00:00Ever wondered why that amazing bit of tech they use in games or an amazing system never
00:04made it into other games, like the Nemesis system in Shadow of Mordor?
00:08Some of them literally transformed the game and you wonder why has nobody else used this?
00:13Do other gaming developers not play this game or know about it?
00:16Well it turns out if the system is THAT good, it's probably been painted by the company
00:20so no other gaming developer can use it without getting sued into oblivion.
00:24Which has happened and it is on this list.
00:27Now Apex Legends' beautifully simplistic ping system is one example of a patented
00:32system but, interestingly, it was done for a good cause.
00:36EA took out a patent on the much lauded ping system in Apex Legends.
00:41Patents tend to be used by companies to protect innovations but in this instance EA has patented
00:46the system as part of its Accessibility Patent Pledge, an initiative that opens up accessibility
00:51led patents to developers in a bid to encourage collaboration and drive forward accessibility
00:55in the video game industry.
00:57The ping system allows you to communicate with your teammates in Respawn's battle royale
01:01hero shooter by making points of interest, calling out the location of an enemy, and
01:05much more, as well as reducing in-game toxicity by offering an effective alternative to speaking
01:10over voice chat.
01:11The ping system also helps players with cognitive, speaking, and hearing disabilities.
01:15As you can see here, the patent filing gives a detailed rundown of the system.
01:19EA's EVP of Positive Play told GamesRadar in a recent interview that when you patent
01:24a technology or idea, you publish technical information that would otherwise have never
01:28been accessible to the public, and, as such, this equips developers with know-how and advances
01:33the state of art in game development.
01:38The Nemesis system introduced in Middle-Earth's Shadow of Mordor, and later refined in Shadow
01:43of War, put a refreshing and innovative spin on procedurally generated enemies.
01:47Instead of fighting nameless carbon copy foes, Shadow of Mordor pits you against various
01:51different members of Orc society, and each and every one is unique to your playthrough.
01:56With their own names and ranks, every Orc you come across will remember your encounters
01:59to add more depth to the action.
02:01It quickly became a huge selling point and trademark feature of Monolith's action RPG
02:05series.
02:06Many have wondered why Social Vendettas never made their way out of Mordor and into other
02:10games in the industry, and this, it would appear, is why.
02:14After several years of trying, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment successfully painted
02:18the Nemesis system, meaning that the appearance of similar systems outside of games produced
02:22by Warner Bros. is very unlikely.
02:27In The Medium, you take on the role of Marianne, who you control in both the real world and
02:31the spirit world in which developer Bloober Team calls dual reality gameplay.
02:36The screen is split in half so you gain two different perspectives in both worlds.
02:40Ahead of the game's release, many were quick to notice that Bloober described this dual
02:43reality style as never seen before and officially painted it gameplay.
02:48As it turns out, Bloober filed a patent for this dual reality gameplay back in 2016.
02:52As you can see from the filing, the developer painted it the method of simultaneous playing
02:56in single player video games, where the key feature of the invention is the way of playing
03:01in a video game for a single player involving simultaneous controlling of several character
03:06avatars placed in several virtual realities that constitute separately presented story
03:10universes.
03:11Currently active until 2039, it does make you wonder what kind of Bloober projects we
03:15might see using this style of gameplay in the future.
03:20One very prominent part of the Mass Effect experience is actually painted by the developer.
03:25BioWare requested a patent for the dialogue wheel or graphical interface for interactive
03:29dialogue used to select your responses back in 2006, which was officially approved a few
03:34years later.
03:35Still currently active, this might go some way to explaining why other RPGs that came
03:39after this date continued to present dialogue choices in a list form.
03:43The wheel interface that presents you with a selection of different responses went on
03:47to be used in the entire Mass Effect trilogy, as well as the more recent Mass Effect Andromeda,
03:51and also found its way into BioWare's other franchises in both Dragon Age 2 and Dragon
03:55Age Inquisition.
03:59With the advent of the PS5 and Xbox Series X, lengthy loading times are quickly becoming
04:03a thing of the past, but for years we've found ourselves staring at a loading screen
04:07as we waited to get back into the virtual adventuring.
04:10Perhaps one of the most famous and well-known patents just so happens to be related to loading
04:14screens.
04:15Back in 1995, Namco took out a patent for the use of auxiliary minigames during loading
04:20screens.
04:21The idea to keep players busy with a minigame while they waited for the main game to load
04:24was a novel one, with the likes of the classic arcade shooter Galaxian popping up during
04:28the loading screens for games such as Ridge Racer.
04:31There were some ways around the patent, with the likes of FIFA including some distractions
04:35in between matches, but for the most part minigames rarely appeared to mitigate loading
04:40times.
04:41The patent eventually expired in 2015, opening up the door to include minigames in loading
04:45screens to developers everywhere once more.
04:49You may vaguely remember that Crazy Taxi was rather helpful with a big green arrow that
04:53points you in the direction of your destination.
04:56Using this arrow as a guide, you try to take your customers to their location in the requested
04:59time.
05:00Sega filed a patent for this directional arrow feature in 1998.
05:04As of 2018, it has now officially expired, but before it did expire, Sega did sue another
05:10game over a green arrow.
05:12How dare they?
05:13It was Simpsons Road Rage that ran afoul of Sega for this infringement back in 2003.
05:21Eternal Darkness from developer Silicon Knights and Nintendo released on the Gamecube back
05:25in 2002.
05:27Described as a psychological horror, the adventure included a sanity system which featured a
05:31meter bar.
05:32The meter depletes if your character stumbles upon an enemy or sees a gruesome situation.
05:37When this happens in game, various effects occur on screen and around the environment
05:41to show the character is being affected by these encounters.
05:44Prior to the game's release, Nintendo filed a patent for a video game and game system
05:48incorporating a game character's sanity level that is affected by occurrences in the game.
05:52This patent expired in November 2021, so get ready for more sanity systems to start popping
05:57up folks.
06:00Nintendo pioneered the design of the D-Pad back in the 80s, and it was such a good design
06:04that it continued to form a part of Nintendo's consoles and handhelds throughout the years.
06:09Given its great design, it's not so surprising to learn that Nintendo patented its trademark
06:13multi-directional switch.
06:15While the patent expired in 2005, it is interesting to consider how this patent might have influenced
06:20the design of button layouts for other controllers for consoles such as the PlayStation and Xbox
06:25when it was still active.
06:28Midway Amusement Games took out a now expired patent with a rather interesting title back
06:33in 2000.
06:34It was called Unlocking Sequence in Video Games, and it was essentially a way to sell
06:39peripherals by locking game content that could only be accessed by using a particular controller.
06:44A video game system and method is provided which the enabled content of a video game
06:48depends upon the type of video game controller coupled to the video game console, the abstract
06:53reads.
06:54If you were to use a specific controller that's a matching type to the game you're playing,
06:59it would unlock extra features or secrets, in-game that are not otherwise available.
07:03Additional pay for content is nothing new in the world of video games, but just imagine
07:06having to buy a controller just to get your hand on more features and secrets.
07:11How annoying.
07:12So, what's your favourite video game patent and is there any out there that you've heard
07:15about?
07:16Let us know in the comments below.
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