Sony Motion Controller's Many Attachments

Sony’s new ‘wand’ motion controller has been spotted on the US Patent Office recently, and blueprint images show multiple uses and peripherals to use with the device.

It seems that Sony has held many design meetings before coming to finalise the motion controller design. Either that, or come Spring 2010 we’ll be seeing more add-ons than there currently are for Nintendo’s Wii Remote. Not only does the patent application cover expansion controllers (much like the Wii’s Nunchuk, to avoid using a DualShock 3 in motion play), but it also applies to multiple other wand-like attachments to allow for multiplayer.

One addition creates a makeshift torch out of the controller, while another allows two wands to connect at the ‘hip’ so to speak, making an ‘H’ shape. Others include a baseball bat that connects to the top (where previous videos have shown a glowing sphere - this can apparently be removed), swappable controls and a thumb reader that can "validate the identity of the person holding the controller."

Lord knows what Sony plans to do with all of these, or if they’ll see the light of day at all. A patent filing is not a guarantee of a final product, after all. These could just be design horrors put up for our entertainment, or (more likely) to cover Sony’s back. Kotaku has a bunch of images so you can see the whole range of add-ons.

We just hope that if any of these come to pass, they’ll be designed a bit more elegantly.