Everyone wishes they had purchased Microsoft stock years before they did. Everyone wishes they had seen the potential of the early models of the Dodge Charger or the classic T-Bird and kept one in their garage. The world is full of things that were before their time – if we’d only have recognized that potential.

The same type of speculation exists in the world of motion devices. Take a look at what Gyration put together for Nintendo back in 2001. It’s the “coulda, woulda, shoulda” of motion-sensing gamepads.

This is the GyroPod, a motion-sensing gamepad prototype that Gyration made for Nintendo back in 2001. There is a striking resemblance between these prototypes and Nintendo Wii’s Wiimote and nunchuck.

The key component in these prototypes was the MG100, Gyration’s early-generation two-axis gyroscope, plus a signal processing chip, Greg Smith, vice president of international marketing and business development for Gyration, explains. These were integrated into a motion control “daughterboard module” which was wired into existing game controller electronics (it was a prototype, not a production design).

Gyration owns the patent for technology that controls a graphic or cursor on a display by sensing human motion.  The technology is in remotes by Dell, Alienware, and Packard Bell. Other OEMs have included Sharp, Gateway and InFocus.

“Sony also sold a controller in the ’90’s that utilized our patents,” Smith points out. Of course, the technology has also been utilized by generations of Gyration products.

Gyration did early development work for Nintendo and developed the first one-handed Motion-Sensing game controller prototype in 2001-2002, licensing key patents to Nintendo in 2001. Nintendo became a significant investor in Gyration and Nintendo’s then-Chairman, Atsushi Asada, made a personal investment in the firm.

Smith notes that the unit did make it to the “big time” five years later (while that may seem a blink in time, it’s forever in technology terms) - the Wii is a runaway success and propelled a once-forgotten game platform to the top of the market.

“The question may be more one of timing and this is a question for Nintendo,” Smith points out. “They can’t just come out with a new controller, but a new game software platform, console hardware platform, and an entire ecosystem of games,” he says.

This explains why there are always many years between console platform launches. As the Wii came out in 2006, clearly this was ahead of its time! Examine the photos again — you will see a lot of similarities between this prototype breakaway handle and the Wii one-handed controller.