Nintendo has filed patent (both US and Japanese patent applications were found in the European Patent Office Web site) for a number of new motion sensing Wii applications that focus on moving the Wiimote into specialized controllers (think guns), toys (like the teddy bear pictured above) and even into devices as typically far from the stationary console as a bike or a skateboard.

If your read the patent application (available here) you’ll find that much of the discussion is based upon gun type controllers (for first person shooters), as well as joysticks and steering wheels, but the breadth of devices for “docking” the Wiimote in here is pretty broad, and may hint as some motion controlled devices we’ll see in the not so distant future. We believe that toys (such as the teddy bear) are one of the next big things for motion sensing as they can help provide interfaces to games and online services for the pre-school (and pre-reading) crowd in a way that more complicated interface devices can’t.

Via New Scientist and Register Hardware

Note: The patent was filed in 2006/2007, the publication of the application occurred in January

KEYnetic Mobile develops motion control input devices and interfaces for mobile devices. The company’s already gotten a fair amount of press (a lot of it related to their Nokia N95 app called RockNscroll, which was demonstrated at CES and which is available as a free download from the company’s forum.

They recently posted video (shown above) of their prototype mobile motion sensing platform, which is accelerometer based. There’s more to the company than just the accelerometers — they’re developing an entire mobile platform to incorporate the sensors, the GUI and the algorithms that tie the two together. We’ll be following up to bring you more on this soon.

Hilton Hotels & Resorts has made an early commitment to Reactrix to implement Samsung’s futuristic, interactive flat panel technology at select hub hotels across the company’s global portfolio.
The system is based on Samsung’s large-format-display 570DX products. The 570DX offers a 3,000:1 Dynamic Contrast ratio and 600 cd/m² brightness to communicate clearly in the brightest environments…just what one might expect in a hotel lobby or atrium, for example.
The panels offer Hilton guests a way to interact with the hotel’s wide array of services and guest offerings, including Hilton Fitness by Precor and, for business gatherings, the brand’s unique suite of services and e-tools, Hilton Meetings. Hilton’s goal is to use the Reactrix technology to introduce a new type of virtual concierge affording another opportunity for each hotel to connect with guests.
“Today’s consumer wants to interact with products and services in multiple ways. We’ve responded to that trend by using technology in our hotels to engage our guests with online, off-line, and self-service tools – like our e-check-in kiosk, which allows the choice of touch-screen or in-person check-in,” says Jeff Diskin, senior vice president – brand management, Hilton Hotels. “With Samsung and Reactrix, we’re introducing industry-leading ‘fingertip’ technology in our hotels, as a fun and futuristic way for our guests to discover the hotel’s wide range of services and products available.”

Wired has an interesting blog piece up today discussing the state of mobile gaming (precipitated by the launch of Nokia’s revitalized N-Gage platform and the upcoming iPhone SDK launch).  Some interesting perspectives here about which new user interfaces will best facilitate gaming:  some parties (such as Real Networks) believe that touch is the answer, while others take a stand on the side of motion (whether facilitated by accelerometers or via optical sensing — ala GestureTek).

It’s no surprise that we think motion is the way to go, but touch interfaces certainly have their place and can be blended in with motion (as they are so successfully on the iPhone today).

Read the article here.

They seem to have been flying beneath the radar so far (with a placeholder of a Web site), but today MIT Technology Review has a piece about Motus Corporation.

The company is developing a new gaming controller (called Darwin) which is designed to bring motion sensing to platforms that don’t currently have it. According to Technology Review, Motus is developing this to be a sub-$100 controller which leverages both gyros and accelerometers to provide an absolute pointing reference.

There’s a lot to be determined here (not least of which is which games will support the controller), but also a lot to be interested in — we’ll be following up with Motus, so keep an eye here for more.

We ran across an interesting blog post from one of Movea’s VCs on Friday, discussion the overall motion applications market and trends and specific reasons why the investment in Movea was made. There’s also some perspective in here about the synergies between Movea and Gyration, looking at both the technologies and the market presence of both firms.

You can find the post here.

The details are thin, but Wired and Akihabara News have picked up on a new press release from Softbank regarding a new motion sensing mobile phone. Sharp is the manufacturer and the iPhone looks to be the inspiration.

We’ll try to find out more about what the motion sensors in this phone do — and to figure out why Softbank is going down the accelerometer path while NTT DoCoMo seems to be focusing (no pun intended) on optical motion sensing.

You can read the original press release (if you can read Japanese) here.