[GreyHorace]

Interesting video on the videogame innovations that were patented so no one else could use them.




If you don't want to scour the video, the list is as follows:

1) Nemesis System (Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War)
2) Dialogue wheel (Mass Effect and Dragon Age)
3) Directional Arrow and Smart pedestrians (Crazy Taxi)
4) Cross shaped Directional Pad (Nintendo)
5) Dual Reality split screen (The Medium)
6) Sanity System (Eternal Darkness)
7) Minigames during loading screens (Namco)

Some thoughts while watching this:

- It's too bad Warner Bros Gaming has patented the Nemesis system. I would have liked to have seen it in other games.
- I personally think Bioware's Dialogue wheel is not that good. I'm perfectly fine with other games not copying it.
- I played Crazy Taxi back in the day, and had no idea Simpsons Hit and Run copied the gameplay to such a degree. It's a moot point now though since the patent expired in 2018.
- I had no idea Nintendo patented the d-pad. But because the patent they filed was specific regarding the cross shaped design, competitors such as Sega and Sony were able to find legal loopholes when designing their controllers. But like above, the patent has already expired in 2005 which is why the Xbox 360 controller has a cross shaped d-pad.
- The best example I've seen in a game of a sanity system has to be the Scarecrow sequences in Batman Arkham Asylum.
- I don't think minigames during loading would make much sense now with instantaneous loading of today's consoles.

 

[Nymphae]

Thank you for including a writeup

 

[Nymphae]

I had no idea Nintendo patented the d-pad. But because the patent they filed was specific regarding the cross shaped design, competitors such as Sega and Sony were able to find legal loopholes when designing their controllers.

Sony found a better solution imo. The segmented pad feels better to me, gives a slight concavity to the area that your thumb sits in.

 

[Zefah]

I don't understand how game systems like the Nemesis system and Sanity system are allowed to be patented. That's kind of insane.

That's like patenting "running" or "taking damage" or "leveling up."

 

[J-Roderton]

Where would we be without you, Crazy Taxi?

 

[Helljumper]

Nintendo's cross pad design and Namco's loading screen mini-games were the only ones I was aware of.

The Crazy Taxi patent surprised me. Midnight Club (the first one) was my first PS2 game and I'm sure that used a Directional Arrow during races. I think Smuggler's Run, another early PS2 racer from the same dev studio, used the Directional Arrow, too.

Does that mean Rockstar/Angel Studios used the arrow system in both games when it was forbidden?

 

[Mista]

And none of them are revolutionary in any way. Patenting some if not all is absurd. It's like taking away "pausing a game" so nobody else use it in their games