In a recently released trailer, Nintendo has teased what it calls 'a new experience for Nintendo Switch'. It appears to be a flexible 'ring' controller which you click your right Joy-Con into for all sorts of stretchy, bendy activity. There's obvious speculation that it's some new form of Wii Fit, although the software itself wasn't shown. The ring is something of a surprise, but it seems that it may be the final form of an idea first revealed a few years ago.
Looking back through some patents filed in 2015 and 2016, we've found mention of a 'training implement' with load sensors that measure the force applied to the grips. We reported on a patent for a U-shaped device at the time, and other diagrams in the same filing clearly show a ring-shaped variant that measures somebody's ability to do squats, among other things:
Elsewhere the text refers to the specific abilities of a potential device which we reported four years ago, but which now seems even more interesting:
A training implement (10) comprises a hollow body (12) formed from an aluminum alloy. The body is configured from two grips (12a) provided facing each other across a space, and a connecting section (12b) connecting the two grips. A load sensor (16) is disposed in the connecting section inside the body. The load sensor is a load cell, the strain gauge is bonded on the inside of the body, and the portion of the body to which the strain gauge is bonded functions as a strain element. Consequently, when a user applies force so as to bring the two grips towards each other or applies force so as to separate the two grips, the load thereof is detected by the load sensor.
While the design may be different from the U-shaped grip seen in the majority of the patents, it's entirely possible that these original filings are coming to fruition with this new 'ring' controller. The new device appears to be extremely flexible, so if this is connected in any way, it has obviously gone through some design changes in the intervening years.
We'll have to wait and see exactly how this mysterious peripheral functions - it doesn't look like there's a lot of room to squeeze much tech into the ring itself, but perhaps there are some sensors hiding in those grips. Nintendo promises in the trailer that we'll find out more on 12th September, so there's not long to wait to find out more.
Nintendo never throws out a good idea - do you think this old patent could be related to the new device? Let us know with a comment below.
[source patentscope.wipo.int]
Comments 64
It's just so weird but that's Nintendo for ya.
Looks very...Nintendo. On a different note, I’ve been hoping for a remake of Wii sports (call it Switch sports), this could be a step in that direction.
I am happy for the people who like this, but it just looks ridiculous to me.
Stop trying to make Wii 2.0 happen, Nintendo. It's never going to happen.
Just when people started taking Nintendo seriously. What the hell is this? I get its for fitness but that's the best they could do?
Oh stop complaining everyone - there's a reason they didn't put this in the nintendo direct. People that frequent nintendolife are not the target demographic for stuff like this.
The more I watch this the worse it looks. Seriously, watch the video with no sound enabled and just...watch it. Amusingly in every destination except Kyoto, they have scenes of memeworthy events of people doing things that could be interpereted in questionable ways.
Kyoto they have people gracefully doing serious yoga poses. This is apparently what Nintendo thinks of the world.
@NEStalgia
"Kyoto they have people gracefully doing serious yoga poses. This is apparently what Nintendo thinks of the world. "
And I quite agree with them
@StephanDLW
They're so expensive, because they have a lot of tech in a small body.
This is the most Nintendo thing I will see today.
@earthinheritor The most extreme, toxic, other console/PC fanboys are never gonna take Nintendo seriously anyway. Anyone who is very familar with Nintendo knows they do unexpected dumb stuff like this whenever they feel like, so this isn't going to affect their opinions much. So this changes opinions for about zero people.
I wonder how long it will take before they get sued again for another new idea that someone pretends they already created?
@NEStalgia
Suzanne Somers revealed this in 1991.
@JK_720 Switch sports, how did you come up with that imaginative title? 😀
@Aurumonado Exactly, Nintendo has plenty of "core" games either already out or are on their way, no reason they can't cater to an even wider demographic, it's not like they'll stop making and courting core games/ gamers. Not sure why fans feel so entitled
@NEStalgia
Don't think normally when guessing Nintendo products.
Think out of the box.
Maybe the Ring isn't really about Yoga, probably something crazier than we thought.
First up, I wonder if they say the more enthusiasm you put into pretending to play with this, the more we will pay you.
Second, it's never going to sell in the same quantities as Wii fit.
@Aurumonado
From the comments i have read, i can tell there were two different gamers.
1. Hardcore Mainstream gamers = Never like gimmicks, weirdo, cheesy, fanciness, very unusual things, whatsoever. They just want traditional way to play.
2. Anti-Mainstream gamers = Embrace the quirkiness, fanciness, something new and different, out of box ideas, surprise, unexpected result but in a good way, etc.
@NEStalgia
But i'm ready to embrace Quirky ways to play yet still fun.
@CoastersPaul I'm a massive gamer, every system, hundreds of games and been gaming for 25+ years easily. Stuff like this though just, i dunno, it cheapens them. the Balance Board made sense and worked great, labo was very questionable. But a plastic resistance ring just seems so odd.
I took the switch seriously because it wasn't really competing with anything and cornered the market. But this just looks cheap to me.
Funniest lifestyle trailer in ages.
@NEStalgia Better prepare, it’s already happening! Weird Nintendo is best Nintendo or so they say, I’m fine either way. Switch surpassed Wii U in every way already and support is only growing, who am I to complain?
@earthinheritor well, It’s basically a pilates ring but how it makes Nintendo look “cheap” is beyond me, I don’t think you are aware what other kind of accessories previous Nintendo consoles had but it has never seemed hurt their image to the wider crowd, it does seem to anger a lot of other people online somehow though...
@Yavga I'm fully away, the Wii was tonnes of plastic addons etc, i dunno it just a personal feeling to me.
Hey everybody, here's an idea: let's just wait until we get the ACTUAL and COMPLETE information about this gadget, before we start condemning it to the deepest pits of hell for being useless and gimmicky.
That trailer is both bad flavors of crazy and completely non-descript at the same time, so maybe they should not have released it, or they should have made it at the very least a bit more clear, but for now, it's WAY too soon to say anything sensible about it, whether you're in the pro or con camp for these kinds of things.
With modern day tech, they could easily create something that is that thin, and will still give plenty of sensory feedback and so on, especially in combination with the JoyCon, to give users the impression of actual resistance and/or tactile response.
I think that a more interesting question, especially for those potentially interested, would be how much this is going to cost, because if the tech is decent, then so will the price...
@rjejr Ah, Suzanne Somers. All the memories...
I better keep them in tact and not Google how she currently looks.
They'll probably make an expansion with those U-shaped things
It reminds me of the wii car controller on mario cart..
@ThanosReXXX Well I'm not looking for any YT vids of her now either, nobody wants to know. We'll always have the poster memories. Were wall posters even a thing over there? Talking to all the peeps I know over there from NL and PS they all seem a bit squeamish, like a woman in a bikini on a bedroom wall would cause their collective heads to explode. I had them all in the 80s' -Fawcett, Tiegs, Somers, Barbeau. It's what we did. Somebody even wrote a book about it way back in 1980. Never heard of it though until just now, seems like a cheap cash in but it does have a legit ISBN.
https://www.abebooks.com/first-edition/Poster-Girls-Cheryl-Tiegs-Farrah-Fawcett/10304840917/bd
I picked up a lot of old cheap Wii dance exercise games, and they are actually quite helpful for exercise/ getting me moving. I'm curious to see how this is priced and how it turns out.
It does look a bit odd and I don't know how popular it will be in groups, but if it increases my quality of life via exercise it's a win for me. Some of the exercises looked resistance band-y, it'd be interesting if they sold different models with different resistance/strength levels
@rjejr Yes, wall posters were definitely a thing over here, and in most other European countries I've been to, so I think it's safe to say that it is, or at least was, quite a common and worldwide practice.
I had Madonna on my door, Samantha Fox above my bed, and some others I can't quite remember. And of course a stack of mags hidden in a non-descript cardboard box underneath a fold-away compartment of my computer desk...
@ThanosReXXX Kids w/ their always on smartphone internet pron are never going to get to now the joys of a stack of non-descript magazines hidden away. It's like a lost rite of passage. We had Eleniak before Baywatch did.
@rjejr Well, the magazines certainly weren't non-descript. The Labo material-type box I hid them in was, though...
@ThanosReXXX Funny, I hide my Labo in a big box labeled porn so as not to embarrass myself. Really should build it some day.
@rjejr I remember that! I think I may actually have one of those things lingering around my home. I'm now horrified. Thank you.
Also, "Funny, I hide my Labo in a big box labeled porn so as not to embarrass myself. " has got to be the funniest comment on NL in 3 years.
@Anti-Matter The device looks like it has potential to be used for interesting controls, but based only on the trailer (which is all we have for now) it seems like Nintendo is doing their annual attempt to resurrect the very defunct Wii fad market.
I loved Wii....at first.... but it kind of became a "one trick pony" targeting a certain player at some point and stopped impressing me. The motion gimmicks are amusing, but I think they work better in an arcade. It's like cherry cordials. They're good, but if you eat a box of them every day, you'll never ever want one again.
@NEStalgia Really? Kinda surprising in this uber-sensitive and uber-PC correct world, that we live in nowadays.
Then again: a man's home is his own world, where he can create his own rules and regulations. Well, at least: if his wife allows him to...
@rjejr
I placed my LABO 01 on the top of bookcase.
And... My LABO caught some dust for several months due to my other hype on different games. 😅
But don't worry. I will play with my LABO whenever i'm in the mood with them.
Oh, btw... A big box labeled porn ?
If you get inside my bedroom, you will see a lot of Chibi Boxer pictures i have created on my small wooden sliding door cupboard , my 3DS machines, my 3DS card case, inside my bookcase, a poster of boxer from Animal Boxing NDS, Muscular Boxers (Non Chibi) as my posters on the bedroom door and on the wall above my bed, a pair of Red Boxing gloves beside of my bed, Chibi Bodybuilders pictures on my plastic clothes drawer, some small square sized pictures of real people hunky boxers inside my bookcase.
Well, a lot of shirtless dudes inside my bedroom, eh ?
@NEStalgia
"The motion gimmicks are amusing, but I think they work better in an arcade."
And that's why i want to build my Home Arcade experience in my house.
I have invested from my Wii & PS2 first for having Arcade gaming such as DDR, Para Para Paradise, Wii Sports, Wii games with motion, Fighting games (K-1 & Street Fighter games), some other Rhythm games from Konami with their peripheral (Keyboard for Keyboardmania PS2, Pop'n Music mini controller for both Pop'n Music and Beatmania IIDX PS2)
And i have a chance, i want some Kinect games from Xbox 360 such as Dance Evolution from Konami and other Kinect games.
Thanks to Konami with their Rhythm games on PS2. 😉
@ThanosReXXX Not the poster, you gutter brain, the Thighmaster! And it wasn't mine.... .
@NEStalgia Whoops! That comment was actually meant for @rjejr, so not for you...
So, @rjejr, to save you from having to scroll back up, here it is:
Wow ..... wow. ... oh my.... hmmm.... incredible. It doesn’t look like anything to me.
@MrBlacky a lot of tech in a small body? If you call joycon drift and Bluetooth sync issues a lot of great tech sure I guess. I call them the worse controller Nintendo has ever made and ought to be ashamed they released it in its state.
Bluetooth sync issues can be related to the Switch dock and isn't solely a Joy-Con issue. Trust me, I tried it.
@earthinheritor Taking them seriously? In what capacity?
A 1.3 Billion dollar company that’s gone from strength to strength for almost 130 years?
Eh, I’m hoopful for the best.
Well there’s always a Yin-Yang aspect to Nintendo, and this, alongside Nintendo Labo is that Yang, to the boat-load of games’ Yin.
I dont know about the ring but I do like that theres leg holsters for the joycons.
Nintendo: "Don't throw your drifting joycon away, we found a solution to make good use of it!"
I foresee an exodus of shareholders in light of this news.
@Luigi-number1 : They would be pixelated of course. No M rated shenanigans are allowed at his house!
While I'll admit that this is a confusing trailer, I don't mind if it means we might get a new Wii Fit or the like. Heck, I'd love to see a new Wii Sports, so if this means that we'll start to see a new one of those, then I'm up for it! I doubt this means Nintendo will suddenly backslide into the motion-control-laden company of yesteryear like some of you think this may lead to; I'm glad to see Nintendo has changed ultimately for the better with its newfound appeal to gamers & not just casual ones, but that doesn't mean we can't see them do something like that again here & there!
What’s the big deal? Nintendo hasn’t created anything new. You should try Googling “Pilates Ring” (but for the majority of complainers who obviously don’t exercise... you might want to Google “Pilates” first)
The fact everyone is talking about it, whether good or bad shows nintendo know what they are doing
Clearly this is some form exercise device and why not. Will appeal to many just like Wii fit did.
Nintendo often create their own niche and if it increases sales of switch to a different demographic then great. This can only be a good thing.
I mean look at the switch lite. They are not replacing the switch rather selling you the same thing again and damn it’s working. I’d like one and I’m not even sure why.
Clearly this is some form exercise device and why not. Will appeal to many just like Wii fit did.
Nintendo often create their own niche and if it increases sales of switch to a different demographic then great. This can only be a good thing.
I mean look at the switch lite. They are not replacing the switch rather selling you the same thing again and heck it’s working. I’d like one and I’m not even sure why.
@NEStalgia What did I say that funny 3 years ago? I kill me.
@ThanosReXXX My wife is of the "look but don't touch" philosophy of marriage. We went to go see The Meg and Hobbs & Shaw in theaters just b/c she's a self-described Statham Stalker. And she took this photo while on vacation, I've been living in this man's shadow for 20 years now.
https://rjejr.shutterfly.com/dollywoodinthesmokies/467
Well at least @Anti-Matter gets it. Though I think we have slightly different tastes in just about everything. 🤣
@rjejr Chipper Jones? Never heard of him. We've got baseball over here, and there's even some Dutch players that now play in the States, but other than that, it's more of a niche sport over here.
But Statham, yeah... that's a tall order to beat, so I feel your pain.
On a side note: what exactly does Anti get, according to you? He doesn't like baseball unless it's horribly chibi, and I'm quite sure that he'll never watch any Jason Statham movie, due to all the violence.
As for you having different tastes than him: you should have put "slightly" in quotes...
@ThanosReXXX you should have put "slightly" in quotes...
It probably should have been italicized but I forgot how to do that.
And it's me, the winking sarcasm is self evident.
@rjejr Making Italic texts 101:
[ i ]slightly[ / i ]
Obviously, without the spaces in between the brackets:
slightly
You're welcome.
@ThanosReXXX @rjejr
For italics, I just use underscores and asterisks for bold. Much faster.
@aaronsullivan Ah, yes, that's also an option. But I still like, or rather: am used to using the standard codes. Guess I'm more of an old skool forum guy...
If it has HD rumble I am in for it!!
Otherwise it better cost less than 30 bucks
@NEStalgia "The device looks like it has potential to be used for interesting controls, but based only on the trailer (which is all we have for now) it seems like Nintendo is doing their annual attempt to resurrect the very defunct Wii fad market."
Or maybe Nintendo's developers like making stuff like this, even if it seemingly makes no sense. In this case, you should be glad Nintendo's teams have the creative freedom to do something like this.
@NEStalgia "it seems like Nintendo is doing their annual attempt to resurrect the very defunct Wii fad market."
LOL! I know, right? Some clown at Nintendo of Japan has a major bon$% for that Wii era nonsense and just cannot get over it! You'd think they would have figured out now with the all the success of the Switch that moving AWAY from the Wii era is the only path forward, but nope, they still want to keep rolling out that corpse. It is just embarrassing at this point. SMH..
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