Microsoft's answer to tablet gaming? Slicing an Xbox controller in half

Surface
Artist's (TechRadar's) impression

Nvidia believes it's seen the future of portable gaming, and it's a future where tablet and controller live not as one, but side by side - however Microsoft's glanced into the crystal ball and seem something quite different.

Spotted by Patently Apple, a new patent suggests that Microsoft has plans for a unique style of controller to improve gaming on a Surface tablet.

By "unique", we mean a standard-looking Xbox controller that can be cut down the middle, with each half attached to either side of the tablet to create a Razer Edge-style device. And it looks as bizarre as it sounds.

Take these broken wings

Surface

At least the Razer Edge keeps its controllers reasonably flush with the device - Microsoft's controller gives its tablet a massive pair of Xbox wings that don't look too conducive to comfortable gaming.

Still, this is just a patent, so it could go down as nothing more than yet another of the many whacky ideas we love to speculate about.

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Hugh Langley

Hugh Langley is the ex-News Editor of TechRadar. He had written for many magazines and websites including Business Insider, The Telegraph, IGN, Gizmodo, Entrepreneur Magazine, WIRED (UK), TrustedReviews, Business Insider Australia, Business Insider India, Business Insider Singapore, Wareable, The Ambient and more.


Hugh is now a correspondent at Business Insider covering Google and Alphabet, and has the unfortunate distinction of accidentally linking the TechRadar homepage to a rival publication.