Nintendo patent puts Wiimotes in toys

Nintendo has recently been awarded a patent they applied for in 2011 for the Wii controller, allowing them to exclusively market toys that will allow the controller to be clipped inside them and aid younger gamers in developing hand-eye co-ordination and movement skills. The patent details the Wii controller and how it sends signals to the Wii which isn’t anything new, but the toy integration is interesting.

In the past, Nintendo has patented ideas such as putting the controller into a football accessory and there are many peripherals you can buy for the Wii controllers such as a tennis racket, a wireless racing wheel and even a cricket bat. The patent claims that Nintendo can embed sensors into the toy-like controller extender to allow players to move their in-game character by moving the arms and legs of the robot.

With the Wii U now selling in enough numbers to make a small profit and the Wii heavily discounted, it’s a good opportunity for families with younger gamers to use toys to introduce them to the concepts of a virtual world and to allow them to become comfortable with using the wireless controllers.

Sony’s Move controller picked up on the family-with-a-young-gamer idea when they first brought it out with the mini-game, Eyepet, in which you took care of a puppy-like monkey thing.

This will be useful in other environments as well, particularly medical centres and hospitals. It’s a well-known fact that games help patients in hospitals and recovery centres to relax and improve concentration and both short and long-term memory. Mental hospitals use games to help patients desensitize themselves to phobias. Giving them something that looks a lot less alien eases them into the simulation and keeps them calm.