Nintendo's prime directive for this current console generation has been
to broaden the ways in which Wii owners interact with their games.
Beginning with the motion-sensing Wii Remote and Nunchuk, the Japanese
company has since introduced a Balance Board, which has taken on the
functionality of anything from a bathroom scale to a pair of skis, and a Vitality Sensor, which Nintendo announced at the 2009 Electronic Entertainment Expo.
All that's fine and well for getting gamers to interact with their Wii
in different ways, but as noted by Nintendo in a patent filing with the
European Patent Office spotted by gaming site Siliconera,
sometimes people just need to get on their horses and ride. Bemoaning
the fact that most horse-riding simulations are often monstrous
contraptions, Nintendo states that: "It would be desirable to provide
an inexpensive, convenient way to realistically simulate, in the home,
riding on horseback or on other animals."
As outlined in Nintendo's patent filing, said device involves
attaching motion-sensing controllers to an inflatable cushion or other
sitting device. Giving the example of the Wii Remote and Nunchuk,
Nintendo states that the accelerometers on the controllers would be
able to sense a gamer's motion as he or she bounces on an inflatable
cushion. In response, the game being played on the Wii would respond
accordingly, mimicking the motion of a player riding an animal in-game.
Force feedback could also be incorporated into the device. Nintendo
notes that the electronic, inflatable cushion could be outfitted with
haptic feedback transmitters, which would vibrate in response to
occurrences within the game. Taking it one step further, the patent
also details a way in which the game could jostle the rider around to
mimic a bumpy in-game ride.
Nintendo's horseback riding simulator patent was initially filed with
the European Patent Office on January 15, 2009, and was published on
the organization's Web site in late July.
