DS slide-sensor add-on revealed

Earlier this week, a filing with the US Patent and Trademark Office appeared to reveal Nintendo was working on a new portable. Accompanied by images of what looked roughly like an original Game Boy, the recently granted patent was for motion-sensing technology. The tech would re-create "change caused in the actual space in a form of a game-space state change, based on at least one of an amount and a direction of a tilt, movement or impact applied to the housing."

Now, Nintendo Japan has unveiled a motion-sensing peripheral which uses far simpler technology. Last week, the company quietly launched a new motion-sensing "slide controller" add-on for its DS handheld. As by a video on the site, the add-on clips into the Game Boy Advance cart slot. Photos taken by popular Japanese-game importer NCS show the slide controller turns the entire DS into a mouse via an optical sensor on its underside (pictured).

The DS slide controller comes bundled with a new game for the handheld, Slide Adventure: Mag Kid. According to NCS, the game centers around a small robot, Mag Kid, tasked with reassembling itself in the face of attacks from rogue salvage operations. The robot can defend himself with a dashing attack and also gleans new powers from defeated enemies. The title will also feature 12 minigames which will put the Kid through his motion-sensing paces.

Slide Adventure: Mag Kid is already on the market in Japan, where it retails for 5,800 yen (around $48). Nintendo has not made public any plans to release the slide peripheral or outside its homeland. As of press time, US PR reps for the publisher had not responded to inquiries about the device or the game.