Throwable Game Controllers
dptalia writes "In trolling recent patents, Barry Fox found one for a throwable game controller. This controller would be shaped like a football or a frisbee and be connected wirelessly to a console. The user could then play digital games like catch, or have a distance throwing competition. The controllers have embedded GPS, an altimeter, and an accelerometer to be able to determine the accuracy of the throws."
Go outside and play football for real instead ? FP
I thought this was going to be a controller to survive gamer rage, which would be far more marketable.
Or maybe that's the idea. Get pissed off at your favorite ridiculously demanding platformer, and get in shape while doing it!
The sega genesis should have had this patent that 3 button controller is the most sturdy ever i gave my lil brother 3 concussions as a youth
* expandable Nerf(TM) living room accessory sold separately
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I fail to see how having a football chaped controller will allow one to digitally play games like catch. Is the console going to catch the ball when you throw it and throw it back to you? Also, how are you going to set distance records playing a video game inside? It seems like the ball will stop when it comes into contact with one of your walls.
The chair version of this controller will be an xBox 360 exclusive.
This guy's the limit!
I thought that this was for a controller that can survive several throws due to frustration, yet not break.
When I read the title, I was happy to know that I wouldn't have to worry about buying a new controller whenever my girlfriend plays Super Monkey Ball." But it's just a damn football on a tether.
Fnord.
Back in the late 1980s, one of the design students at Stanford came up with a Frisbee you could shoot down with a Laser Tag gun. The Frisbee had a detector for the light pattern from the gun. When triggered, it released a spring-loaded flap which made the Frisbee aerodynamically unstable, so the Frisbee would crash.
Very cute, but the laser tag fad died before this went anywhere.
Every controller is throwable. Believe me, I've, uh, "conducted extensive research".
This is the NFL, which stands for "Not For Long" if you keep making those bulls*** calls.
Can Miyamoto make a game controller so heavy he can't throw?
...in replaing umpires. Sensors on the shoulders and knees, in the ball, and over home plate. No more bitching about a blind umpire! Great for pitching training (with a dummy, I suppose) or a high-tech sandlot game.
"Times have not become more violent. They have just become more televised."
-Marilyn Manson
...that Nintendo, Sony, Sega, and Microsoft had been making throwable controllers for years!
I've certainly never had a problem doing so after a frustrating death/defeat after forgetting to or being unable to save recently.
I'd have plenty of experience throwing old school Nintendo controllers, Sega Genesis controllers, and on up the list... I do have to agree the Original Sega controllers were very very sturdy. I actually broke a Sega throwing the controller at it.. Of course the controller worked just fine on my *new* Sega.. (insert capitalist tinfoil "theories" here...)
My rantings, only longer and with better spelling..
The PS3's boomerang controller was cooler :(
...in my new imaginary 50,000 square foot house.
Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.
I have a closet full of prior art. Can't wait for these new wireless ones to chuck un restricted.
OSGGFG - Open Source Gamers Guide to Free Games
You mean I can go outside where there is room enough to play frisbee, and have it show up on my game console? Cool!
Of course, if I'm already outside playing frisbee with my friends then why the hell would I care about some imaginary frisbee game on my console?
i think the ps3 has this beat. Sony innovation!
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Fry: "Virtual Virtual Bowling! It feels just like you are playing virtual bowling!"
I been throwing controllers against the wall since the Atari 2600 days. Don't need no stinking patent to throw a controller. :P
I'd get loads of friends together and form teams. Of course, we'd have to wear uniforms so as to not confuse one another while playing and for the really long throws it would help if we took the Xbox outside on the field near my house. And it would just make sense to invite all my other friends that wanted to watch to sit in the stands. That could get expensive though, so I would have to sell refreshments and charge for entry, but it would be so cool to play sports on my Xbox like that!
These should have come with Ninja Gaiden.
Welcome to the new digital age of kids throwing shit around the house and breaking mom's vase.
> Get pissed off at your favorite ridiculously demanding platformer, and get in shape while doing it!
I would love to play Prince of Persia for real... Now that is a game to get in shape with!
Steve Ballmer: The Game. The controller is shaped like a chair... the target is a Google logo.
Don't lend you my DS. :-)
There's a baseball that's been out for a while that records it's own speed on a display on the baseball itself. It wouldn't be a stretch of the imagination to have it send the speed to some sort of baseunit..
+ baseball&btnG=Search+Froogle/
http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=speed+sensing
when i read the headline, i was soooooo hoping this meant a controller you could throw when you get pissed off (i.e. mortal kombat) and it wouldn't break...
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Forget innovation, the Boomerang controller you could at least use single player... :-)
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Kid 1: Hey little Johny, let's play "Super Golf 2008" on my new console.
Kid 2: Alright
*WHACK*
Kid 2: OWWW! MY EYE
Yeah, and then we all wait for the lawsuits.
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Visual representation!
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My first thought when reading this was of all the people I know who have thrown a game controller in frustration.
I hate it when people do that.
I thought for sure this would be about throwable controllers that you can send sailing across the room for regular games after losing a boss battle for the 100th time without breaking them. That would be a MUCH better invention! Hmm, I think I'll build it and call it the Rage Controller. Get it, it's like a double meaning lol ;)
Is it just me or is it not going to upgrade to Vista in here?
The vast majority of people [that use gaming consoles] don't have 12' ceilings and 400 sq. foot rooms.
Unless it comes with a retractable assembly that keeps the "ball device" within a few inches of your hand throughout the entire movement range of your arm, I'd file this one under the unlikely to succeed category.
Try it: Stand up and pretend you're throwing a football at full power in your apartment.
We all thought the PowerGlove was a great idea, and then we thought the PowerGlove hack for Linux was a great idea. Shortly thereafter, we all realized that a "full hand wave" in front of a computer monitor was a bad idea regardless of the platform (with the exception of Handicapped people, it's likely very useful for multiple afflictions).
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The germans one uped this idea years ago. Game feedback actuators that torture football players. Just run that vibration into a shin guard that breaks your lower leg when you are slide tackled in EA Sport's FIFA 2002. Wonder why toy manufactures in the States haven't started producing this yet....
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In case Clark Kent wants to try Madden?
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You don't Troll recent patents, unless you've found a way of provoking them with dumb comments.
You trawl them.