If you’re on the edge of your seat regarding Sony’s "confirmed" announcement of DualShock 3 during this year’s Tokyo Game Show, then prepare to not only fall of your chair but proceed to fall out the window and into a dumpster.
According to Games Radar, they did some detective work and uncovered some patents and trademarks Sony filed back in September 2006. The patents include voice-activated consoles, pressure-sensitive buttons and a biofeedback headset.
What is a voice-activated console? Does that mean I can say some phrase and my PS3 will turn on? That reminds me of a The Simpsons scene when Smithers turns on his PC to have an automated Mr. Burns say, "Hello Smithers, you’re quite good at turning me on."
While I wouldn’t want that said when my PS3 turns on (maybe), something along the lines of "Hello Billy, how may we take your gaming abuse today?" would be quite nice.
As for pressure-sensitive buttons, the DualShock 2 featured some of that for the PS2. Many ideas are surely creeping through your head on how this technology can be used, but the picture below seems to confuse more than help. It displays some sort of pressure-sensitive mat too — is that some sign of a DDR-like game for the PS3 or maybe even a positioning system?
Kind of funny, the diagram refers to a "PS4" too. Well, it looks like some sort of camera and pressure-sensitive mat that’ll focus on you and it’ll probably display an in-game character that will respond to what you physically do — kind of like what Andy Serkis did with Gollum. While that technology is certainly very neat, who knows when it’ll be released, let alone if it’s actually something Sony is working on.
Lastly, the second picture showcases another patent Sony filed, this time for some sort of a biofeedback headset. Seems quite complex and rather cumbersome to wear on your head but if it can read biofeedback, such as blood pressure, heart rate, sweat and skin temperature, perhaps there will be some game that’ll react solely on how you physiologically react.
So if something scares you in-game and you freak out, your character will freak out too. Now that sounds cool.
Am I dreaming too much? I think I am.
