A newly-published Sony Interactive Entertainment patent reveals an interesting idea for fully customizable PlayStation controllers: draw your own controller with electrical ink. The company has acknowledged that standard off-the-shelf controllers don’t work for everyone, and has set out to solve that problem.
How fully customizable PlayStation controllers would work, per Sony’s patent
As spotted by Exputer, the patent describes a “user-customized” controller that comes without any default buttons, allowing players to draw buttons how they see fit using conductive ink.
If the patent ever comes to fruition, Sony’s custom controller kit would come with “special purpose anti-fatigue buttons.” As an example, Sony says one such anti-fatigue key would allow players to press a button once and the gaming system will assume that the button is held down. So, in other words, if you want to sprint with a simple button press as opposed to holding a stick down, you’ll want to use this anti-fatigue key.
“Computer games typically involve use of an off-the-shelf game controller which some people may find difficult to manipulate,” Sony argues.
Worth reiterating that companies routinely patent ideas. However, many of the patents we’ve seen over the last decade have resulted in actual products — like the PlayStation Portal — so never say never!
