Nintendo patent posits Wiimote touchpad extension, looks like plumbing schematic

This patent from Nintendo envisions how it could bring a touch interface to its Wiimotes through an (admittedly unwieldy-looking) controller extension. While the Wii U already looks set to bring touchscreen fun to all things big-screened and Nintendo-themed, this concept offers up touch functionality to existing Wiis through an infrared LED that picks up the location of your finger and transmits it periscope-style to the IR sensor on the Wiimote. If the screen remains untouched, the controller acts as normal -- or as normal as it can with that extra hardware heft.

Nintendo patent posits Wiimote touchpad extension, looks like plumbing schematic originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.