- Hasbro wants to bring Nerf to the 21 century by incorporating VR into their toys
- It patents an attachment that could hold a screen and be used on already available Nerf toys
- The subsequent “controller” could be used for FPS, sports, and adventure games
Players might soon be able to use Nerf guns as controllers for various VR and AR games, as Hasbro patents an attachment to allow that.
Hasbro Files Interesting Patent
Hasbro’s Nerf guns have been around since the early 90s and they are still very popular among children and adults today. Another tech that’s been around since the same time, at least in some early primitive forms, is VR gaming. Whit the continued popularity of the former and the leaps in technology of the latter, what if we combined them both? Well, this is what might soon happen as a new patent has been filled out that gives evidence on how Nerf guns could be used as controllers for VR gaming systems.
Combining the popular toys with video games is nothing new, although it hasn’t been done as a physical integration of both. his can be seen with titles like the first-person shooter NERF Legends, being released in 2021 on multiple platforms including Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, and Xbox. Hasbro has also collaborated with games such as Minecraft when the company released its own line of Nerf guns, and Halo, which allowed players to unlock in-game skins after purchasing a themed blaster.
However, Hasbro plans to bring the physical Nerf toys with its new patent filed at the United States of America Patent Office earlier this month. It is basically a video game attachment system and controller shaped like a Nerf gun that will be compatible with traditional or VR gaming. The attachment will be able to hold a screen or even a phone. There also seem to be secondary attachments to the controller, where the registration device can be used to detect the movement and triggers of the toy guns being pulled.
Although the patent describes toy guns, it specifically outlines that the attachment can be used in conjunction with regular Nerf blasters that are already available. According to the patent’s description, the attachment and gun combo will give the Nerf blasters the ability to be compatible with various gaming systems, without the need to buy specialized controllers.
Interestingly, the document also states that the technology wouldn’t just be used for first-person shooter games, but it could be used to play some sports games as well. This means that it could be used as a steering wheel control for racing/driving games, for sports games that need some kind of bat, and even for adventure games, where the controller could be used to move a sword or other melee weapon.
Of course, filing a patent is one thing, but we might still wait a lot more time before we see such a product fielded on the market.
