Apple files a patent where  they seem to be talking about – a videogame controller? While a lot of articles on the web say that Apple was working on a dedicated Gaming console, Suckmytrend.com had already figured out that the plans shown were actually a technology that was made with the mindset of working togheter with next-gen consoles. The technology is based on Apple’s “Near Field Communication” or NFC for short. For example being able to turn up the heat in your house, but we are are most interested in the gaming side of things.

A first example is the iPhone being able to act like the controller, that is if the controller has NFC built in. When 2 pieces of hardware connect with each other by simply pressing the NFC button, the iPhone would instantly become the controller. It would also recognize the game and give the player three controller layouts – Classic, Custom and the last being “Game Developer Recommended”.

A second example is that the controller would be left out of the equation and that the iPhone would connect through NFC, infrared or wifi directly with the console. Same simple method of connecting is also applied, a quick press of the NFC button will do the trick. Also a RFID-tag or QR-code could be used.

The patent also tells us that Apple wants their products to be a bigger part of our general household life. And thanks to NFC, everything would be connected in a really easy way. A lot of things these days can already be connected with an app on a smartphone, but NFC would really step things up.

Do these plans have a chance of ever actually seeing daylight? Nobody knows – It all comes down to if there really is a good use for all of this. Why use your “not so easy to use iPhone touchscreen” when you already have a controller that you love and use everyday for playing games.. A second controller option maybe? Every company that wants a piece of the action has to chip in. Consolemakers have to make shure that NFC actually can connect with their device and developers need to program their games in a way that they can be used by iOS devices. Apple on the other hand, they have to make the software that would make this all possible.