http://kotaku.com/5334428/nintendos-shameful-inflatable-horse+riding-wii-controllerRead that headline one more time. Then look at this picture. And prepare yourself for the eventuality that no, this is not a joke, meaning yes, Nintendo actually patented an inflatable horse-riding peripheral for the Wii.
It's a small, inflatable cushion with a dock for the Wii Remote. So that when you rock/bounce the horse, the controller is able to register the movement. You are then supposed to hold the nunchuk as you would a horse's reins. If it were a horse. We'd imagine it could just a easily simulate the riding of a donkey, camel, llama, alpaca or Asian elephant.
I am wondering which patent is the vitality sensor, if they patented it? It has to be somewhere since someone would've had to find the thing since that thing came out of left field during E3 and nobody really knows what to make of it still.
I'm just guessing this patent is another one of those patents that they filed because someone in R&D just came up with the idea.