Nintendo patent profers wacky Wii add-ons

Scatter-gun peripheral design protection?

A European patent application filed by Nintendo has reveals a raft of ways the console giant could extend the use of the Wii Remote, ranging from the strange to the downright ridiculous.

Nintendo's Wii Remote patent: buy one, or the teddy gets it

Each of the designs detailed in the application focuses on fitting the Remote into or onto another, everyday object. For example, one sketch shows how the Remote could be strapped onto the topside of your wrist, which could be useful for fighting games, whilst another describes how the Remote slides into a wired gun that’s not too dissimilar from the one used in Duck Hunt on the NES console.

A fishing rod accessory that accommodates the Wii’s Remote in its reel housing is another concept that seems fairly sensible. However, most of Nintendo’s other designs are verging on the ridiculous.

Remote-enabled headwear is a consistent theme

You could opt for a pair of space-age goggles that allow the Remote to be clipped onto them at various points. A motorbike-esque helmet takes much the same theme as the goggles and could be a nice addition to Nintendo’s other suggestion: a futuristic bicycle that accepts the Remote into one of its pedals.

The Wii's Remote could help you get more exercise

The company’s also building on its established sports games theme by suggesting a skateboard with an empty wheel for the remote to sit in and a golf club that secretes a Wii Remote into its handle.

What’s the point of all these weird and wonderful designs? Will gamers find any of these remade in plastic and offered as accessories?

That’s hard to say. But, as Nintendo looks for new ways to ensure the Wii’s continued success worldwide, its controller patents may just be a way of ensuring that, if its market research concludes gamers want teddy bear controllers and helmets with Remotes on, then Nintendo’s always one step ahead of third-party peripheral designers.