sparda
06-25-2005, 23:57
"RUMOR #1: A patent for the Revolution's gyroscopic, LCD-touch-screen-enabled controller has been uncovered.
Source: Our friends across the Atlantic at HM-Fusion and GamesRadar...which has since updated their story.
The official story: "Nintendo recently released information about Revolution at this year's E3 and has not announced any information since then. We will be divulging more details about our next console in the future. Only information released from Nintendo should be considered accurate."--Nintendo spokesperson.
What we heard: This particular rumor fired up just as the week was winding down, when GamesRadar pounced on the HM-Fusion-spotted listing for a Nintendo patent (US Patent 6,908,388; last updated on June 21, 2005). The patent reads, "[The] object of the present invention is to provide a game system and a game program allowing a player to feel as if a three-dimensional game space is tilted in accordance with a tilt of a game device. The patent goes on to describe that the player's in-game viewpoint is controlled by "a tilt sensor provided on the housing [of a controller] for generating output signals." So, in essence, the tilt sensor turns the controller into one giant joystick that manipulates the on-screen camera angle without the use of a thumbstick. The patent also mentions a "Liquid crystal display...and a plurality of operation switches provided on both sides of the LCD." These include the familiar D-pad and Start, Select, A, B, Right-shoulder and Left-shoulder buttons--but not the GameCube controller's left and right thumbsticks.
Citing the above as evidence, GamesRadar logically--and honestly--came to the following conclusion. "The controller for Nintendo's upcoming Revolution console will feature gyroscopic, tilt-sensitive technology, an LCD touch screen, and a greatly reduced number of face buttons, according to documentation on the US patent website," read the UK site's initial story.
Just one problem--the drawings filed with the patent clearly show a pre-SP GBA, (identified as "handheld game device 10" or "14") hooked up to a GameCube (identified as "game device 40"), as seen in Figure 1 of the patent illustrations. So Patent 6,908,388 is clearly not for the Revolution's controller, as GamesRadar at first claimed. In fact, the LCD screen and buttons they describe clearly belong to the GBA (Fig. 2), not any futuristic hybrid of a Wavebird and DS. (Also, nowhere in the patent is touch-screen functionality mentioned.)
That said, Patent 6,908,388 could show some technology that might appear in the Revolution's controller. Looking past all the legal doublespeak, the main feature of the patent is the tilt sensor, later identified as the "Acceleration Sensor" which can be inserted into a GBA via a cartridge (Fig. 4). But before you starting shouting "Yoshi Topsy-Turvy" or "WarioWare: Twisted!," the Acceleration Sensor described in the patent is also not for 2D games. The patent--which was first filed on May 19, 2003--describes the Acceleration Sensor as being different from any "conventional technique used for controlling a two-dimensional game image," since that tech "cannot be adapted to a three-dimensional game image which has become prevalent as a game image...Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a game system and a game program allowing a player to feel as if a three-dimensional game space is tilted in accordance with a tilt of a game device."
Diagrams of how the device will work show the Acceleration Sensor will truly be able to control action in all three dimensions when inserted into the GBA or on an external display. Even more interesting is Figure 17, the last drawing showing the device. It shows a standard GameCube with a controller that is equipped with the Acceleration Sensor internally in its front. "The controller 90 also includes an Acceleration Sensor 93 in the housing 90 [the controller]," reads the description. "Thus, when the controller 90 is held and tilted by the player, a value corresponding to a tilt of the controller 90 is output to the game device 40 [The GameCube]."
Clearly, Patent 6,908,388 shows players will be able to manipulate a three-dimensional in-game character by physical, real-world movement of a Nintendo handheld or Nintendo console controller either on a portable's LCD display or television screen. Since this has only been seen in two-dimensional games so far, then it appears that even though the patent shows a GameCube and GBA, the Acceleration Sensor is something gamers haven't gotten their hands on--yet.
Bogus or not bogus?: Bogus. Patent 6,908,388 is not the Revolution controller, though without the illustrations, that mistake would be all too easy to make. But it wouldn't be surprising if the Acceleration Sensor is incorporated into Nintendo's next-generation plans in some way. "
http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/06/24/news_6128178.html
Source: Our friends across the Atlantic at HM-Fusion and GamesRadar...which has since updated their story.
The official story: "Nintendo recently released information about Revolution at this year's E3 and has not announced any information since then. We will be divulging more details about our next console in the future. Only information released from Nintendo should be considered accurate."--Nintendo spokesperson.
What we heard: This particular rumor fired up just as the week was winding down, when GamesRadar pounced on the HM-Fusion-spotted listing for a Nintendo patent (US Patent 6,908,388; last updated on June 21, 2005). The patent reads, "[The] object of the present invention is to provide a game system and a game program allowing a player to feel as if a three-dimensional game space is tilted in accordance with a tilt of a game device. The patent goes on to describe that the player's in-game viewpoint is controlled by "a tilt sensor provided on the housing [of a controller] for generating output signals." So, in essence, the tilt sensor turns the controller into one giant joystick that manipulates the on-screen camera angle without the use of a thumbstick. The patent also mentions a "Liquid crystal display...and a plurality of operation switches provided on both sides of the LCD." These include the familiar D-pad and Start, Select, A, B, Right-shoulder and Left-shoulder buttons--but not the GameCube controller's left and right thumbsticks.
Citing the above as evidence, GamesRadar logically--and honestly--came to the following conclusion. "The controller for Nintendo's upcoming Revolution console will feature gyroscopic, tilt-sensitive technology, an LCD touch screen, and a greatly reduced number of face buttons, according to documentation on the US patent website," read the UK site's initial story.
Just one problem--the drawings filed with the patent clearly show a pre-SP GBA, (identified as "handheld game device 10" or "14") hooked up to a GameCube (identified as "game device 40"), as seen in Figure 1 of the patent illustrations. So Patent 6,908,388 is clearly not for the Revolution's controller, as GamesRadar at first claimed. In fact, the LCD screen and buttons they describe clearly belong to the GBA (Fig. 2), not any futuristic hybrid of a Wavebird and DS. (Also, nowhere in the patent is touch-screen functionality mentioned.)
That said, Patent 6,908,388 could show some technology that might appear in the Revolution's controller. Looking past all the legal doublespeak, the main feature of the patent is the tilt sensor, later identified as the "Acceleration Sensor" which can be inserted into a GBA via a cartridge (Fig. 4). But before you starting shouting "Yoshi Topsy-Turvy" or "WarioWare: Twisted!," the Acceleration Sensor described in the patent is also not for 2D games. The patent--which was first filed on May 19, 2003--describes the Acceleration Sensor as being different from any "conventional technique used for controlling a two-dimensional game image," since that tech "cannot be adapted to a three-dimensional game image which has become prevalent as a game image...Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a game system and a game program allowing a player to feel as if a three-dimensional game space is tilted in accordance with a tilt of a game device."
Diagrams of how the device will work show the Acceleration Sensor will truly be able to control action in all three dimensions when inserted into the GBA or on an external display. Even more interesting is Figure 17, the last drawing showing the device. It shows a standard GameCube with a controller that is equipped with the Acceleration Sensor internally in its front. "The controller 90 also includes an Acceleration Sensor 93 in the housing 90 [the controller]," reads the description. "Thus, when the controller 90 is held and tilted by the player, a value corresponding to a tilt of the controller 90 is output to the game device 40 [The GameCube]."
Clearly, Patent 6,908,388 shows players will be able to manipulate a three-dimensional in-game character by physical, real-world movement of a Nintendo handheld or Nintendo console controller either on a portable's LCD display or television screen. Since this has only been seen in two-dimensional games so far, then it appears that even though the patent shows a GameCube and GBA, the Acceleration Sensor is something gamers haven't gotten their hands on--yet.
Bogus or not bogus?: Bogus. Patent 6,908,388 is not the Revolution controller, though without the illustrations, that mistake would be all too easy to make. But it wouldn't be surprising if the Acceleration Sensor is incorporated into Nintendo's next-generation plans in some way. "
http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/06/24/news_6128178.html