If you can’t beat them, join them. That’s what happened when Nintendo launched the Wii and couldn’t make them fast enough to keep up with demand. The reason? The console’s use of a motion controller. Sony and Microsoft had no choice but to make their own versions of motion controllers and get in on the action. Sony came up with the PlayStation Move, but Microsoft went a step further and removed the need for a controller completely with Kinect. It was expensive, but record sales at launch proved it was worth the investment.

Now it seems Sony has decided competing with Kinect requires copying it. A new patent filed in October last year, but only publicly viewable as of yesterday, reveals a “User-Driven Three Dimensional Interactive Gaming Environment.” In other words, a Kinect-like input system for the PS3 (or PS4?).

The name on the patent is Richard Marks, who’s also the guy that developed the PS Move. The patent describes the system as an interactive 3D environment that uses a depth sensing device. In other words, a system that allows the player to be tracked within a 3D space.

The question now is whether Sony will choose to bring such an input device to market. And if they do, how will Microsoft respond? The system does seem very similar to Kinect, so there’s a chance it may infringe on Kinect. Microsoft also launched Kinect first and therefore has the advantage if it comes down to who thought of this and implemented it first.

More at NeoGAF, via Kotaku