Back on March 4th of this year, Microsoft filed a patent that was not published until today September 17th. It is for a wearable device, mainly a bracelet, that contains "interactive smart beads" used mainly for computer games. These beads will be attached to a "connecting element" (the bracelet) and allow the user (wearer) to visually see what they are doing. The description reads as:
The connecting element also autonomously generates interactions between two or more detected beads and transmits data about the interactions to a software experience so that a user can view a graphical representation of the interactions. In various examples each bead represents a character, environment, object, etc. and the software experience displays an animated story based on the characters, environments, objects, etc. represented by the beads involved in an interaction.
Now, in English, this means the beads on the bracelet will interact with each other and somehow project an image, most likely to your TV, which you will be able to see and interact with, i.e play a game. The image below represents the bracelet from a top down view, you can see the round bracelet at the top with the beads on it and the bottom is the pop out image of how the tech is set up inside.
Now, in addition the bracelet for gaming which we will get into in a minute, there is another supplied image of other devices such as a handbag, shoe, watch and even glasses which you can also see below.
Now, with these images alone we may not think anything specific about it in terms of gaming as it could be any number of items, possibly even related to Microsoft's new exercise band. On the other hand, since it explicity states about gaming and
A number of games have also been developed in which gameplay is enabled (or unlocked) through the use of physical character toys which are placed on a custom base connected to a games console. By placing different toys on the custom base, different gameplay is enabled.
Why would you even mention this is there wasn't something to do with interactive toys, i.e Skylanders or Disney Infinity? These are definitely for some type of gaming peripheral, obviously, but what for remains the question. With Hololens being an augmented reality feature, wearable devices such as these make perfect sense, especially with the "visual representation" description. On the other hand, it could also quite easily connect via software (also mentioned) to a Skylanders-esque game base in order to have a game appear on screen. This was just published today and may of course not come to fruition as many patents do. On the other hand, the applications for this seem way to practical not to see the light of day with Hololens, Kinect and other games that could make of it.
In all seriousness, toys to life games are a huge business and Microsoft isn't stupid. They see the money other companys like Activision, Warner Bros (Lego) and Disney are making off of them. Can you imagine the money they would make with an interactive Master Chief game? How about Killer Instinct's Jago? The possibilities are endless as Microsoft owns countless game IP's. It extends beyond just games as well as the applications have all kinds of range with anything from exercise, augmented reality, computing, etc.
What are your thoughts on Microsoft's new patent for interactive gaming? Let us know.
