Nintendo Working On Football Controller

Siliconera found patent filings from Nintendo for a football controller addon that will work with the Wii. After tucking the Wii Remote into a lateral slot on the football, you slip your hand through a strap so that your fingers touch the Remote's buttons. Then you mimic running and throwing, which is interpreted by the accelerometer. 'The pitch angle and force of the throw determines the trajectory arc of the throw. Side to side motion determines the yaw angle. Pressing buttons on the Wii remote can adjust other options.' The device is described as 'squishy,' so your TV is probably safe, but I'd try it at a friend's house first.

Interesting patent, but...

[raving griff]

...I'm not so sure this design will ever hit market. Nintendo's got a bit of a history [reghardware.co.uk] for filing patents on applications of the Wii Remote and never following through with them.

Smart

[boliboboli]

One of the key rules of business is to know your market opportunities and cater to the larger segment. Clearly football has become the biggest and most popular sport in the US(sorry baseball) and they are going after a huge demographic by catering to them. Being a big football fan myself who doesn't own a wii, but like the idea of my kids playing football someday, I may purchase one so we can play when we can't go outside and use the real thing.

Re:As an American...

[Deag]

What happens in your little corner does not equal the entire world.

Soccer is commonly used in countries with more than one code of football to distinguish it.

In Ireland we use soccer most of the time as football could mean soccer or gaelic football.

Re:What's funny here...

[fiannaFailMan]

Is all the defensive Americans marking as Troll anything that highlights the ridiculousness of calling this particular game "Football". As a European, I had exactly the same reaction as another poster: that putting the Wiim-mote inside a football would be dangerous.

As it transpires, it's not actually a football, but for some twisted reason, it's still called that.

The Brits also invented a football game where the ball is mostly thrown and seldom kicked with the foot. It was called Rugby, which split into Rugby Union and Rugby League, but both games are still called Rugby Football.

Football games aren't so-called because of the kicking action, of the seven or so flavours of football in this world only one of them predominantly uses the foot to deliver the ball. The 'foot' in 'football' comes from the fact that these games are descended from pastimes that were played by the peasants 'on foot' as opposed to the games that were played by the nobles on horseback.