AppleTV Casual Game Controller Patent?

Posted on May 10, 2008 - Filed Under Casual Gaming, Industry News, Ipod Games, Mac Games, Rumor Mill, iPhone, iPod |

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Apple has filed a patent for a 3D game controller to work along side the AppleTV product. Presumably, Apple wants to get in on the Wii action by creating a controller with similar properties to the Wii remote. This patent comes, somewhat, as a surprise but earlier there were whisperings stating Apple wants to build its AppleTV into a multi-purpose device.

Unlike Microsoft, Apple doesn’t have a gaming console to sneak “multimedia” functions into the home, requiring users to purchase the AppleTV with the idea of capturing the segment Microsoft is heading towards. Apple has apparently chosen to go the reverse rout of Microsoft by introducing the media product first and then bringing gaming into the picture where Microsoft did the opposite.

For months, you’ve been able to get some casual games on the iPod or iPhone so migrating this functionality into the AppleTV wouldn’t be a big stretch. The best bet for concrete rumors is to watch the casual game developers and their projects with Apple as the big Mac company isn’t going to deny, speculate or talk to the rumors about their future projects.

It’s also interesting to note, this patent was filed in November of 2006. That means Apple has been working on the project for almost two years now, or more likely, someone at Apple had a bright idea and patented it.

Many big companies inspire engineers to patent as much as they can and foot the bill for all the legal work. More importantly, they usually pay out bonuses $500.00 to upwards of $5,000 for a successful patent. This could be a design an engineer came up with and was given a sweet bonus to file with the patent office.