RIP super soaker water pistols
Work around the patent by making them only moderately soaking
3d sound. Look it up.
companyNintendoAnd Namco (minigames in loading screens, started in Ridge Racer), Warner Bros (Nemesis system from Shadow of Mordor), SEGA (GPS arrows from Crazy Taxi)…
I know “Nintendo bad” is a popular narrative but they’re far from the only one.
The Namco one ran out in 2015, right on time for SSDs. Though I guess we could still use them for shader compilation 😴
The biggest annoyance is that patents doesn’t prevent usage… Just require permission… they could ask anything or nothing, it just would need to be acceptable. And well here we are.
Why rely on someone else’s go-ahead if you can just do something different? They didn’t patent it for no reason - they want a cut if someone using it makes a bunch of money, and likely won’t give you the go-ahead without that guarantee.
Ofc, but that is the issue. Make the cut reasonable about some devs will be willing to pay the price.
It’d have to be pretty reasonable. From the perspective of the people who have to pay, it’s just as easy to tell the plebs beneath them to come up with something even better that doesn’t require a fee. If they fail, it’s because they were lazy, not because you’re a bad leader, obviously.
The GPS arrow is patented?
Sega applied for and was awarded U.S. Patent 6,200,138 – “Game display method, moving direction indicating method, game apparatus and drive simulating apparatus” – in 2001. The mechanics in the “138 patent” describe an arcade cabinet similar to Sega’s previous arcade game Harley-Davidson & L.A. Riders (1997), but also describe the arrow navigation system and pedestrian avoidance aspects that were used in Crazy Taxi.
In 2001, Electronic Arts and Fox Interactive released The Simpsons: Road Rage, which reviews identified as being clearly inspired by the gameplay of Crazy Taxi. In this game, the player controlled one of The Simpsons characters as they drive around Springfield, bringing passengers to these destinations in a way like in Crazy Taxi. In December 2001, Sega brought Fox Entertainment, Electronic Arts, and developer Radical Games Ltd. to court over this infringement of the 138 patent. The case, Sega of America, Inc. v. Fox Interactive, et al., was settled in private for an unknown amount. The 138 patent is considered to be one of the most important patents in video game development.
If only it was just Nintendo
When everything had long loading times (and we still have them from time to time) there was a genius idea : minigames on the loading screen to pass the time.
ONE company did this, patented the concept and till then no one is allowed to do that.
Which company?
It was Namco, and the patent expired in 2015.
So did long loading screens
Tfw you can’t read the loading screen gameplay tips because your computer is too fast
Yes !!
Shame Ubisoft didn’t do this for climbing a tower to reveal the surrounding area in the map tbh
I’m actually sick of this one. Way too many games do it. Even goddamn final fantasy 7 remake 2 did a shitty version of it
Silksong did it so much better. Just listen out for the sound of song.
The Nemesis system in the LOTR games is a perfect example
Isn’t that basically the only example? How many other cases do you ever hear people talk about? Obviously there are others, I see others given in this post, but you never really hear about them.
I thought there was one on games during loading screens or something as well. And maybe the crazy taxi arrow?
Didn’t Warframe do basically a nemesis system with Kuva Liches, Sisters of Parvos and Technocyte Codas?
Recurring boss that you need to find the weakness of via trial and error, can be killed for super nice loot or turned into a minion?
Taunts you and acts as a personal nemesis with a generated personality and looks?
How does that work?
Generally speaking, most game mechanics are not copyright-able, not patentable. Game mechanics themselves tend to be treated as base components, as in, like a drum beat or a bass line. It’s rare cases where those are distinct, usually in context (see Vanilla Ice & Under Pressure). Because a beat or bass line can be so basic as a component, it’s considered part of the arrangement and not the composition itself. Video game mechanics can likewise be in this configuration.
For instance, summoning heroes (Nintendo loss) is a mechanic / part of the composition of that game, but the larger video game is a particular arrangement. Specific characters (pikachu) can very much be copyrighted individually, but games themselves are typically less liable for patents / copyright, and so on.
Also, for good measure, since it’s a massive benefit to the freedom of expression. Video games would be a depressing medium if people could capitalize on mechanics like patent trolls.
To be clear, some technologies used in association with video games can be patented, but that’s when a patentable technology is combined with a game, which is much less common in the medium.
Counterpoint: Summoning characters by throwing an item and having the character appear at the position of the item has been patented by Nintendo, as has using a summoned character as a hang glider.
Japanese patent law is pretty terrible.
Those are litigation & therefore in an indeterminate state. They have lost recently within Japanese law just this week on their touchscreens.
Also, IANAL. Nothing I say should be considered formal legal advice.
What about that arrow in Simpsons driving game? Didn’t they get in trouble for using what Sega patented in Crazy Taxi?
Huh… I had never heard of this one. I swear I’ve played games with the arrow like that since
Settled privately, no ruling on patent
Yeah you can tell this is not real because a) it’s greentext and b) you can’t copyright game mechanics.
If you could we wouldn’t have video game genres, or like 99% of board games.
There is one major exception where Warner Bros. holds a highly restrictive patent on the Shadow of Mordor Nemesis system. The mechanic allows non-player characters to remember past encounters with the player, dynamically changes their personalities, and rise (or fall) through enemy ranks. If you never played it, it was a unique mechanic that I’ve never seen in other games since. The patent prevents other studios from utilizing this system and is set to expire on August 11, 2036.
TL, DR: Fuck Warner Bros for patenting this.
the patent wasnt even granted until last yesr or 2 iirc, because it kept on getting found too general…long as you don’t exactly copy their code your good.
the reason noones done something similar since is because you have to build your whole game around it
The patent went through in 2021.
and the game was released in 2014, the reason noone has done similar isnt becauss of some patent. nobody reads patents that’s the whole point of patent trolling
Totally, yeah. Just wanted to highlight how long ago that whole debacle was and how old it makes me feel :(
I keep hearing this one, the system was ok but I didn’t really care for it that much. It’s just an eternal list of respawning orks that I will kill.
Not sure that’s fair. It was the first pass at something that couple have been embraced, expanded and developed. Hell, it signposted the changed aspects and immunities of the orks as they grew.
But throw that into another harder game type where it’s on you to remember who has escaped and got wiser and it has real potential. Especially with the superhero meme of catching villains but never ending them. Some real organic potential to hit the pained hero arc where this one is such a pain maybe I should just kill this one…
Yeah I remember it being underwhelming
There’s been some, Bamco had the parent for minigames during loading screens until 2015.
Active Time Battle (ATB) was under patent until 2010.
Games are just software, and software patents are definitely (and unfortunately) a thing.
This is about patents. There have been plenty of game mechanics patents ever since Richard Garfield opened the floodgates by patenting the collectable card game concept.
Still salty about that “Sanity System” bullshit patent by …surprise surprise…nintendo.
Easily solved with some creative thinking:
Create a “mental congruence” system.
It’s not just a title replacement, as congruence is a different metric than sanity and is more broad generally, and can be influenced by information, cognitive dissonance, and smelling your own farts.
yeah, like most of these patents, it seemed to be more about the chilling effects than the actual enforcement.
There were a few variations in games over the years.
Legend of dragoon has a frustrating but amazing additions system no one else does today. With wireless controller lag I’m not certain gust of wind dance would be possible anyway, but it was so different from everything before and after it.
I’m convinced this is why.
Wireless controller latency is definitely not so bad for timed hits with visual indicators to be impossible. I’m sure many people played Clair Obscur with wireless controllers just fine.
Gusto wind De’ Dance
Sadly, the real reason is because we’ll buy any old slop if we see enough adverts for it, or enough streamers wanking off over it.
Irrelevant, defeatist, and shitting on people what did nothing wrong. Go sit in the corner. Think about what you’ve done.
