way representative of a final build. But assuming they do go with something like this, I'm 100% sure they will conceal the orbs, and/or find an alternate way of doing the same task, in a sleeker form.

Now, how they would do this AND have it break apart? Hmmmm, not so sure how that would look, but I can see how it would be practical. Some traditional games use it like a regular controller, and the motion enabled games use the same controller, in a totally different way. One controller, many possibilities.
 

Snaku

Banned
Sony got conned into believe motion gaming was the future by Nintendo. The tits controller is the horrifying result.
 

Ashes

Banned
Sony have been using touchscreens in their devices for over a decade now. Touchscreens are now a standard feature in multitasking electronics, so it makes sense to implement one in their next controller.

Hopefully they come up with a controller that doesn't costs more than the 3ds to replace.
 
Dual shock is now the dual split? I am all for this as long as it gives me the option the use it like a normal
controller meaning there should be the option to use te controller while connected andnot have it split all the time.
 

Jack_AG

Banned
I have mixed feelings. As long as it is comfortable to hold and button placement feels right - it can look like whatever it wants, IMO.

Usability (placement of all buttons/analogs)
Comfort
Else

That's at least where i'm at. 1 and 2 are very close in rank.
 

RibMan

Member
Hopefully they come up with a controller that doesn't costs more than the 3ds to replace.

The screen would be the most expensive component of the controller. Depending on what size they choose, they could get away with a touchscreen controller that costs under $99.
 
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