Anascape has filled suit against both major companies Nintendo, and Microsoft over violation of “controller patents”. The infringements include: “Remote Controller with Analog Pressure Sensors”, and “Game Controller with Analog Pressure Sensors.” The claim includes 10 more patent violations that deal with a users input into a device.

They are seeking damages with interest. In addition, they are asking the courts to instruct these two companies to pay them license fees in case they are allowed to continue selling gaming consoles with controllers infringing on their patents.

Give me a break! Just another ploy from a society of sue happy companies trying to squeeze one more dime out of failure to act on their own designs. My question is: Where’s Sony in all this?

via Techwhack

Update: Yes this was filed (and covered) in 2006, but to my knowledge not resolved. Just bringing the issue back up. Anyone know if there was an outcome?

TED was last month, but this video of Wii savant Johnny Lee went up last week/over the weekend. It’s cool stuff, but the really neat part is how inexpensive the setup is–especially compared to the thousands professionals spend on similar technology. Like Lee says in the video, you pay a mere fraction of the cost of a “real” rig and get 80% of the functionality. If that means a poor schmuck like me can play 3D head tracking games on the cheap, that’s fine by me.

Since the Wii, Nintendo has cut worldwide manufacturing for their previous consoles ingenious Gamecube controller. Since then Wavebirds can be seen going on ebay for $50+ used, mainly due to Super Smash Bros Brawl and Mario Kart Wii’s cube controller support. Thankfully, Nintendo is beginning to manufacture GC controllers once again, this time in Wii white color to please the overall wii presentation. In addition is a longer cord (three meters), and a welcome price point of 2,000 yen ($20).

As of right now, Nintendo is only planning to stock them on shelves in Japan, but don’t be surprised if you start seeing them pop up around here in the next couple months.

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The U.S. military has been hard at work adapting Nintendo’s Wiimote for use in a new explosives-disposal robot, says a report in the Metro.co.uk (via Game|Life).

The vehicle, called “Packbot,” can first and foremost defuse and dispose of bombs and mines, but the little gunslinging robot is also capable of laying down some lead, courtesy of a high-powered machine gun affixed to its cold, lifeless frame.

But why the Wiimote?

Aside from the obvious fun people are having with this little hunk of motion sensing plastic, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy said the controller’s instinctive controls were the deciding factor for a military application. Hoo-rah!

When six twenty-somethings get together for New Year’s Eve, what’s the first thing they ask for? No, not a bucket of booze — the Wii!

Well, ok, maybe booze started off the night, and it certrainly ended the night, but in between pulls of Tanq and tonics and Pino Grigio there was Wii Sports, Dragonforce on Expert in Guitar Hero 3 (sha, right, Jack) and Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party. (more…)

He’s at it again … Johnny Lee is blowing minds and expanding the scope and reach of the Wii remote with his incredible inventions. Nintendo, snatch this guy up today and pay him lots of money–the future of video games depends on it!

Well, ok, maybe not, but this kid’s pretty set in life after he gets out of school, IMHO.

While driving amongst the frozen snowbanks of Massachusetts today, I had an epiphany. Or a revelation. Or something.

Basically, I wanted to play a new, updated, wonderfully 2-D version of Jaleco’s Super Nintendo maserpiece King Arthur’s World on either the Wii or the DS.

Since I’m a sucker for video games (Nintendo in particular), I figured this could be the beginning of a series of meandering short posts about games for old Nintendo systems that would do well on the company’s new systems. Call it the WiiWare folder, but in King Arthur’s case, I’m willing to make a DS exception. Just this once.

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JOhnny Lee is a smart, smart man. And he sees some hidden potential with the Wiimote. Hey, whaddaya know, me too.

It’s official: Nintendo hates Westerners.

No no, it has nothing to do with traditions or buckaroos or our obsession with large, useless SUVs — it’s Club Nintendo, the Japanese-only club that gives its members all kinds of freebies everyone else only gets to see in pictures.

Case in point, members today can get a Mario desk calendar, a 2-disc Mario Galaxy soundtrack, or an official Wii-compatible SNES pad. We Americans get Super Mario Galaxy, which is cool, but I can’t buzz around the town with that playing in my car now can I?

[Via Kotaku]

Next-Gen has published an interesting feature that examines Nintendo’s failed attempt to simplify and expand gaming even before the Wii. “How’s that?” you ask. With the unique button hierarchy of the GameCube controller (a controller I still believe is the best ever). An excerpt:

All and all, with its “ergonomic” controls, the GameCube was a step in the right direction. Many of the design ideals now embodied by the Wii began here. The only problem was, though the direction was right, the step wasn’t anywhere nearly large enough. The lesson: if you’re going to shake things up, better to make your own new space than to try to reform what’s already there.

When checking the mail today I stumbled upon a small package from good o’l Redmond Washington. It’s always an exciting day when Nintendo sends you some more free anti-lawsuit material. Though that is the purpose of the new remote covers, they are also quite nice to use. Caion(Jason) gives us his full review…

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While the tension of Samus Aran’s latest battle with the Mother Brain is still tantalizing the gamer nerve, and while the epic conclusion of the tale of universal phazon corruption is still fresh in the memory, dust off that GameCube controller and give the original Metroid Prime a spin.

Really, go ahead.

Loaded up? Wonderful. Now blast through the introductory space station for a moment; if there is one thing the original Prime holds over the latest, this is it. The eerie desolation and incomparable alienation of exploring this dilapidated Space Pirate vessel still manages to thrill five years after its release, and is a far better - and more suitable, considering the franchise - starting point for Samus Aran and her Metroid-blasting space exploration. (more…)

There’s a question circulating out there in the ether today asking if Guitar Hero 3 for the Wii will be the most popular version of that software over the PS2, Xbox 360 and the PS3 versions. Apparently, Amazon.com’s rankings (notoriously inaccurate, I know) have the Wii at #6, 360 at #44, PS2 at #86, and the PS3 version bringing up the rear beyond the scope of the Top 100. Boo hoo.

It’s a cool question, and I think there might be a chance the answer is yes, but the 360 version will be tough to beat. Even after the success of Guitar Hero 2 I’d say the franchise is still peaking right now, with version 3.0 being apex of this wildly awesome where all the “friend of a friend’s” who saw the game but didn’t buy it during 2006/2007 finally give in for the holiday 2007 season.

Thing is, I think there’s another question to ask, too: Will Guitar Hero 3 be the game that proves gamers of all types are buying into the Wii? Sure, Wii Fit will sell like hotcakes, but this Guitar Hero thing could be the one that does whatever uncertainties still exist about the Wii’s fanbase in for good. Case in point, I never in a million years thought I’d be shredding it to STP’s Trippin’ On A Hole In A Paper Heart with my youngest sister in my lifetime, and yet there I was over the summer doing just that on the PS2 I donated to her so she could play GH2 (and believe me, she’s more Hollister than Hot Topic, so this was really monumental to me).

As Mel Brooks famously once said, “It’s good to be the king.”

For now, Nintendo is the current king of console sales, and that newfound wealth has led to some flexibility in the wallet, as David’s Wiimote-themed post from earlier this morning points out.

Case in point: Japan’s Ashi newspaper, via IGN, confirms that the Big N dropped over two billion yen ($18 mil) on the freebie Wii remote rubber covers, and expects to send out about 20 million of them globally when all is said and done (I’m not sure if this includes all the ones they’re packing into new Wii boxes and Wiimote packages, as it doesn’t say).

Nintendo reps said the multi million dollar giveaway will have no effect on the company’s bottom line. Must be nice.

It’s a rare day that you’ll hear me complain about my Wii, and unfortunately today is one of those days. My gripe? Batteries. More specifically, a lack of batteries.

For the past two weeks, through a combination of extra work at the office and laziness on my part, I have had no fresh AA batteries in my apartment and, therefore, I have had no fresh Wii experiences. For the first part of that period, I cannibalized no fewer than two TV remotes — one for a DVD player I hardly use (DVR and On Demand FTW!), the other a shelf top stereo that’s now neglected thanks to the gf buying a Bose Sound Dock. Those batteries, which were half depleted already, were retired to the circular file in a pathetically short amount of time.

As I awoke this morning, I realized I really wanted to play Metroid Prime 3 and I had no way whatsoever of making this happen. None. No more remotes to steal from; no lone soldiers caught between the couch cushions; nada. So, I was curious. Anyone else out there get really, really frustrated with their Wiimotes, especially if you have a few nunchuk games that suck up extra juice?