14 DAY TRIAL // At the E3 trade conference this year, Sony unveiled its wand-based motion tracking controller, announcing that it plans to release it to gamers at some point in spring 2010. The device does not yet have a catchy commercial name (and “the Sony wand” seems to be poised to stick) but the company has already filled patents related to the various attachments it will support, enabling players to get different game experiences depending on their interests.
At the moment, no game developer has announced projects designed to work specifically with the new motion tracking controller for the PlayStation 3.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office received an application from Sony Computer Entertainment detailing plans to create attachments like: a microphone, a flashlight, a crosshairs, a pair of maracas, and a baseball bat shaft. The Sony wand is also set to be able to use many colors on the various components to differentiate players and provide feedback, showing them when they are attacked or prompting them to perform a certain action.
The patent is also mentioning “a thumb reader used to validate the identity of the person holding the controller by analyzing the biometric data provided by the attachment.” The same device might also be used to get data from the player as they employ the Sony wand and could have similar uses to that of the Nintendo Vitality Sensor.
There is also talk about connecting two of the controllers in order to create new gaming experiences and Sony mentions a USB connector that can be used to transfer data into the gadget, with the content described as “one file is a game that is loaded to the base station for playing, another file contains karaoke songs that can be used in a sing-along game, another file contains new player rosters and statistics for an update to a sports game.”