With a revenue of over a 100 billion, legions of adoring fans and an iOS empire that dominates the mobile market, Apple isn't a company anyone wants to go up against. That's why Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo might be eyeing a recently published patent with worry.

Filed in March and published today, the patent GR has discovered lists various inputs and interactions between iPhones, iPods and Apple TVs, including FIG. 6, which "is a schematic of a video game controller for the standalone media player of FIG. 4 or a video game system".

FIG. 4 is an Apple TV, which could easily become a video games console with an upgrade, and technically already can play iOS games over airplay. Currently, core gamers don't take the platform too seriously due to the lack of buttons that severely limits gameplay.

The controller is also shown to be able to connect to an iPhone/iPod Touch and presumably will be able to connect to an iPad if it ever becomes real. Connection is shown to be wireless, using Radio-frequency identification (RFID) and NFC tags, rather than the cable depicted.

If the controller does become a reality, it'll likely have a few design tweaks to stop it looking identical to the DualShock, but any type of physical controller from the industry behemoth would send ripples through the gaming world.

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Oh god here we go.

This controller is actually completely revolutionary and new.

I mean look at that. You hold it upside down.

Fix the title. Should say Apple copied Nintendo.

because....ya know....dualshock is a copy of Nintendo controllers, etc.

Yeh the cord actually plugs into you...that or your wallet.

So, Sony went and copied Apple.

Well Apple are the biggest patent trolls on the planet so it doesn't surprise me.

Wouldn't surprise me if apple now sue Sony

You guys are misinterpreting the patent, the patent is for Apple devices to interface with a generic type of controller.

It does not mean that they're making a controller in the Dual Shock design, this is common for patents though (ie: Microsoft has XBox patents where the 360 appears to be interfacing with a cell phone device -- that looks exactly like an iPhone).

It *is* significant in the sense that if Apple is developing a Bluetooth controller or allowing third parties to make Bluetooth game pads that interface with the iPhone/iPad/Mac/AppleTV/iTV ... that could mean big trouble for MS/Nintendo/Sony. 

Because theoretically what this could mean is that you pay say $40 for a hypothetical iController from the store, then with an AppleTV or even a small dongle, Apple can have the iPad/iPhone that people already have in their house beam a signal to the TV, and voila, now you can play games without needing to spend $300-$400 for a game console. 

It'd be neat if it was compatible with MacBooks (iMac?) as well. A MacBook in a year or two should be able to smoke a PS3/360/Wii U at 720p if the signal could be beamed wirelessly to the TV. 

But it would be pretty interesting, that you could theoretically never be away from "console" style gaming. An iPhone in someone's pocket could wirelessly power a game like Assassin's Creed 3 on someone's TV someday soon. 

They used numbers to name the buttons. Revolutionary.