Virtual reality coming to Nintendo’s new console? Here’s a hint.

Virtual reality coming to Nintendo’s new console? Here’s a hint.

The new Nintendo Switch video game console is coming in March.
The new Nintendo Switch video game console is coming in March.

Image: NINTENDO/SIPA/AP Images

When the new Nintendo Switch comes out in March we’ll finally know if it will support virtual reality. But until then, impatient gamers are searching for clues.

Evidence has emerged that supports speculation that VR will be part of the system. In an online gaming forum on Wednesday, someone posted details from a Nintendo U.S. patent filing from June, the website UploadVR reported.

From the patent, it looks like a head-mounted display (HMD) accessory will let users slip in a smartphone for what would presumably be a VR experience. Contained in the 147 pages of images, there’s one that shows what this headset might look like.

Figure 60 in the patent shows a head-mounted display.

Figure 60 in the patent shows a head-mounted display.

The patent description says the headset is “an example accessory to which the main unit can be attached.”

Nowhere in the filing does it specifically mention VR (or augmented reality), but the way it’s explained seems awfully similar to Samsung’s Gear VR or even Google Cardboard.

Mashable reached out to Nintendo, but the company didn’t comment about any VR capabilities or other details about the Switch console.

For now, we’ll have to be content with these crude diagrams and limited details about its design. 

What we do know: The Switch will have a gamepad-looking screen with controllers that break off, and the screen can be slipped into a dock to make it a home console.

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