Update: The latest PlayStation patent application could see the PS5, or a future console, could get improved ray tracing
In a recently filed patent application, Sony Interactive Entertainment submitted a system that could potentially use a banana as a PS5 controller.
Yes, you read that correctly. The patent application, discovered by GamesIndustry, was filed to the US Patent and Trademark Office on July 15, 2020. It describes Sony's intention to potentially allow any "passive non-luminous objects" such as bananas, oranges, pens and even coffee mugs to replace your PlayStation's DualSense controller.
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Sony's patent vaguely outlines how its system would work without going into too much detail. According to the filing, an "input unit" would first obtain images of an object being held by a user as a video games controller.
The system would then use a machine learning model trained to identify objects to detect the pose of whatever the user wants to use as a controller. Once this is done, a "user input generator" would record changes in the object's pose and transmit it to a gaming console, effectively working in a similar way a traditional controller does.
The patent application also includes both illustrations and references to a "two-object controller," to which Sony provides an example of using two oranges. Because why use only one piece of fruit when you can use two?
Interestingly, Sony's patent wouldn't be the first time someone had an idea to use the contents of a fruit bowl as a gaming controller. Several Twitch streamers such as SuperLouis64 and Rudeism have previously challenged themselves to play games using "wrong controllers." For example, SuperLouis64 managed to beat Dark Souls 3 using about half a dozen bananas, while Rudeism completed Hades using chunks of pomegranate.
It's difficult to predict what use cases Sony could realistically have in store for customers using this technology. Of course, it's just a patent filing, so this doesn't necessarily mean that it will bear fruit (pun intended).
