Patented Game Mechanics That Might Surprise You

It's awesome to see how a rip-off like SoulCalibur is able to patent anything. :))

It seems to me like some of the ideas/concepts patented are things that a developer would think off naturally. I mean a tutorial system or leveling system can be patented. This article explains a lot and kind of illustrates problems developers face which have simple solutions but realize that the solution itself is patent protected. Any tech company nowadays has a very complicated and legally treacherous road to walk in the growing hardware & software markets. If you think about it with billions at stake its not hard to believe. Facebook recently spent nearly US$550m on patents from Microsoft which they themselves had previously bought for US$1bn from AOL. If you 'forget' to license tech its lawsuit time, I mean look at Apple and Samsung's little tablet tiff.

I can't believe in some of this stuff. Somebody looking at these would wonder how braindead gamers must be to enjoy such a moronic hobby...

I love the use of the word plurality in many of these patent descriptions, as if putting it in simple terms, "more than one" would sully the significance of the whole thing. It makes me think of guys in posh smoking jackets swirling expensive brandy "old chap I have a plurality of controllers, mayhaps you would join me in some competitive endeavors upon this new fangled gaming apparatus."

I think it means, once you remove the stylus from the screen, the pikmin will interact with the point in which you pulled back from on the screen. In this case it's like 'hold' instead of toggle? Looks like Nintendo patented mid-evil warfare!

@IamanOuTKasT That is not entirely true. Patents that protect a creative idea is great for innovation. Imagine you come up with a great idea and you could not patent it, and anyone can steal your idea. The fact that developers know they cant profit big on great new ideas, pushes them to be more innovative. Knowing that anyone can steal their idea, will give them less incentive for innovation. That has always been the purpose of patents, to motivate innovation. What I disagree with, is patents on vague/wide ideas. These hinder innovation more than motivate it. An example of a vague idea is if Nintendo put a patent on the act of killing an enemy by jumping on them. That was just an example, but honestly, some companies do file unreasonable patents.

What's with aspect 32? Did they patent the video game anus?

WTF? All that incomprehensible text to say you move from one ball to the next if they are connected? I swear I don't remember the sphere grid being so complex -_-

Both Pikmin games came out ages ago. The life of the DS began, and has since pretty much ended. And there is still no handheld Pikmin game. But then, this is the same publisher that has countless handheld Pokemon games with no console iteration.

The convo system in Mass Effect is pretty similar to the one in Indigo Prophecy. Just sayin.

@Wormkid_64 I would kill for a Pikmin for the 3DS **drroollss**

Sorry I'm let you finish, but Achievements is the best thing ever invented of all time!

Oooooh.I'd kill for a Pikmin game.On the 3DS or the Wii U I don't care.I want one.

I have an idea for a patent. It involves picking up a controller and wiggling sticks and pressing buttons to control characters in a video game. You guys better pay up!

@IamanOuTKasT I am with you on that.

these are really some pathetic patenting.

This patent crap is ridiculous. It keeps games in a state of "yesterday's" technology. Because the big companies get the patents and have the power to protect them and they will endlessly milk them as the industry dies a little more every year. And by dying I mean less quality, but more money is made by giant companies. It's like anything in the marketplace, the more competition you have, the better the products will be forced to be. Anyone with any understanding of this rightly abhors patents, they are simply another means of monopolization.

I don't want to rain on Namco's parade but a few years back on that Street Fighter 4 title, on the tutorial there was a -> -> P K etc indicator similar to that show in the picture. Usually this type of patents is sh#t and can be overcome legally with a small change in its presentation.

@oista I guess maybe... but still.

Good article Gamespot. Concise, interesting factoids.

One also has to keep in mind that patent portfolios are a sort of arms race. If somebody sues you for patent infringement, the best defense is to have your own portfolio to sue back, forcing both parties to agree to a mutual license for each others IP. The danger is when these portfolios get snapped up by patent troll corporations that don't actually make anything themselves and therefore cannot be sued for infringement or coerced to cross-license. These groups are like the terrorists of patent warfare; they have no nation to counter-strike, so there's no deterrent against the damage they can do.

@RoseFlambe169 Nintendo does need to focus on that series more. :P

I love info like this, some ideas are worth a patent to keep it unique but some are just crazy. Microsoft really knew they had a great idea ahead of them, i would have filed a patent too.

WHAT?! A Pikmin for the DS?! Dudes! It's been so long since I've played Pikmin! Nintendo, where is this game that is being spoken of and why haven't you made it?

Aaand more idiocy...

an interesting read. its sad to know that Namco has held back fighting game tutorials! i always wondered why capcom and SNK's practice modes were sucky. :(

@Slash_out Patents are a great thing. It means a unique gameplay mechanic remains unique. If everyone suddenly started doing the exact same thing as all the above mentioned patents, they would instantly become devalued as gameplay mechanics and lose that 'wow' factor that people buy their respective games for.

Those patent things are ridiculous. If stuff like that can be patented, how about jumping being patented? Or walking? Or having a button dedicated to attacking? This is so ridiculous....

the fact something like this can be patented is what shows us how terribly wrong the patenting system is

I just loved it

Fantastic feature. I found this really fascinating.

Makes perfect sense that the sphere grid is patented.

@ thorn3000 Yeah I see your point re placement of the paragon and renegade options, my only concern with that would be that sometimes it's not obvious from the short phrase what the character's actually going to say - they'd need to sort that out. As for DA 2, the conversation wheel is the least of it's worries! ;-)

the bad thing is, if its over-used, including other games, dragon age 2 anyone? this style suited ME fine, but adding it to dragon age 2 made the game feel mass-effect-like which is not a good thing sicne dragon age (at leat origin) had its own style going on... the other complaint against the system would be the placement always at the same place, you do not even have to listen to the conversation just click the same option...I would simply add it to a harder difficulty that the choices get spawned it random areas (thought the answers would be the same), so that new players who just want to rush the game would have it easy and quick in the conversations anyway, but elder players would welcome that it isn't as obvious as if it was made for kids...

Microsoft just gained a plus point from a Sony fanboy, but that still leaves it at -99

Wow, this article concisely shows why patent law needs an overhaul. A lot of these would benefit all games if they were free to use, but because of these dumb patents we're stuck with things like subpar fighting game training. Unfortunately, the vest interests in the US and elsewhere probably won't allow the drastic changes needed anytime soon.

The patent for Pikmin DS, I believed it was applied to "Atsumete Kirby" (I think the title is Kirby's Mass attack?).

Patents simply equate to free money. That's all it is. You can't create anything anymore that doesn't break some kind of patent, and it's free money because nobody in their right mind is going to sit down, read and decipher the most confusing language ever used on Earth on what's probably thousands upon thousands of existing patents that relate to the thing you're trying to create. Entire companies exist just to file patents, and they make their living preying on people that unknowingly break them. The whole thing is just completely screwed up. I'm almost afraid of attempting to release any kind of hobbyist XNA project because of junk like this.

That's why I didn't buy and will not buy any products from such a***oles. They make great games, but patented software? Patent your stupidity and greed.

If developers believe what they do is art they should probably stop this. Can you imagine what it would be like if painters started to get patents for brush stroke techniques or for a particular combination of colours.

@darkknight9174 He has a good point and people should read what he said.

Interesting stuff, I never would have guessed any of these things were patented. I wish Namco hadn't patented the ability to play games on a loading screen. That's lowering the quality of life for every player who can't do that in any other company's game.

However, like one of the commenters said, there is more to these patents than what was posted here. In the full patents there are probably some more specific details regarding what the patents cover.

Patents are supposed to give people/companies an incentive to create things because they know they will be able to achieve some financial gain from it. I don't agree with being able to patent something as simple as Mass Effect's dialogue wheel. So can I make a dialogue triangle or square and patent that? Way too general IMO. I think patent laws need to be re-worked; the incentive for companies needs to be there, but they need to allow for more competition and innovation in industry than they currently do. For software patents: I vehemently disagree with them. Some software patents that I have heard of seem to be patenting a VERY GENERAL algorithm to solve a common programming problem. Also, some patents in the US last for far too long. Many things that are related to technology, specifically computers and electronics, advance at such a rapid rate that a patent of more than two or three years will probably drastically inhibit the advancement of the technology. In science, patenting medicines for a long time (e.g. US patent time span) can keep the prices quite high, keeping them from those who *need* them. In terms of games, I could see how patenting a tutorial system *might* be ok, but how many other games have crappy tutorials because they couldn't borrow ideas from the patented one mentioned in this article. I know you can pay the owner of the patent to license it to you, but how much does that cost? I have a feeling it isn't anywhere close to cheap.

I got totally confused about the patent descriptions,but taught a lesson about those patents'parents

This is extremely interesting. Say what you will about patents, but it's still very intriguing to learn all about the more obscure sides of gaming. Plus, who knew that Sony probably has a Microsoft patent?

@gregorypierce True, but reprinting the patents in their entirety isn't feasible, so we settled with reprinting the abstract for each patent.

It's good and bad. Patenting great ideas sucks because, if we would like to see them in other games they have either pay or just not use them. Patenting great ideas is good because, it forces devs from other companies to come up with new good ideas. Redundancy is terrible.

Sonic, ME and Katamaria are the coolest