Sometimes, the pace of the games industry surprises even us. No sooner have we finished setting our shiny new Playstation 4 up beneath our TV, than we're possibly being given an intriguing glimpse into the future of Sony's newest console! It seems that games site CVG have uncovered a patent filed by Sony for what they are somewhat originally calling the "Flat Joystick Controller". Now, we don't know about you, but the image attached to the patent looks suspiciously similar to the Playstation Move controller - and contains a few hints that it may be in the works for the Playstation 4.
Originally released as a counter to the Wii's incredibly popular motion controls, and the Xbox 360's dramatically less popular Kinect, Playstation Move is a special controller that brought similar, motion tracking features to the PS3. The difference, however, is the large round… thing on the end, which would light up in a colour that helps it stand out from your surroundings, so that the Playstation Eye camera could track it correctly. It was an impressive piece of kit that wasn't hampered by the space requirements of Kinect - and had the added bonus of making you feel like a wizard thanks to the giant glowing ball on the end. That, and you really could be a wizard in Wonderbook.
A touchpad, eh?
Depending on who you spoke to, the Move controller (which also had an optional "Navigation controller" peripheral, suspiciously similar to the Wii Nunchuk) was either a really cool new way to play certain Playstation games, or it was a bit of a Wii rip off. Even Sony themselves even admitted that they could have done a better job, but as of November 2012, the Playstation Move has sold 15 million units worldwide. Could this new Flat Joystick Controller be an attempt at bringing the Move to the Playstation 4?
Interestingly, the Playstation Move already works with the Playstation 4, so any "new" Move would have to have a substantially improved set of features over the earlier model to warrant the upgrade. However, if you put the two versions side by side, there are clearly some differences. The button layout on the Flat Joystick Controller, for example, is more fitting with Sony's traditional diamond design whereas on the Move the four buttons are pushed to either side to make room for the rather large "Move" button. Also of note on the Flat Joystick Controller is what appears to be a large touchpad almost spanning the gap between the X and the Home button - a touch pad which the PS4's controller also shares.
So is the Move coming to the Playstation 4? Our verdict: possibly, although there's every chance this is a patent that will never see the light of day, like many a patent does. With the addition of a touch pad, however, this could be an intriguing redesign for an unloved controller - and would be a nice companion for the impressive new Playstation 4 Eye camera, which as of yet has few uses beyond the bundled mini-game collection, The Playroom.
