While Nintendo is darn proud of its attempts to differentiate itself from other console manufacturers with its unusual hardware choices, it looks like Sony also had plenty of touchscreen-toting, TV-connected ideas way back in 2010. These patent sketches explain a handheld device that bares a foggy resemblance to Nintendo's incoming Wii U. The “position-dependent gaming, 3-D controller, and handheld as a remote,” would act as the “input to a video game” — or controller, as we technical types like to call it — adding in some augmented reality functionality as an overlay to camera input on the device.
2DayBlog.com, Sony patent sketches reveal Wii U-esque controller system