According to a patent filing dug up by Spong, Nintendo has a controller that hasn't seen the light of day (yet?). The patent was filed months ago, back in February, so we don't really know if this is meant to be an alternative controller for the Wii, or plans for a future model.

The design of the controller seems to return back to the days before the Wii, when the controller was a gamepad rather than a wand. While we don't know if it is indeed a controller for the Wii, the patent does describe it to have motion-tracking features, which indicates that it may at least be Wii-related.

According to the filing, there is also a gun adapter that comes with the controller. This deviates from the idea that this is intended for the Wii, since the Wii Zapper already has that function down pat. This may be an early design for a different console, or something else entirely. It's all speculation - we may never even see it hit the market. As the patent says:

Although the present invention has been described and illustrated in detail, it is clearly understood that the same is by way of illustration and example only and is not to be taken by way of limitation, the spirit and scope of the present invention being limited only by the terms of the appended claims.

If the controller does see the light of day though, at least Anascape Ltd. or any other company wouldn't be able to drag Ninty into court this time.

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