The past few years have shown two very interesting ways to get information before their official announcement: the ERSB and patents. The latter brings us something very interesting today.
A patent application filed by Sony shows us some new hardware they're apparently prepping up. The first one seems to be a biometric PS3 controller (both Move and Dualshock3 versions)
They can read three factors: galvanic skin, resistance, electrocardio data and electro-muscular data, which are respectively how moist your skin becomes, how fast your heartbeat is and muscle movements.
Sony also has a list of the possible uses, which could be very interesting.. The other surprising part of the patent is the handheld they appear to be designing.
- Weapons that change depending on how stressed you are. An increase in stress level could make a weapon more accurate or less steady, which will make it difficult to target an enemy. Sony specifically mentions a sniper situation where the weapon becomes more steady if you’re relaxed.
- Tensing up your muscles to withstand an attack or charge up a shield.
- A video game character whose facial expressions, movements, posture, and even voice changes depending on your biometric data. For example, this character will sweat when a player is nervous.
- An adrenaline style boost which will let you run faster, jump higher, and punch harder when stressed.
- A health bar that depletes more rapidly if you have a high stress level.
- An attack button that changes a character’s move depending if the player is stressed or relaxed.
- Background music and scenery that changes depending on your stress level. Matching music is one example, but Sony also proposes to change music to make a player more relaxed. Brightness of objects and the zoom level, representing a higher level of focus, are two ideas for scenery.
- A game that adapts difficulty levels depending on a players stress level
Look at the design document for the handheld. Looks kinda similar to something else eh? What do you think about those new controllers?