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[ShaoranWright]

Who wants minigames when we can have this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y6hogKehZE

Let me die already.

 

[Dremark]

What game series is this so I can never ever play it

Idolmaster.

 

[BocoDragon]

The best loading screen game was spinning the "Now Loading" text in SotN.

Also fuck that Roudingu song.

 

[liquidtmd]

I could get a play through of Ground Zeroes on during Just Cause 3

 

[low-G]

I think it would have been more devastating if this patent had expired just when ultra fast SSDs became ubiquitous.

 

[footfunghi]

Who wants minigames when we can have this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y6hogKehZE

there is no god

 

[The Bankslammer]

Who wants minigames when we can have this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y6hogKehZE

i particularly appreciate that this IS from a bandai namco game, meaning that line of thinking does apply lol

 

[Saint of Killers]

The DPAD and this patent expiring are really fantastic for console gaming in general. Not to take away from the creators; they were great ideas! But being able to hold them hostage is just bad for gaming.

Apparently there were games during the Spectrum era, so long before Namco got the patent, which did the same thing. Makes me wonder if Namco got awarded the patent because they were the first to bother applying for it.

 

[tanuki]

Uh, hasn't FIFA had loading screen mini games for years?

 

[CelticKnight]

PC: Loading screens don't last long enough to bother adding mini-games. Hooray!

Someone never played the Sims 3 on a HDD, I see...

 

[Crayolan]

Who wants minigames when we can have this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y6hogKehZE

Put this in every game.

Edit: Especially Bloodborne.

 

[Drencrom]

Finally. All games with sizeable loading screens better have mini games from now on.

 

[GunBR]

Uh, hasn't FIFA had loading screen mini games for years?

I think that it's more a "training" than a mini game
Just like the loadings in Bayonetta

 

[Dunkley]

Who wants minigames when we can have this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y6hogKehZE

This is the last straw I needed to ultimately lose faith in humanity.

 

[CrunchyFrog]

Who wants minigames when we can have this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y6hogKehZE

Well if that isn't just the most awful thing in the history of things.

 

[spindashing]

Who wants minigames when we can have this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y6hogKehZE

What the Fuck

 

[Wyndstryker]

Who wants minigames when we can have this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y6hogKehZE

This stuff is not safe for sanity.

 

[Mr. Nice_Guy]

Who wants minigames when we can have this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y6hogKehZE

So this is where Miura gets his inspiration for all the crazy shit in Berserk. It's all just part of the writing process

 

[Lupin the Third]

What game series is this so I can never ever play it

I think this is an Id@lmaster title?

 

[kavanf1]

Someone never played the Sims 3 on a HDD, I see...

Got it for free, tried it for ten minutes, uninstalled it. I'm sure there are plenty of exceptions, but playing JC3 at the moment, I'm relieved my loading times are measured in seconds rather than minutes.


You just reminded me, Skyrim with 100+ mods took its time to load, but I can forgive that.

 

[wild wild rice]

This really shouldn't be patentable. I hope no one else scoops up exclusivity on this.

 

[Spikematic]

Who wants minigames when we can have this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y6hogKehZE

What the flying fuck... nightmare fuel...

 

[DarkTom]

Aren't Fifa technical exercises mini-games during loading screens ? Shouldn't they fall under that patent ?

 

[Not75Drops]

Who wants minigames when we can have this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y6hogKehZE

These comments

SpitshineSneakers 9 months ago
Now just imagine if this song was in Sonic 06.

 

[silvermember]

Software shouldn't be patentable anyway. So stupid. Glad it's finally expired.

So glad nobody will listen to you. Your idea restricts innovation. Companies only innovate if the feel like they will be rewarded for their risk and creates competitive advantage. Developing software cost money which itsf is a risk. Risk in financial terms. Obviously if you want the government to be responsible for all inventions and innovations that's fine, but looking at the u.s government do you really to take that chance for every innovation?

If physical items can be patented why can digital.

 

[orava]

And now there will be loading screens for shitty loading screen games.

 

[Arttemis]

Bayonetta's training mode within loading was the best thing for the genre. I'm glad that didn't fall within this patent. Great news, though.

 

[Leafhopper]

Yeah that's great, maybe we can get cooler mini games from other companies now although I would rather not have loading screens.

Meanwhile the rest of this thread is now scared of Idolmaster now, weird.

 

[heringer]

Imagine no loading screens. At all.

 

[DarknessTear]

Who wants minigames when we can have this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y6hogKehZE

DEAR GOD. They found a way to make waiting for a game to load much worse than usual.

 

[Wellscha]

Who wants minigames when we can have this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y6hogKehZE

And Jesus wept for Japan.

 

[Dremark]

I think this is an Id@lmaster title?

It's Idolmaster 2. I think she only did that in the 360 version though, the PS3 version always finished loading before she started doing that. Or at least it did for me, thank god.

 

[Son Of D]

Who wants minigames when we can have this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y6hogKehZE

This is going to be that stupid LOADINGU thing isn't it?

..

Yep.

 

[also]

That mini game was removed from the Wii and PS3 versions, as a result of Bamco asking for money iirc.

Got any source for that? I don't know about the PS3 version but the Wii version has reduced loading times so maybe they felt it was unnecessary and removed it? Or maybe Ready at Dawn decided to let it go because the port was already a Herculean effort.

Ru Weerasuriya , Ready at Dawn creative director
“I loved Okami. I think that artistically it’s one of the most amazing things to come out of the industry. Working on it was more of a technical challenge – we started with no assets and literally reverse-engineered the whole thing back onto Wii. It was not your typical port, but it was fun. But it’s not something we would do again, I think.

Christian Svensson, Ex enior VP of planning and business development, Capcom US
The first drop of assets we got from Japan were incomplete. Very incomplete. So we had to ping the powers that be to go prodding through old hard drives and old computers to see if the assets could be located anywhere. We got a second asset drop, which got us most of the missing stuff back, but there were still a few bits missing. The Ready at Dawn team really kept trudging ahead even when stuff was missing. Even after the second asset drop, they still had to create stuff from scratch."

 

[Manu]

Who wants minigames when we can have this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y6hogKehZE

I knew what it was before clicking. I clicked anyway. WHY.

 

[Vinland]

Software shouldn't be patentable anyway. So stupid. Glad it's finally expired.

It isn't software that the patent is for. It is an idea that can be easily implemented in software. While I think many things are broken in the patent office this isn't one of them. Now, how much Bamco , or any company, is allowed to hold a liscense hostage and how easy it is to get a patent on something so obvious is another story.

 

[dock]

The ridiculous thing about this is that there was plenty of prior art, such as Invade-A-Load on C64, used in 1987 on a bunch of games by Mastertronic. I know a guy who worked for a publisher who had to use this as an example in court to defend against Namco. They dropped the challenge.

 

[Synth]

What game series is this so I can never ever play it

Uh huh, sure... you needed the name just to make sure the incredibly likely situation of you accidentally playing this game never happens...

Riiiiight.

 

[Zaptruder]

So glad nobody will listen to you. Your idea restricts innovation. Companies only innovate if the feel like they will be rewarded for their risk and creates competitive advantage. Developing software cost money which itsf is a risk. Risk in financial terms. Obviously if you want the government to be responsible for all inventions and innovations that's fine, but looking at the u.s government do you really to take that chance for every innovation?

If physical items can be patented why can digital.

Yeah, no. Modern software design is actually inhibited by patents. Shit just moves way too fast. Competitive advantage is a bigger draw for innovation.

 

[Astarte]

Who wants minigames when we can have this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y6hogKehZE

Twins a worst

 

[FyreWulff]

If physical items can be patented why can digital.

Physical items are an actual useful item that can be described with words.

Software patents are literally patenting 1+1 and saying you own the number 2 because of it. Or see my post 3 years ago on the topic :

In software, people attempt to patent math algorithms, not an actual function. The original code is protected under copyright, and the graphics it bears are protected under copyright and/or trademark law.

In the real world, an example is that people want to be able to patent the formula to make a straight road. And not the machine that actually lays down the road itself. This patent is then extended and used in court to own the concept of a road, so that nobody else can make roads.

 

[Danthrax]

Splatoon had some rather fun mini games while waiting for matches to load? What were the exact limits?

Yeah, how did this not infringe on the patent?

That was during matchmaking, not loading

Ah, right, I guess the minigame does go away when it starts loading the map.

 

[gnexus]

I remember PSO had that little star/burst of light thing you could move and play around with during some loading scenes. That was pretty neat..

But yeah, it'll be interesting to see if any devs implement this into new games.

 

[MomoPufflet]

Does this mean that stupid ass Crazy Taxi arrow patent runs out soon too?

 

[Lucumo]

No thanks, I take extremely short loading times instead.

 

[Anth0ny]

thank christ

loading times are seemingly worse than ever on console, I want loading screen minigames in EVERY game

 

[Duster]

loading times are seemingly worse than ever on console, I want loading screen minigames in EVERY game

They've probably been getting longer so companies can start charging extra for downloadable loading screen minigames.

I'm not even sure if I'm joking.

 

[Z3M0G]

You mean to fucking tell me... that for the past 20 god damn years, all other developers were NOT ALLOWED to insert simple games into their loading screens??

Do we think it will become a popular practice now? I hope so!!

 

[synce]

Loading screens still exist? Everything is masked these days..

 

[Dream_Journey]

There's a Game Jam to celebrate this

https://itch.io/jam/loading-screen-jam

This is amazing!