Do you ever wish your PlayStation controller was more banana shaped? Or more yellow? Or perhaps just edible? You’re in luck, because Sony has filed a patent to explore the idea of using a banana as a controller.
What Patent Has Sony Filed?
As spotted by GamesIndustry, Sony has filed a patent that would let you use everyday, non-electronic items as a controller for the PlayStation. You can view the patent on the US Patent & Trademark Office website.
The patent uses a banana as illustration, but really it could be any “non-luminous” object that is “inexpensive, simple, and non-electronic”.
The idea is that a camera scans the object in your hand (using a “contour detection operation” and “the output of a machine learning model”), tracks its shape, and maps controller buttons on it.
Your actions are then scanned and sent back to the console—so you could use a bottle to make Nathan Drake jump or a cucumber to dodge a zombie in The Last of Us.
This patent may never see the light of day as a finished product. Companies often file patents for ideas that are being explored, in order to protect the idea in case it does come to fruition down the line. Until then, keep using your standard PlayStation controller.