A Sony patent that was filed back in 2015 but only recently published, shows a set-up that isn’t too dissimilar to that of the final build of the Nintendo Switch. You can see in the image below the removable controllers which are reminiscent of the PlayStation Dualshock controllers attached to each side of the device. However, there’s no mention in the patent suggesting a dock that would allow the user to connect the device to the TV.
Will this ever see the light of day? With the recent announcement that Sony are stopping Playstation Now support for the Vita, it wouldn’t be surprising if they were researching different ways to break into the handheld market once again.
You can read details of the patent in full here (although it’s in Japanese).
I’m pretty confident that this is meant for smartphones, not for handhelds.
Maybe it is the new Vita? I would love to see another Sony handheld, even just to get completely abandoned again.
Nah. I doubt we’ll see another Vita.
Hahahahahaha this is so funny it didn’t pass too much time to see this. Sony love Nintendo!!
Motherfuckers.
Looks like the early design is quite accurate.
Nothing new here, Sony has a history of copying Nintendo.
Well it’s hard to tell which company had the idea first. In either case the switch is the only one that became a reality so it really doesn’t matter all companies copy off of each other
Yeah it’s hard to tell *rolls eyes*. Sony also claimed that they didn’t copy the wiimote and Playstation Move was their own idea. Sony has been living off Nintendo’s inventions ever since the SNES Playstation add-on!
https://youtu.be/_PtoxKDcCXc
Nope, think again…
looks like the wii remote copy to me.
Except that was two years before the Wii…
That’s not the PS Move, you dork! It’s just a camera tracking a ball. Even the Game Boy could do that long before the EyeToy!
I think nintendo might just be able to prove they had the idea first… cause this could also be said to look like a Wii U gamepad. ;P
The analogue stick, shoulder buttons, diamond button layout, rumble, wii remote, nunchuk, wavebird.. even games like PSALBR… the list goes on.
https://youtu.be/_PtoxKDcCXc
No, not really. Video was from 2004, R&D started back in 2001. SONY has been working on motion control, camera tracking for over 15 years now. Something tells me Nintendo didn’t start the Wii(Revolution) R&D until 2003, of course in secret. But seeing that it was just a GCN in disguise with IR motion controls, rather than 3D mapping, I could see R&D beginning in 2004.
Companies don’t make huge financial developments in research, because they are copying a competitor. The push into Motion started, with the 3 main players, with SONY and the eyetoy on PS2 as a released product. But I wouldn’t argue they were “copied” either. The Move was an experiment, that they likely pushed out because of the Wii, but the tech came beforehand, and was likely in development for its true purpose, VR.
Of course, the end of that is speculation, but the MOVE (though now 7 years old) works way better in VR, then it ever did with awkward, although superior to the Wii/Kinect, in terms of 3D mapped tracking for gameplay. Vr just feels right with motion. Here’s to hoping they do upgrade the Move though, cause it’s certainly not perfect. Decent technology, but certainly flawed.
I hate to say this since I can’t find it now but nintendo was looking at motion controls when they were creating the Gamecube but the tech wasn’t ready. Most of their ideas for their next console starts when developing the previous console. It would be great if I can look to where I found that at but I’m not on a computer but my phone. Then again it may not have been an article but a video with nintendo execs in it.
Actually Nintendo did something with some kind of motion peripheral called the PowerGlove backin the 80s. End of story
So… a patent that was made public in 2015 is copying something that Nintendo made public at the end of 2016? *rubs chin*
Yet no one bats an eye when Nintendo gets copied but if they do their own thing it won’t be seen by the masses as inovative but only “Oh! Nintendo is shit they always put gimmiks in their crap and can’t make powerful hardware.” Forgive my language but……..
Stupid fuckers. (Not you guys, them)
“Nintendo is being ridiculous, Sony and Microsoft would never copy this!”
[Sony copies the thing before it’s even released.]
Nintendos fears of revealing at last year’s E3 don’t seem so stupid now do they? *facepalm*
Yes. Something copied not just before it was released but even before it was revealed! -_-
Shameless technological rip-offs since 1994
and no doubt if existed would pale vs nintendo
just like move just like dualshock just like 6 axis just like psp just like vita THEY NEVER GET IT RIGHT TECH FOER TECHS SAKE IS RETARDED AND DOING THINGS THE SONY WAY IS ALWAYS BACKWARD
Just stop Sony and focus your resources on PS4. Only your fanboys who keep talking about “console quality” buy your handhelds.
You’ve tried multiple times and you don’t understand that market. It isn’t about power. You cannot copy touch screens and tablets. You lack the titles which appeal to that audience.
I think they’re probably just going to try and get the Tablet audience, so if they make it part of their Xperia series it might sell.
You know how many hundreds and thousands of patents are filed to claim a design and tech? Doesn’t mean everything will see the light of day.
I think this would be called the PlayStation Xperia to fit in with their tablet line but it’ll mainly focus on games like the Nintendo Switch. Note though, this was patented in 2015 whilst the Switch itself wasn’t shown until October 2016.
I hope they reveal it sometime next year as a sort of companion to the PS4 but it’s able to play PS4-Looking games on the go, but I doubt it’ll be close to Switch levels, probably slightly below to keep cost and energy down seeing how it’ll use AMD most likely.
In Japan, Vita is EXTREMELY popular. Sony is based in Japan, like Nintendo. There’s a video by the game theorists that explans that.
Sony has been living off Nintendo’s inventions ever since the SNES Playstation add-on! They also claimed that they didn’t copy the wiimote and Playstation Move was their own idea.
they might be done making handhelds, but they will never be done copying Nintendo
Well Sony fanboys, want to do the whole “Sony doesn’t copy gimmicks” thing now?
Also, I translated the comments on the page. It’s a Sony Fanboy cesspool.
Sony just stop it. I’d much rather have you actually not allow your IPs to be left in the figurative cellar than clearly biting off of whatever new thing Nintendo is doing.
The Sony Swap
Sony is always conveniently publishing patents showing that they were making the same thing as Nintendo by coincidence or whatever just a little after Nintendo reveals or releases something that’s well received.
Like I said months ago, it doesn’t matter when Nintendo revealed the Switch. Sony was gonna copy it sooner or later; if this is even a Switch copy. For all we know, it’s just a full on handheld system. Or it could even be a tablet, like others have stated, that focuses on games. *shrug* Honestly, I don’t care if they copy it or not. If portable home consoles are the future, they should be allowed to make their own hybrid. Same goes for Microsoft if they decide to do it.
Besides, if all three are working on portable home consoles, the tech for such a thing is gonna only get cheaper which in turn will allow them all to make more powerful portable consoles in the future which in turn means better games & hybrids for us. Without competition, all of this we have would be even more expensive than it is now. Just ask NES & SNES games how much they costed back in the day when Nintendo had barely any competition: 90 to even 120 bucks per game. If they were still on top & still the only game makers, you’d probably be paying 200 bucks, maybe more, per game for these games right now! In other words, be thankful if Sony is copying Nintendo instead of whining like little fanboys about it since it only means better for us down the road! GREATNESS AWAITS US ALL WITH HEALTHY COMPETITION!!!
*plays the world’s smallest violin for the people upset about this*
You would be acting like it’s Armageddon if Nintendo had done this to Sony.
*laughs a little longer at being accused of being a Sony fanboy* Nintendo is copying Sony & Microsoft with paid online, region free, possibly a universal account system, etc yet I haven’t whined about it. In fact, I praised it! Barring they don’t do something as retarded as locking it behind a stupid phone app!
I understand if I triggered your inner fanboy, though.
Notice I never called you a fanboy. I just stated you would be acting like it’s the end of the world…which much past evidence would point to that.
Also, region free and paid online does not belong to sony or microsoft, you can’t copy those things as they don’t belong to a company. XD You CAN however copy the overall design of something.
Copying is copying. It doesn’t matter if the thing being copied is owned or not. Bram Stoker didn’t own vampires since they existed long before he made money off of them but that won’t change the fact others eventually copied him by also making a vampire story. And you use to say I spun things.
If it is an industry standard, it’s not copying.
sony fanboy virgin
Standard or not, if you didn’t do it first, it’s copying.
But whatever. If you want to pretend otherwise so you can pretend Nintendo is 100% original, that’s your problem.
well sony copied having four main buttons. My argument is as irrelevant as yours.
||Competition is for the weak, extinction on our enemies is the path of The First Order…||
Sony is stepping up their game.
Usually it takes them a few years to copy Nintendo.
It’s the Play U…. haha.
The Switch didn’t start the concept of removable controls attached to a screen. There are been products like this for Android for years.
Exactly.
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Come on Sony, I mean….REALLY? I love Sony, but MAN…….they’re copycats.
I’m laughing at the logic in these comments. Sony patents something in 2015 a whole year before the Switch was ever made public and somehow they’re copying the Switch with that patent. Sony obviously has a time machine too (that they no doubt copied from Nintendo as well).
Switch was announced and its patents shown back in 2014…..that comes before 2015.
No the Switch was not announced in 2014. -.-
Nintendo only said that they were making a new device. It had no name and we saw nothing of it.
And I should note, Nintendo said that it’s making the NX in 2015 (aka the same year Sony’s patent was filed – meaning they were doing R&D long before), not 2014. But all we had were vague words.
Switch, no, but the NX was. Should have been obvious that’s what i meant. And we had see patents of it. http://nintendotoday.com/nintendo-patent-shows-device-with-interchangeable-controls/
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Also note that Iwata merged the console and handheld divisions of Nintendo in 2014. This was the first time anyone perceived that Nintendo might be making a hybrid. Sony totally copied
Has there ever been a time that Sony copied Nintendo and it paid off? You know besides obliterating them in the console market.
When a new Ninte do console is completed they work on another in R&D tight away. Wii U debuted in 2012. So the NX was in R&D before 2015. You really think they built the Switch in 1 year? Get real. Sony copied.
rhyme
Sony knows the Switch console is going to be a hit,
So sony is gonna copy Nintendo, thats their pick.
I don’t think Sony has ever had a single original thought in the companies entire existence. So this didn’t surprise me.
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Everyone is hell bent on this being a copy of the Switch, when in fact it’s a copy of the Wii U gamepad.