Nintendo has recently filed a patent application for its new game controller where a touchscreen is the main interface.
The patent revealed a unique game controller that possibly reveals what the company has in store for its upcoming "NX" console. It shows off one possible design: an innovative handheld that tightly integrates embedded analog sticks with a surrounding oval touchscreen that reaches to the very edge of the device, according to Wired.
The gamepad has two holes for the analog sticks. More conventional shoulder or trigger buttons would sit at the top of the device, with a card slot in-between the two allowing the device to take game data directly. It would also feature a built-in speaker and motion detection that would recognize when it is being held vertically, helpful in the case of something like a browser window being displayed in the center of the screen.
It may have the function of a large 3DS-style machine, in which the whole case is the screen. It also worth noting that the patent suggested that the touchscreen could either be an OLED or LCD panel, and may even use of the same glasses-free 3D technology found in Nintendo's 3DS handheld system, Slash Gear reported.
The patent suggests a few uses of its physical controls and touchscreen display. Virtual buttons could be placed on the touchscreen right next to the thumbpads, providing context-sensitive inputs that change during the game. In-game items might be used simply by touching them, or music notes could fall directly into the thumbstick areas in a music game.
Patents, obviously, don't always indicate that a product will actually be made, so we still don't know whether or not the controller is linked to the NX. But the display matches the specifications of one of Sharp's free-form displays, which Japan Times reported that Nintendo would be using in the future.
However, patents are not always a guarantee that the same design will be made into the final product, but it shows that Nintendo has at least been thinking about non-traditional hardware.