A Sony patent has surfaced detailing a radical new controller, indicating Microsoft and Sony’s next gen consoles could be heading in different directions.

When Sony and Microsoft launched their gaming consoles, there was but one distinguishing characteristic: the disc format. An audacious Sony was banking on the at-the-time new Blue-ray disc while Microsoft gingerly bet on the dual layer HD DVD format.

Despite having different mechanical components, the two devices essentially delivered a gaming and multimedia experience almost identical to one another. After all, both offered HD graphics, internet access, music and video playback.

But with the rapid rate of technological advancement sparking interest in gestured motions, touch input and voice recognition, the next generation Sony and Microsoft consoles could deliver a gaming experience very different to one another.

A patent filed by Sony has recently surfaced and details a radical revision to the remote control they currently use. The patent describes it as a “position dependent gaming, 3D controller and handheld as a remote.”

Source: Joystiq

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It’s expected to feature an interactive touch screen (presumably capacitive), be capable of running augmented reality applications and enhance multiplayer gaming.

The patent outlines how the remote control will feed information on where a gamer is and what actions they’re doing, and then have that experience displayed as an “avatar on a mobile device such that it appears to overlay a competing user in the real world.”

Like Sony’s PlayStation Vita, the remote’s screen could be used to display the game, freeing up the TV so other people can use it, without cutting into your game time. Nintendo’s up-and-coming Wii U features a similar remote that also has this capability.

Admittedly Nintendo’s Wii U remote and the one detailed in Sony’s patent (which was filed in 2010) share many features. But the Wii U has only recently bridged the gap between the Xbox 360, PS3 and Nintendo’s offering. A new Sony and Microsoft console could see that gap reopened.

In any case, the more interesting development is Microsoft’s lack of a remote.

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Computing Companion: Kinect is now available for PCs running windows

Microsoft has been pouring time and money into its Xbox Kinect motion camera, which has been evolving from a gaming peripheral into a Windows PC companion, and is eventually destined to be a fixture in smart television sets. The original Kinect motion controller made its way into the Guinness Book of World Records after selling 8 million units in its first 60 days. It now bears the title the Fastest-Selling Consumer Electronics Device.

Considering Microsoft has already invested heavily in the Kinect’s research and development and customers continue to yearn for its motion gaming experience, Microsoft could rely on the Kinect to deliver a gaming experience, including a controller revision more conservative than Nintendo’s and Sony’s.

If that is the case, Sony’s PlayStation 4 could deliver a very different gaming experience to Microsoft’s Xbox 720, with the two inviting interaction that appeals to different senses: Microsoft could rely on the sense of sight, while Sony attempts to titillate gamers through touch input.

Unlike the disc wars of yester-year, the difference in how games are played–even if it is the same game–will create different gaming sensations, and this new form of interaction could make all the difference.