Multiple outlets are reporting today on the recent publication of a patent from PlayStation masterminds Sony, suggesting a glove-based motion control system for video games—a sort of Authority Gauntlet, if you will. The patent—which you can read here, if that’s your thing—details a system of flex sensors and contact pads, which would allow users to translate specific hand motions into onscreen effects, and also aid them in convincing Fred Savage to go on cross-country bus trips to sell copies of Super Mario Bros. 3 to kids.
Of course, the filing of the patent—which was done back in 2014, although the U.S. Patent And Trademark Office only published it this week—doesn’t mean the days of Super Glove Ball are finally coming back; companies file patents for stuff like this all the time, to stake out territory they merely might be interested in pursuing. Still, the ongoing push into virtual reality—including Sony’s own PlayStation VR—is going to demand some new control schemes, and motion-sensing gloves are at least a little cooler than Microsoft’s Kinect, or the weird, glowing lollipop known as the PlayStation Move. In any case: this is probably a pretty big day for those guys who Kickstarted that Power Glove documentary a couple of years ago.