Sony has patented a “Flat Joystick Controller” that suggest Sony has plans for a second generation PlayStation Move for PS4.
The “Flat Joystick Controller” patent in June 2012 and was actually published earlier this month, suggesting the PlayStation Move 2 launch could be imminent.
According to the patent picture above, the revamped PS4 PlayStation Move controller looks very similar to its predecessor.
It does however feature a touch pad surface and the usual PlayStation buttons arranged as they are on the DualShock 4.
“A touch surface is disposed on one side of the handle. The touch surface has an indicator that is identified by a surface characteristic on the touch surface,” reads the patent. “The touch surface provides an area for receiving directionality control in response to interfacing by a finger of a user.”
Sony explains that a joystick on the PlayStation Move wouldn’t be appropriate because of the active nature of using the remote. Also, the touchpad could also function as an additional button, as the trackpad does on the PS4 DualShock 4 controller.
“In a traditional joystick, it's hard to keep a user's thumb still while the user provides input by engaging various motions with the joystick. This is due to the fact that in the joystick, the thumb's support moves. However, using a touch input surface, the thumb can be kept still while continuing to provide the user's input by pressing on the input surface. The pressing of the user's finger on the input surface causes friction that is recognized."
The original PlayStation Move was launched in September 2010 and by November 2012, over 15 million units have been sold.
It’s not clear if and when the a PS4 PlayStation Move will be announced by Sony, but we’d be intrigued to see how popular such a peripheral would be for next-generation gaming.
Read more: PS4 backwards compatibility – Can you play PS3 games on the PS4?
Via: CVG
