Sony patents combo DualShock / Move controller

It’s the world’s worst-kept secret that both Microsoft and Sony are already working on their next-gen consoles, and of course everything that goes with that – including next-gen controllers. A patent filed by Sony in May last year suggests that the company might be developing a combo controller that includes both regular analogue and motion control in one compact unit.

The patent is for something called a “Hybrid Separable Motion Controller“, which is basically a DualShock controller that clips apart into two PlayStation Move controllers. Both parts of the controller have built-in accelerometers, gyroscopes, and magnetometers to detect motion, and can be used independently or locked together.

Whether or not this is actually something Sony is still planning to launch or simply a project that was under consideration at some time but later dumped has not yet been confirmed. Back in 2008, reports claimed that Sony was working on something very much like this, and four years later it’s still a no-show.

I’ll adjust the controller’s status to CONDITION AMBER: SPECULATION on MyGaming’s tech trends for the moment.