Sony is currently experimenting with a tablet-style PlayStation controller, which according to Slashgear would allow for “dynamic 3D motion control and virtual buttons for gaming and other purposes.” They’re even trying to patent it.
It looks like cool hardware, similar to the capabilities of the Wii U console, which was, of course, Nintendo’s answer to the tablet craze that Apple started back in 2010.
So far, so good. Want to take a guess, though, what Sony wants to call their iPad clone?
That’s right. According to Gamechup, who broke the story, Sony has internally coded it the “PlayStation EyePad.”
You can’t make this stuff up. Hell’s bells, Sony. Talk about wearing your creative ineptitude inspiration on your sleeve.
Source: Free Patents Online
Via: Slashgear
John Brownlee is a writer for Fast Company, and a contributing writer here at CoM. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.
10 responses to “You’ll Never Guess What Sony Wants To Call Their New Gaming Tablet”
In fairness this is pretty in line with their existing product lineup that has been out for longer than the iPad; in 2003 Sony released their camera accessory for Playstation 2 they called the EyeToy.
US Trademarks are based on how they sound when spoken, not on how they’re spelled, so this wouldn’t fly as an actual product name. It’s a cheeky internal working name; one that acknowledges its inspiration.
EyePad. At least they aren’t trying to call it a MaxiPad. They should call it, a iPlaystationPad.
Will never happen. Maybe EyePad is the beta or code name for the developer versions but it will have to change when it’s shipping.
Why is every single other tablet referred to as an iPad clone by you guys? Sure the internal name is laughable if true, but it looks pretty different to an iPad to me.
— But iPod was 2001…so …which came first the chicken or the egg that tried to hatch into the chicken that laid it?
Because it’s called the EyePad.
It’s still a tablet. If it is that similar, Apple should sue them.
Obviously they’re not going to call it that. There is PS Vita, so this will probably be called PS Ars.
This isn’t the chicken or the egg, this is the cat. Eye referred to the fact that it was a camera and was used for augmented reality functions in gaming. I somehow doubt that the “i” in iPod was intended the same way.
Additionally with the acquisition of Gaikai last year it’s likely that this is an attempt to create a competent gaming tab, something the Wii U’s gamepad aspires to, but can’t manage because the processing tech is already 7 years old. This patent shows some obvious AR elements for gaming- scanning objects into the game world with stereoscopic cameras, etc. With the main processing happening on Gaikai’s servers, this would be pretty slick. But only if they can pull it off, which is assuming a lot for Sony these days. haha
True. Sony’s finances are recovering, but slowly. I doubt they’d do anything to bring them close to a lawsuit from the most valuable company in the world. They just don’t have the cash to fight a war like that. Plus with the Vita you know they decided let’s just name things poorly. haha