Sony has put in a patent for a universal LCD touch screen gamepad that could work with Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft and some other old school gaming systems. The device could have a rumble function, speakers, and be wireless.

The concept, which surfaced in the US Patent & Trademark Office's online database yesterday, details a "Universal Game Console Controller" that could "emulate the controllers of popular game consoles, such as…the PlayStation, a controller made by Nintendo, Xbox game controllers made by Microsoft, Amiga CD-32 controllers, Atari Jaguar controllers, Gravis Gamepad controllers, Sega controllers, and Turbographics [sic] controllers."

To do this, Sony's universal controller would incorporate a touch-screen LCD display that would lay out the button configurations of the various game pads. The filing notes that the controller's LCD display could only show one type of control scheme at a time, though up to three types of schemes could be stored in the controller. As could be guessed by the aforementioned controller list, consoles wouldn't need to be current to be compatible with the universal gamepad.

phowell23 via gamespot.com »