We have an interesting follow up on a newly discovered Nintendo patent.
This refers to a patent for what appears to be a peripheral meant for the Switch 2. Remote Play Gaming shared a post on the GamingLeaksandRumours on Reddit on what they believe this patent is.
So, the reason we should take this seriously is one of Remote Play Gaming’s hosts, Mark, explained in a video that he worked in the wireless industry on FCC certification. So, Mark happens to have the work specialization that he can explain the technical details and the form items in the text of the patent filing.
We won’t bog you down with every item here, and we assume you didn’t get caught up in the speculation about this device online. TLDR, Mark believes this is a motion tracking device that will be attached somewhere to the body, but not in the head.
While Nintendo is not the first company to apply motion tracking technology to video games, they are particularly well known for having breakout mainstream success with the technology with the Wii Mote on the Nintendo Wii.
Subsequently, on both the Wii U and the Switch, Nintendo was able to popularize the use of motion controls on conventional video game controllers. Gamers who have decided that the Wii U is a complete failure forget that a major selling point for Splatoon on that console was the motion controls.
Sony actually tried to get gamers into motion controls in the PlayStation 3 with games like Lair. However, they were able to successfully normalize motion controls on their DualSense controller, best used in first party games like God of War: Ragnarok.
This peripheral sounds like it could be best used in games like Just Dance, which is of course another legacy title from the Wii that relies on the motion controls. It’s possible that Nintendo is looking beyond the Wii’s simplified application of motion controls, so that the Switch 2 would be able to play VR and mixed reality games.
Titles like Beat Saber align exactly with the family friendly market that Nintendo’s platforms are in, so they would definitely love it if the Switch 2 had the technology needed to play their games without compromises. But beyond that, the Switch 2 could make VR and mixed reality games like Half Life: Alyx more accessible to a broader audience.
After all, you can get a mixed reality headset that’s cheaper than a PlayStation 5 Pro. But there are other limits to the technology’s potential market. Those cheaper VR headsets usually require complicated setups, and have to be played in a dedicated play area. And then there are the health concerns.
While some gamers debate that Nintendo needs to leave their ‘gimmick’ Iwata era behind, and get ‘boring.’ But that ignores that Iwata built up on what his predecessor, Hiroshi Yamauchi, established. Subsequently, Shuntaro Furukawa’s tenure is defined by continuity with Iwata’s and Yamauchi’s foundation, not to mention the influence of prior creatives and executives like Gunpei Yokoi.
In that sense, this patent may hint that Nintendo is both looking back and moving forward, with a return to motion controls in their video games, in a way that both allows them to resurface the past, and innovate with something we haven’t seen before.
