Possible PlayStation 4 Controller Surfaces at US Patent Office
A rather interesting patent application submitted by Sony in 2011 has surfaced, revealing details of a DualShock / PSMove hybrid controller.
Ok ok, it’s probably a bit of a stretch to imagine that what has come out of the US Patent Office is likely to be the next PlayStation’s controller, but it COULD be, and that’s exciting stuff, right? RIGHT!
The patent was filed in May of 2011, so it’s not a recent thing, but these things usually take a while to get picked up by patent spotters given the volume of patents submitted everyday (think of them as something like train-spotters, only even cooler).
The patent describes a controller intended for use within a video games environment, capable of being split in two or joined together to make one standard controller, the picture (seen below) shows a bulbous object on the top of each controller half, akin to the current generation of PlayStation Move controllers. 
So is Sony planning on converging it’s controller options for its next home console release? It would make a lot of sense, as it would make the PS4, or Orbis, or whatever you want to call it, a motion enabled game console out of the box – rather than making motion controls an option as they are now on the Xbox 360 (Kinect) and PS3 (Move). Maybe they looked at the Wii and thought; “Hey, people like motion controls, let’s make them an option out of the box!”
It’s worth remembering that this is only a patent application, and there is no guarantee that the controller concept will ever see the light of day. Still, it’s fun to speculate, right?
