Patents News, Patents Features

Not as creepy as it sounds

Back to the Future Part II's vision of 2015 was an intelligent house that greeted people as they walked in. "Welcome home, Marty!" it would say. "Lord of the manor, King of the castle!" Well, this new patent application from Nintendo might lead to that mythical home of the increasingly-near future. The patent shows a...

The plot thickens

Nintendo's filed a patent for a new kind of input on 3DS — one that requires no physical contact with the console at all. The application uses the 3DS console's inner-facing camera along with a stylus to manipulate 3D images on the top screen without the need for buttons, touch screen or moving the console. The inward-facing...

You'll see what we mean

The augmented reality games bundled with the 3DS are all well and good, but many of you want more. Nintendo's applied for a patent on a new colour-based AR concept that would make a very welcome addition to the system's AR suite. The document refers to using colour to influence the game world, giving several intriguing...

Drag and drop

So far a lot of the Wii U video and technology has focused on how one player will use the Wii U controller and others will use Wii Remotes, but a new patent shows the potential for a single player using both controllers together. The patent outlines how a player could use the Wii Remote to interact with both the TV and Wii U...

It's so pretty

One of the first things we noticed when Satoru Iwata stood on stage at E3 2010 with a 3DS was the Circle Pad. Some called it a slider pad, others opted for analogue stick: whatever name you chose, it ultimately meant that Nintendo was giving us analogue control in its shiny new handheld. It's since given us the Circle Pad Pro to...

Taking a swing

Remember Nintendo's bold new vision for sports games on Wii U, shown off at E3 last year? It's dead serious about making it a reality, applying for a patent on its concept for golf. The patent pertains to using the new controller on the ground to see the lie of the ball, but it goes into more detail, revealing it's possible to 'miss'...

Looks the part

Wii U's controller will come with a built-in rechargeable battery, so naturally Nintendo will provide a means of charging it with the console. It may not be as boring as a cable though: it could be an immensely exciting cradle. NeoGAF user Aostia claims to have unearthed a patent showing off a charging dock for the controller, which...

What else could it do?

THQ's Danny Bilson wasn't kidding when he called the Wii U controller the "Swiss army knife of video game controllers." Touch screen, game streaming, motion control and near-field communication technology is all well and good, but the latest rumour points to the pad controlling more than just the Wii U console. A...

Wii Fit patent case dismissed

Rick Flamm, Nintendo of America's senior vice president of Legal & General Counsel, has spoken out against "patent trolls" after winning a third litigation case this year. Californian firm IA Labs claimed that the Wii Balance Board and Wii Fit software infringed on U.S. Patent No. 7,121,982. IA Labs'...

But to what end?

We've seen plenty of Wii controller patents in the past, not all of which saw the light of day — remember the inflatable horse and American football? Now the company's put out a patent for a Wii Remote touch-sensitive pad, as spotted by

Wii never knew...

Part of our mission at Nintendo Life is to highlight parts of the gaming world that were previously unknown. To that end, our experienced researchers have been rooting around the archives of Wii history and discovered the original patent application for the Wii Remote. Reading patent documentation isn’t the most stimulating of activities, but we’ve completed this arduous task..

Fingers crossed for a mini George Foreman grill

At this stage in the game, Nintendo has officially revealed relatively little about the specifics behind the upcoming Wii U and its controller technology. Apart from the standard features one would come to expect from any brand of console controller, we know the Wii U's will also sport a 6.2-inch touch...

Another wacky peripheral gets uncovered

Nintendo's always been one for experimenting with peripheral accessories designed to boost the functionality of its hardware. From football controllers, to inflatable horseback saddles, Nintendo's patented them all. A recent uncovering by Siliconera ha

New patents unearthed

It's been a while since we saw a Nintendo-published game that uses the Balance Board, surprising considering the number of boards sat in living rooms around the world, but a new patent filing has revealed a motorcycle game could be in the works at Nintendo Software Technology. The application shows a first-person motorcycle...

Turning visits to the supermarket into a real-time strategy game

What makes technology so marvelous is the multitude of tasks we can get a single piece of hardware to do. Single women (and men, we suppose) can probably find more than one use for an electric toothbrush, drivers prone to getting lost can use their phone to make calls as well as turning it into a sat-nav device, and now it seems it's..

It's all about haemoglobin, apparently

E3 2010, TGS 2010 and Nintendo's Conference all came and went without even so much as a snifter of new information about the Vitality Sensor. Although Nintendo is still keeping the device behind closed doors, Siliconera has uncovered patent applications that reveal more about how the sensor works as well as its potential applications. Essentially, the..

But to what end?

Mysterious patents, electronic goods and the Internet can often be a volatile combination, so take this latest application as you will. Nintendo has recently filed for a patent that offers the ability to install Wii games to a hard drive, though there's little information available as to its wider applications. Certain retailers...

No infringement going on here, Officer

You may remember (if you have a watertight memory) a lawsuit arising a few years ago between Nintendo, Microsoft and a third company named Anascape, who sued both hardware manufacturers for apparently infringing their patents. Anascape won that time, netting a cool $21m from Nintendo and an undisclosed sum from Microsoft. Now, two years later, Nintendo has..

No news of a new Star Fox to go with it

Nintendo have recently filed a patent for touch screen rumble feedback. The patent reveals a tactile feature, wherein rumble feedback is applied through the touch screen consequent to the user’s interaction. The patent confirms that the hardware to which the technology relates to consists of two screens, with one being a display screen and one a touch..