Giants never sleep, they can’t afford to; competition is too stiff and so one always must keep pushing the envelop to stay ahead. Sony is no exception, and in an attempt to stave off it’s competitors in the gaming industry, the company from the land of the rising sun is reportedly working on a universal controller; capable of being used with Xbox 360 and Nintendo.

Sony recently filed the patent at the USPTO, and according to it, the game controller will be an LCD display based device that will display different key layouts depending on the console being used.

“A game console controller includes a hand-holdable housing and a touch sensitive liquid crystal display (LCD) on the housing. The LCD is caused to present, depending on what type of game console a user has selected, a controller key layout for a first type of game console or a controller key layout for a second type of game console. A key layout includes plural keys selectable by a user to input commands to a game console,” the investor writes.

Owning multiple consoles is the current trend, so by developing a universal controller, the giant will help ensure that PS3 is always the first choice for gamers.

Thanks Andy.

http://www.gamesthirst.com/2010/02/19/sony-developing-universal-game-controller-compatible-with-xbox-360wii/

It's interesting that Sony would be doing something like this. Thoughts?

Sony going third party confirmed.

Nintendo and MS would have to let sony make one.. and I dont see how this will work in Sony's advantage..

I thought about that too.

Also, virtual buttons suck and touch sensitive screens are expensive (right now anyways). Even if this controller lasted multiple generations (doubt it would survive that much of a beating) I would rather have real buttons.

well its not a patent they will not do it now, and there is nano technolgy research going for such technology.

look nokia 888.

Its an interesting idea.. but I agree, I want physical buttons

I don't see how ms and nintendo gave them premission

Fuck Sony, Sega should make a universal Saturn pad. I dunno how, but my XBLA games are crying for it. :(

interesting. This is what I originally thought that the Revolution (Wii) controller was going to be like.