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Nintendo Patents Accessory That Turns Wiimote Into A Touchpad
In an interesting patent filing, Nintendo comes up with a curious add-on to the traditional Wiimote -- one that may be intended for use with the company's upcoming Wii U.
Silconera broke the story on the new add-on, which looks to be another interesting accessory from a company that's made more than a few.
According to Siliconera, "The magic of mirrors makes the device work. When you touch the pad an infrared LED turns on and the amplified beams from the LED bounce off the mirror and are interpreted by the controller as position data. If you don’t touch the pad, the remote works just like a standard Wii remote."
Nintendo envisions the pad being used as an "in-game drawing pad or to add a mouse pointer interface to a video game."
It's also possible this device is being created in order to let players use Wii controllers as additional Wii U inputs. As of now, Nintendo has said the Wii U will only support one of the "notepad" style touchscreen Wii U controllers, due to cost issues.
Report of this new mini-touchpad add-on seem to jibe with a report on TSSZ about a rumored new Sonic game, which mentioned "That includes the use of the Wii U mini-tablets for up to a 4 person multiplayer."
Thanks to Brandon Fothergill for the news tip.
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