Miller Lite Turned a Full Beer Can into a Video Game Controller

It’s a fact of life these days that corporations will try just about anything in an attempt at viral marketing. Wendy’s will lob sick burns at their competitors, CarMax will respond to your car ad with a witty video offer, and Pepsi will put their foot in their mouth by having Kendall Jenner solve racism with cola. It’s usually obvious when a company is trying to make something go viral, but we’re okay with that as long as it’s interesting enough. And that’s the case with the Cantroller made by Miller Lite.

The Cantroller is both a fully-functional video game controller and a fully-functional can of beer. You can play games with it, and then pop it open and enjoy some refreshing Pilsner — though you’ll probably want to wait a few minutes first, lest it explode. It was constructed by wrapping a flexible circuit board that has dome buttons around the can. On the bottom of the can there is a small microcontroller with Bluetooth, a USB-rechargeable lithium-ion battery that’s good for three hours, and even haptic feedback. All you have to do is connect the controller to your computer, and you can play any 10-button compatible game.

As a marketing stunt, you shouldn’t expect to see the Cantroller on the shelf at your local GameStop. But, surprisingly, they did make two hundred of the controllers for promotional purposes. A large portion of those were awarded to attendees at this year’s E3. To win one, gamers at E3 had to compete in games against comedian Eric Andre while playing with the Cantroller. If they won, they received the Cantroller as a prize. It may not be the most subtle viral marketing campaign, but it certainly did its job, which was to entertain us and generate buzz.