A New Sony Patent Is Bananas, Literally

I was this many days old when I finally realized what bananas are, other than little yellow bits of nuclear pills, they are (technically) berries. Ok, I need to explain three things: Bananas give off tiny bits of radiation that can be anything between 0.09 microSieverts to 2.3, so they are harmless unless you eat millions of them in a day. Secondly, they are berries, they grow off of trees in bunches like any other berry. Oh and the third thing: Sony wants to make a controller out of them.

In a report on the latest Sony patent filed in the US Patent and Trademark Office (Thanks Gamesindustry.biz) shows that everyone has gone bananas. In essence, the idea of the patent is to make peripherals so much easier to make, by not actually making them. Instead, they plan on using house-hold objects (like Bananas or Oranges) to act like the controllers themselves, with a camera being used to capture what the player does with “non-luminous” objects to create and receive input. One very silly diagram image shows the player holding a Banana with the X (as in “ex,” not “cross“) projected on it to show where you’ll be pushing.

Another point in the patent also makes mention of players using cups and saucers as similar interfaces, such as that being a pause function. The obvious implication here is that you’d pick up a cup while playing, and that would pause the game immediately. Then you aren’t swearing as you try to one-hand it around Monaco. However, it brings up a better point to be had, it is more accessible; Providing that this works and comes to market.

For example, our own Lisa can and does have trouble with the PS4 controller’s design, which for her is uncomfortable. Both Alexx and Lisa could give better testimony as to why exactly, but she’s not the only one with troubles with common controllers in-gaming. Microsoft have, for quite some time now, been pushing for a more accessible future with their adaptive controller: which gives some with limited mobility, or an inability to grip a common controller, a place in gaming. This patent (in theory) could open up the market for Sony to close that gap for which they are currently trailing.

One example of peripherals available to purchase right now is steering wheels, something you could Macgyver together by using two bananas. If you think about it long enough, and really get creative, this could blow the door wide open on additions to accessibility for anyone and everyone. No longer may you have to go out and buy a $50 controller for player 2, just chuck a Banana or two at them.

Ok, joking aside, the idea does open the door for Sony’s more recent announcement of the PSVR 2.0, coming to the PS5 at some point in the future. Instead of continuing to use the now 10-year-old PlayStation Move tech that simply didn’t work properly, with a bit of clever design the PlayStation Banana might just be one of the ways forward. On the upshot, if you’re playing Dark Souls and your Banana has input delay, you won’t break your TV or controller when you throw it in its general direction.