Stick drift on controllers is an issue that any gamer would have to contend with sooner or later. Unless you’ve forked out extra cash to get a third party one that makes use of the Hall Effect sticks, of course. In recent times, the Nintendo Switch was the gaming device that brought the issue to light. More recently, the same company has been granted a patent with a pretty unique way of combating the issue.
The company was recently granted a patent which describes a controller that makes use of a magnetorheological fluid (MRF), the viscosity of which changes with the intensity of a magnetic field. Said magnetic field is generated when the “operation element is displaced”, or when the stick is moved. This then raises the viscosity of the MRF, which in turn pulls the stick back to its original position.
Overall, this sounds like a variation of the Hall Effect sticks that are a lot less prone to stick drift, since input is not read via two components physically rubbing against each other. With the MRF described in the Nintendo patent, it looks like input is also measured via voltage change when the magnetic and electric fields cross.
One specific part of the Nintendo patent describes wanting to “let the user feel a greater viscosity” of the MRF. Which sounds quite a bit like the adaptive triggers of the DualSense controllers, which can become more difficult to press depending on the context of a game. Though it’s difficult to tell for certain thanks to the usual difficult language of patents.
Unfortunately, as with all patents, there’s no guarantee that this will be something that Nintendo will use for the successor of the Switch. This is especially considering the patent was filed in May of this year, and granted last week. But here’s hoping that the company does manage to get the tech working in time for the currently-rumoured late 2024 release. If so, then that would be what makes the device next-gen, more so than ray tracing or DLSS, much like the DualSense being more next-gen than the PS5.
(Source: USPTO)
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