(Written by: Kyle Boedeker)

Although appearing yesterday for the first time, Sony's patent for a  "Universal" game controller was filed back in 2008. The idea behind it is explained in the text of the patent.

"Just like remote controls, game consoles, and thus game controllers, are becoming widespread. It is not surprising to find more than one game consoles in a household, especially when competing game console manufacturers attempt to attract unconventional consumer groups in the gaming industry. As understood herein, it would be useful to have a universal controller that would be able to work with a variety of game consoles."

It seems the device would be touch sensitive and change depending on which console you are using it with. (If you are using it with an Xbox 360 it would bring up that control scheme. A PS3 would be a different scheme etc..) Also there would be plenty of room for emulation of classic console control schemes such as NES or Atari 2600. It will even have speaker and rumble capabilities.

Will Sony acutally produce thist thing? In my opinion, probably not. It's just a patent and it might even exist for the sole purpose of making sure someone else doesn't come up with it. Also, by the time touch sensitive technology works well enough to allow this type of controller to exist, it will  be outdated. Look at the direction that console controllers are heading in (Natal, SMC). Their respective technologies are too divergent to create any sort of universal experience.

This patent represents a dream, and perhaps a good one, but I don't think this controller will ever see realization.

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