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Nintendo filed numerous patents for Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom mechanics

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Re: Nintendo filed numerous patents for Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom mechanics

#31

Post by xyzzy_plugh »

If anyone has worked with an IP attorney before then they know that filing patents is a stength-in-numbers approach. You don't file patents because you think you're a genius, you file patents to defend yourself and ensure an end state of mutually assured destruction.

It looks like Nintendo threw everything against the wall to see what sticks, which is what a good IP attorney would recommend. It's unlikely these would hold up in a suit. I would be surprised if Nintendo uses any of these aggressively -- do they have a reputation of doing so?

Nothing to see here, if you ask me.

(Sure, let's abolish parents, but you don't accomplish that by not playing the game. Instead you simply lose.)

Re: Nintendo filed numerous patents for Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom mechanics

#32

Post by loeg »

bdowling wrote: post #22
monocasa wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, these seem pretty obvious, or even visible from the game itself in a way that publishing it as a patent results in no additional publication since it was apparent in the game already. For instance the loading screen bit simply seems to talk about how they show where you're going on the map during fast travel. Seems like mainly a net loss.

If the claims are non-novel or obvious, then the examiners, who are familiar with the state of the art in the field, will reject them. Maybe the applicant will amend the claims to claim something narrower, or maybe not. If the examiner and patent office screw up and allow a claim that shouldn’t have been allowed, then the claim can be challenged later and revoked. Yes, that costs money and is inefficient sometimes.

Your original comment that monocasa responded to read only:

> If the claims are non-novel or obvious, then the examiners, who are familiar with the state of the art in the field, will reject them.

Which displays a stunning level of naivety and lack of familiarity with our patent system. Patents are regularly granted for extremely trivial (edit: and obvious) mechanisms.

Re: Nintendo filed numerous patents for Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom mechanics

#34

Post by jallen_dot_dev »

> The functionality seems at first glance to be a given for any game with a similar environment, but according to an observation by naoya2k, what makes Nintendo’s solution unique is that there are no physics working between Link and the dynamic object. Since both the character and object use physics, the most straightforward solution would be that Link moves together with the moving objects he is on top of as a result of physics (such as frictional force), but Nintendo apparently decided that what works better game-wise is Link being given the same movement that the object is performing, without any physics working between the two.

No way this is the first game to ignore the player character in physics calculations. I'm pretty sure in GTA3 you could climb onto the roof of a car and not slide around as the NPC drives and makes sharp turns.

Re: Nintendo filed numerous patents for Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom mechanics

#35

Post by throwaway09223 »

manojlds wrote: post #19
no-dr-onboard wrote: post #18

Nintendo doing Nintendo things again. Honestly the whole article gives me flashbacks of the various legal battles that they've been involved in [1]. They seem to pay no mind to the effect their litigiousness has on competition and innovation in this area...as if it wasn't already hard enough. 1. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/switch-hacker-gary-...

When clones like Genshin Impact exist, why do you blame Nintendo?

There is nothing about Genshin Impact that is related to Zelda in terms of technology. The style is similar but style similarities isn't addressable through patents.

BOTW/TOTK have excellent implementation and aesthetics but there is nothing about them that is technically unique or worthy of a patent.

Re: Nintendo filed numerous patents for Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom mechanics

#36

Post by willcipriano »

acomjean wrote: post #23
racl101 wrote: post #11

Huh, didn't think there were that many new and innovative things even though the game was fantastic experience. The two things I really liked about TOTK was the ascend ability and the rewind / recall ability. Those were pretty cool and seemed novel to me. Admittedly, I don't play a ton of video games other than Zelda titles and the odd indie game so maybe those features are not novel and have been implemented before…

Rewind was a gameplay mechanic in the pretty great 2d platformer “Braid”. There is a GDC talk about how it was implemented in 2010. https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1012210/The-Implementation-of-...

There isn't a point to the game though. You just walk around jumping on shit.

Re: Nintendo filed numerous patents for Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom mechanics

#37

Post by ThrowawayTestr »

nottorp wrote: post #29

So... would you SNES nostalgics quit cloning Nintendo titles and giving them mind share? I've been toying with getting some of their hardware and finally seeing what the hype is about for years. This piece of news just saved me the money I would spend for a Switch or whatever follows it.

If you're really curious to play a Nintendo game just emulate one.

Re: Nintendo filed numerous patents for Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom mechanics

#38

Post by CuriousCosmic »

willcipriano wrote: post #36
acomjean wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rewind was a gameplay mechanic in the pretty great 2d platformer “Braid”. There is a GDC talk about how it was implemented in 2010. https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1012210/The-Implementation-of-...

There isn't a point to the game though. You just walk around jumping on shit.

What do you mean? It's a puzzle platformer.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/26800/Braid/

Re: Nintendo filed numerous patents for Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom mechanics

#39

Post by kroltan »

racl101 wrote: post #11

Huh, didn't think there were that many new and innovative things even though the game was fantastic experience. The two things I really liked about TOTK was the ascend ability and the rewind / recall ability. Those were pretty cool and seemed novel to me. Admittedly, I don't play a ton of video games other than Zelda titles and the odd indie game so maybe those features are not novel and have been implemented before…

I think Ori and the Will of the Wisps did "digging through terrain to go through it without leaving a trace" before, for a high profile example.

Rewind/recall, the game Entropy Centre has that mechanic for specific objects too.

That said most of those patents also are so mundane I doubt they can be enforced.

Re: Nintendo filed numerous patents for Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom mechanics

#40

Post by kroltan »

willcipriano wrote: post #36
acomjean wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rewind was a gameplay mechanic in the pretty great 2d platformer “Braid”. There is a GDC talk about how it was implemented in 2010. https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1012210/The-Implementation-of-...

There isn't a point to the game though. You just walk around jumping on shit.

We're talking about Braid, not Super Mario :)
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