Nintendo Files Patent for Stylus Attachment for Switch Joy-Cons - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 20 January 2020 / 2,494 Views
Nintendo has filed a patent with the US Patent and Trademark Office for an attachment for the Nintendo Switch Joy-Cons that has a stylus attached to it. The patent was originally filed in June 2019, but was recently discovered by Siliconera.
The attachment for the Joy-Cons has a stylus built right into it, which means you could use the buttons and stylus at the same time.
The patent also describes uses for the stylus attachment in games including touching a box with the pen in game, the game sending feedback to the controller with rumble, and using the stylus to draw on the touch screen. You could also adjust the thickness of the drawing line by pressing buttons on the Joy-Con.
View images of the patent below:
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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So more DS ports confirmed?
Mario Paint Switch confirmed?
Pokémon Rangerrrrrr
Who needs a stylus?
-Steve Jobs 2007
in 2015 apple came out wiht the first apple pencil right?
That design choice... seems horrible. This looks like a possible solution, looking for a problem. Its overly big, clumsy, and very unlike a "pen in hand". How is this gonna alow for any precison? It seems worse than just useing your finger on a touch screen would be. Will probably be the worst realised stylus ever or close to it, if it comes out like that.
Hm, I dunno about your precision claims, but it does seem weird. Nintendo could have just had the stylus separate from the Joy Con. But because that's not what they did, it seems evident that they have considered something with additional features. In the artwork they show the haptics being used as well as using button input to control line thickness (as Switch screen isn't pressure sensitive). It could probably be used in some clever ways with the Joy Con's gyroscope and accelerometer as well. Nintendo tends to think outside the box, but I can understand why you might look at this and assume that it's purpose was to be used as a precision stylus. What this tells me is that Nintendo is considering this as a peripheral add-on for a piece of software or game they are making.
RaptorChrist, its so they can make use of the buttons on the joy-con, instead of paying to design a proper stylus with buttons on it. Also so it can rumble..... which is something you really dont need on a stylus. Ontop of that, the buttons are placed so you can press them, while drawing, if your trying to hold that stylus like its a normal pencil. Its a bad design, its gonna make it hard to use and draw + push buttons without changeing grips and moveing it around and stopping, everytime you wanna use a button.
I guess we'll have to wait and see if this ever sees the light of day. I'm with you that it appears sort of odd and its features aren't something that would be very useful if released today (with nothing software-specific). However, Nintendo has fairly high credibility and a large R&D staff that have probably already considered every critique that's being made about it.
Hey JRPG, is something wrong with your profile? I just get re-directed to the members currently online page. Or maybe you blocked me? :(
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