Is Microsoft Planning on Wearable Controllers for Next Xbox or Windows

Couple of days back when I read about patents from Microsoft which talked about 3D Immersive Gameplay, using the complete room as gaming environment, It all sounded bit of fancy to me. Like you can see not every house have four or three-sided wall arrangement and that too clear enough to get a complete 3D gameplay, so hooking a consumer to this was sounding more difficult.

However, Today when I read about Wearable Xbox Controllers, my views are changing a bit. Though the doubt of the 3D gameplay still stays back, but the wearable Xbox controllers definitely looks a way forward, even if it’s not 3D.

So Microsoft has filed a patent here which is stated as “WEARABLE ELECTROMYOGRAPHY-BASED HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERFACE “. Looking at the definition its easy to make out that Microsoft might be working on a set of device that can interact with Xbox or even computers, keeping in mind we do have Kinect for Windows already in place.

• It’s a Wired or Wireless HCI to interact with Computers and any attached device.
• Electrical Signals can be generated by specific movement of User’s Muscles.
• It will have calibration & localization process to find the Muscle Generated Electrical Signals.
• It can be in form of Armband, Wristwatch or anything else.

Now even if we rule out the possibility of controller and only assume that its something similar to Google’s Glasses, the images of the patent suggests something different. They are not constrained towards one body party but talk about multiple set of controllers which can track different signals from your body.

This means either Microsoft will rollout set of new controllers that can connect with next Xbox or even Windows 8 or could be individual accessories which one can buy like Kinect to Interact with upcoming games.

The way Microsoft is working towards seamless integration, this does sound to be true enough to believe in. What’s your thought ?