Patent ID: 8540572

Claim:
A video game controller for cooperative play by two or more players comprising: a game controller having a housing having a first portion being manipulable by a first player and a second portion being manipulable by a second player; an accelerometer in said game controller for sensing the orientation of the game controller; said accelerometer capable of communicating with a microprocessor, whereby said microprocessor is configured to communicate with a computer processing unit (CPU) that in turn displays a video game having at least one game object; whereby cooperative movement of the game controller by the players controls the movement of the game object; and further providing that the cooperative movement of the game controller is detected by a device selected from the group consisting of a tension sensitive device (TSD), a pressure sensitive device (PSD), and both a TSD and a PSD, said TSD and PSD being capable of measuring the amount of pressure cooperatively exerted on the game controller by the players; whereby the TSD comprises a potentiometer to measure the amount of pressure cooperatively exerted on the game controller by the players, said potentiometer comprising: a control shaft mounting a pinion; a gear rack engaging the pinion to rotate the control shaft in response to relative movement of the rack and pinion; and further providing that the rack and pinion measure the tension or resistance placed by the players on a belt or a strap that is wrapped around one or more portions of the players' bodies.