It’ll let users store and load info to PS3, so you can take game data and settings round a friend’s house, and even has ”biometric” security.
Well it will if you get the add-on, suggests the Sony patent filing. It’s entitled ‘Expandable Control Device Via Hardware Attachment’, which is just ‘PS3 Wand’ to us gamers.
It’s where the control device stores data that things get interesting. ”The files can be used to identify a specific user, to configure the controller or the base system, to load a game, to add features to existing games, etc.,” it reads.
”For example, one file is a game that is loaded to the base station for playing, another file contains karaoke songs that can be used in a sing-along game, another file contains new player rosters and statistics for an update to a sports game, etc.”
Taking a copy of your preferred settings would be a boon to couch co-op. ”The player can then use the attachment in a different gaming system to play with other players using the configuration obtained from the original gaming system.”
Baseball anyone? It includes such an attachment that ”lights along its length that can be used for interactivity purpose, such as indicating the strength of the swing or the location where the imaginary baseball hits the baseball bat attachment during a swing”.
It’s the biometric add-on that most would love to get, mainly to annoy your mates I’m sure. It ”includes a thumb reader used to validate the identity of the person holding the controller by analysing the biometric data provided by the attachment”, and thus preventing unwanted persons from playing with it - no more sharing, ever!
Of course it’s also got application with save games, ”for example, a game in the base station can be restarted at a point where the player last stopped playing the game,” it said. The ‘PS3 Wand’ is believed to still be on target for a spring 2010 release window.
Source: Eurogamer