Nintendo Could Be Planning Eventual VR For the Switch, According To Uncovered Patents

Just think: Nintendo games and VR. Awesome, right?

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Virtual reality is an exciting frontier for gaming, and it seems as though Nintendo could possibly be looking into adapting its upcoming Switch console for exactly that in the near future. If a few newly-uncovered patents are to be believed, it's possible the Switch handheld console itself could actually be utilized as part of a head-mounted unit for virtual reality ventures.

Nintendo filed said patents with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in June, but they were uncovered today for our perusal, offering a potential combination of the Switch's handheld portion with a VR mount that could offer an experience not unlike that of the Samsung Gear VR or Google Cardboard, if not something much, much more powerful. These patents obviously don't guarantee that it's something Nintendo is working on, but they do offer an intriguing series of "what if" questions.

The patent doesn't mention virtual reality or augmented reality by name, but it does demonstrate a Switch unit possibly being dropped into the top of some sort of accessory to create a head-mounted display. This could also mean that the Nintendo Switch may indeed have a touchscreen as we previously surmised.

You can check out the patents in their entirety to see what you can come up with, but it would certainly be an interesting leap forward for the company if this were something that happened to come true. Hopefully we'll be able to glean some additional information out of the upcoming Nintendo Switch event, which will be streamed direct from Tokyo beginning at 11 PM ET on January 12. We're all looking forward to it. Please understand.

Senior Editor

Fueled by horror, rainbow-sugar-pixel-rushes, and video games, Brittany is a Senior Editor at Shacknews who thrives on surrealism and ultraviolence. Follow her on Twitter @MolotovCupcake and check out her portfolio for more. Like a fabulous shooter once said, get psyched!

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