Nintendo Patent Fuses Features of DS, Wii
The proposed handheld system would incorporate motion controls.
by Ryan Geddes

Nintendo has filed a patent application for a new type of handheld
game system with motion controls, according to the U.S. Patent &
Trademark Office online database.

The device, proposed by three Kyoto, Japan-based inventors, would
appear to combine the chocolaty shell of Nintendo's motion-sensing Wii
with the peanut-buttery center of its portable DS handheld.

The application, filed in March and published to the office's Web site
Aug. 2, describes a unit with built-in acceleration sensors that
detect movement. The still-theoretical sensor setup would then pass
that motion data on to the game system, incorporating movement into
play.

The application specifically states that the motion sensors would
detect tilt, movement and impact on the proposed system's outer
casing.

"A simulation program provides simulation such that a state of a game
space is changed related to at least one of the amount and direction
of the change applied to the housing," the application reads.

In other words: Move the unit around, and the game responds.

Although technically in English, much of the patent application is
characteristically peppered with incomprehensible legalese, tech
jargon and fun spelling errors (unless the patent lawyers who wrote
the application are talking about Cooking Mama, we're pretty sure
there's no such thing as a "roll-playing game.")

But the document is also full of interesting info. Early in the
application, the writers explain that, while game controls have gotten
pretty good at allowing players to manipulate their on-screen avatar,
they generally haven't moved too far beyond that basic idea.

"Consequently, it has been difficult for the player to change the game
space (or background scene) freely through his or her manipulation,"
the application reads. "In the conventional game operation method, the
player has been required to remember the way to operate a game
according to the suggestion given in the game-software instruction
manuals...Under such situations, the player possibly has encountered
difficulty in concentrating on a game play before mastering the way to
manipulate the game, losing his or her interest."

This section and many others in the app have the familiar ring of
Nintendo's money-printing mantra of late: Make gaming fun and easy for
as many people as possible.

http://wii.ign.com/articles/811/811180p1.html