Nintendo Patents Handheld Devices With Outward-Facing Sensors

Nintendo is a company that has never really followed the convention of games or gaming devices. As we’ve seen from consoles like the Nintendo 3DS, it is a marked departure from the more straightforward Game Boy, and the Wii and Wii U were certainly very different from what companies like Sony and Microsoft have put out so far.

That being said, we have to admit we are curious as to what the Nintendo NX has to offer, and while it might not necessarily be a guarantee, a recent patent could shed some light on the direction that the company could be headed. As you can see in the diagram above, it depicts some kind of handheld console with outward-facing linear image sensors.

What does this mean? Basically there are sensors all around the device that project outwards. With these sensors, it has the ability to pick up objects like toys. For example the patent talks about how the sensors could potentially scan the barcode or some kind of code at the base of a toy like the Amiibo to detect whether it is there, or what figurine it is.

There is also talk about it being able to detect a pulse which does seem to hint of Nintendo’s plans for a quality of life device, although last we heard those plans might have been scrapped. In any case this is just a patent which means there is a chance it might simply continue to exist as an idea, but as there is little to nothing known about the Nintendo NX, for all we know these patents could be hinting at some potential features.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Gaming
Tags: Nintendo, Patent