Sony's New Patent Let's You Use a Banana as a PlayStation Controller

Sieeka Khan, Tech Times 03 March 2021, 12:03 pm

Sony's PlayStation has a new patent, and the detail shows it is a banana, which could be PS5's newest controller.

Sony has recently filed a patent for a new controller device, and many pointed out that it looked like a banana when the document was revealed.

PlayStation banana controller

First revealed by GameIndustry.biz, Sony has been working on the way to turn household items into PS5 controllers. This is for a new application for PSVR 2, which is a system that would track the user's own items and their changes through contours and pixels to control all in-game actions.

The technical application of this patent is basically to turn anything into a PlayStation controller. The patent details that it would be desirable to use simple, non-electronic, and inexpensive devices as a video game peripheral.

Also Read: PlayStation to Exclude Some Games as it Expands to PC

The original patent filing description also reads that the present disclosure wants to address or alleviate some of the identified issues. Also, Sony's solution to this issue is a non-luminous passive object held by a gamer and could be an item as simple and random as a banana.

Currently, there is not much evidence to suggest that the patent will actually follow the shape and form of a Sony PlayStation product, but users hope that one day they can play games with a banana due to its unusual yet fun nature.

Patent filings are not new, as Sony and other video game companies have used them in the past. In 2020, there were a couple of patent filings done by Sony for PlayStation projects. Some of them have taken shape, such as the PSVR patent that preceded the announcement of the PS5 PSVR headset.

The haptics-related patent was also announced, which could eventually bring controller haptics to streams. Some patents do eventually lead to real initiatvies, while others are just precautions against a potential idea that is being shaped, according to Reddit.

What is a patent?

Game developers and publishers take extra steps in order to safeguard ideas and inventions. Game developers can file patents to get the rights to a new creation or invention and protect them from being used by their competitors.

This could come in the form of a new feature developed for hardware, a kind of game feature, or even an original gameplay aspect. If a patent request is approved, other companies can't use or create the same feature or copy it would ask for the owner's permission.

The world of video games has a very long and unusual history of patented features and systems throughout the years, according to GamesRadar.

Some patents even raised eyebrows when it was released, such as the Nemesis system created for "Shadow of War," the dual-reality gameplay created for "The Medium," the dialogue wheel developed for "Mass Effect Legendary Edition," the play while you wait, the directional arrows, the sanity system, the Nintendo D-Pad and the unlocking secrets in video games developed by Midway Amusement Games.