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Switch 2 hinted for an early 2024 launch (gamerant.com)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/nintendo

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Hall Effect Joysticks!

I think the copyright for that technology is, well…copyrighted. So Nintendo would need to pay a licensing fee to use it in their Joycons (as would any gaming company for their joysticks). That would add significant cost to the controllers.

Same reason we haven’t seen back buttons adopted into controllers as a standard yet despite being the next logical evolution in controller design.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

@StarServal, you mean patents (not copyright), since it is about inventions.

And there is at least one hall effect controller patent that already expired. It is from 1988, so hall effect joysticks are not a new thing at all.

https://patents.google.com/patent/US4825157A/

@anarchyrabbit @Yondu_the_Ravager @Birchoff

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Thanks for doing the googling and bringing it up here.

Apparently the dreamcast controller had hall effect sensors, so it's not really new tech. With the volume that Nintendo produces stuff with, the extra price per joystick would most likely be quite small.

[–] 4am -1 points 1 year ago

I think it would need to be a patent, not a copyright. Also, Hall effect sensors were in use before someone decided to put them into a joystick. I would hope that “use the thing for which it was designed” isn’t patentable but, knowing the USPTO when it comes to technology…