Miller Lite Turned a Beer Can Into a Video Game Controller, and We Tried It
Video games and beer are made for each other. Smashing buttons to beat bad guys is as good a workout as any; a crisp cold one, then, is the perfect reward for sitting and sweating. Ever play FIFA or Mario Kart in a dorm room without a six-pack present? Of course not. It’s a combination that simply makes sense.
Miller Lite knows this, which is why it’s cutting out the middleman. Today, the O.G. light beer is debuting a completely ridiculous, yet ingenious device that probably won’t revolutionize gaming, but will, at the very least, quench your thirst. Meet the Cantroller: a fully functional gaming controller fashioned from a full can of beer.
We get a lot of pitches for new gadgets here at Popular Mechanics and thus, carefully choose which products are worthy of coverage. But when Miller Lite offered to swing by our office with a Cantroller, a collection of old-school games from the ‘90s, and a 30-rack of beer, there was no such deliberation. Here was what appeared to be a glorious feat of engineering. Plus, we’re a bunch of lushes. The free beer definitely helped.
So Team Miller Lite rolled up, Cantroller in hand, and told us to go wild. But before any gameplay (and drinking) could begin, we wanted to closely inspect the thing and dive into the tech specs. Watch our video to see the contraption in action:
Turns out the design of the Cantroller-which took about three months to develop-is actually pretty simple. Here’s how it works: Engineers wrapped a flexible printed circuit board (PCB) around the 12-oz. can, then stuck metal dome switches on top with an adhesive layer. This lets you press the 10 buttons on the can, a number the engineers chose to make the Cantroller compatible with the most games possible without changing the can’s design.
The PCB is integrated with Bluetooth IC, allowing for wireless connection to a computer, which transmits when you press the buttons. And the Cantroller includes an integrated rechargeable lithium ion battery, with a micro-USB port for rechargeable game play. The battery lasts about 3 hours and takes approximately the same amount of time to recharge.
The Cantroller prototype is a human interface device (HID)-compliant, bluetooth low energy (BLE) gamepad that works with both OSX and Windows. For this launch, Miller Lite partnered with Steam, an online gaming store with thousands of games in its library. To get started, all you have to do is pair the Cantroller to your laptop, fire up Steam, and activate the device by defining the layout and calibrating it.
Miller Lite’s laptop was loaded with dozens of games from the glory days of Sega Genesis, including Sonic the Hedgehog, ToeJam & Earl, Ecco the Dolphin, and Streets of Rage. Naturally, we tried them all.
Whether it was the obvious rust that came from not playing these games for 25 years or the odd sensation of holding a can sideways to control an anthropomorphic rodent instead of shotgunning a beer, the Cantroller took some getting used to. But before long, the gadget felt completely comfortable in our hands-or at least comfortable enough to successfully pull off punches, kicks, and majestic dolphin flips (Ecco still holds way up).
The buttons-your standard A, B, X, Y, Up, Down, Left, Right, Start, and Select-weren’t especially quick, but they didn’t stick, either. Could the Cantroller handle today’s advanced games that require elaborate button combinations to properly execute moves? Probably not. But for basic beat-’em-ups and RPGs, it definitely gets the job done.
We could’ve played the thing for hours, but we had actual work to do-and, of course, beer to drink. So we cracked open the Cantroller and polished off the pilsner inside. (It was 10 a.m.) The cool thing is the device works with or without beer in the can, so even after you’ve guzzled it down, you can resume gameplay without any hitches.
Now here’s the kicker: Miller Lite only made 200 of these things, and you can’t actually buy them until a few inevitably end up on eBay. But if you happen to be at E3 in Los Angeles this week, you can win a Cantroller by beating comedian Eric Andre (Adult Swim) in a one-on-one Street Fighter battle on Wednesday night. Click here to register for the contest.
But Miller Lite tells us this is just the beginning of the brand’s foray into the gaming world, so don’t be surprised to see more innovations in the future. Personally, we’d love to play Wii tennis with a High Life bottle. Make it happen, MillerCoors.
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