A newly published patent revealed that Sony wants gamers to sit up straight while playing. Everyone has had someone tell them to straighten their back after a long day hunched in front of the TV, and now it seems that Sony might want to join in on the action.
It can be easy to forget the dangers of sitting with an unhealthy posture, especially when there are battle passes to complete, but gamers are no strangers to the kind of back pain that can follow these intense sessions. Thankfully, Sony has a few ideas on how to curb these issues. The patent was filed a few years ago but was released today, and now that PS5 consoles should hopefully be a lot easier to get ahold of, Sony could have the chance to straighten the backs of millions of players - that is if this feature ever sees the light of day.
Sony wouldn't be the first company to try its hand at tackling the posture problem. After all, there's a whole industry built around making sure players are sitting comfortably, but only so much can be done with chairs. The patent's abstract talks about how this potential feature would use the controller to analyze a player's movement and use that data to provide solutions for improving their posture, like giving a friendly reminder to take a break or sit up straight. It seems that that patent primarily intends to mitigate the stress injuries that repetitive motions could cause.
“A game intervention server may evaluate, based on learning models, posture, and physical motions for players for repetitive, unbalanced, or excessive motions, as well as gameplay quality patterns, and compare to thresholds for identifying unhealthy conditions.”
This news comes right after Sony filed another patent for a "Virtual Dojo" that would give players a chance to improve their skills before jumping into games, just one of the many patents Sony has filed this year - an AI assistant for the PS5 among them. Time will tell how many of these could see an eventual release, but it's safe to say that Sony is casting a wide net looking for new and interesting ways to improve the experience of engaging with their products.
It's unclear how exactly this feature would be implemented to existing PlayStation hardware, which is why it's important to note that it's rare for patents like this to lead to full-fledged features released to consumers. If it's released at all, it's possible that it might not be until the next generation of consoles hits shelves. Until then, players will have to listen to their bodies to let them know when it might be time to take a break.
Source: OP Attack (via Push Square)