Nintendo Patents Self-Playing Games, Developers React

The defining characteristic of a game is that you play it. If, in order for games to be accessible to a wider audience, we need to make it so that most people can skip over the playing it part, then what that really means is that our medium sucks.

It makes sense to me in a purely linear game, but as soon as we get sand-box, or even remotely open ended, the number of variables would seem to invalidate the potential of this system.

That's dumb as hell. It's also what difficulty settings are for. Don't waste time making new technology that's worse than old technology.

That's so innovative. Only the Wii could be so innovative in its innovation. Microsoft and Sony are so last gen, this is the future, baby.

Nintendo does what Microstole.

Wait a sec, this is not all that the patents states...

3 modes

Mode: Game

Mode Digest

Mode Scene

Wow.  That is a horribly stupid idea.

I mean, I can kind of see the logic behind it, but....I mean, come on.

That's very odd.....I don't think I'd want any of those in my games. But, I can see where it can be necessary.....like......long ocean trips in Wind Waker, but that's about it.

I can't totally hate on this idea.  If I love playing a game, but hate one specific part of it, what's wrong with me being able to skip that part.  If skipping something that is, in my opinion, frustrating means I get more enjoyment out of the game as a whole, I see no problem with that.

and off in the distance we can see the two towers of  Brady and Prima Games go down in a cloud of smoke.

Stop it Nintendo. Just stop it.

I read that, but I thought you still had to play the game after the hint or play through. I think it's for the people who bought the Wii, but are too afraid to buy a more hardcore game. I would be lying if I said I didn't use hints or walk-throughs and the option to use them seems like a good idea. I read some forum posts that said it could increase developer creativity, because they have a fail safe.

"I think it's for the people who bought the Wii, but are too afraid to buy a more hardcore game."

Wow, this is dumb. Really dumb. Why don't they just release $50 DVDs of someone playing the game instead?

when you skip over the more difficult areas, then you wont learn how to overcome the even 'MORE' difficult areas later on in the game.  Then when you skip over that, and all other more and more difficult areas....you'll come to the ending credits with no fulfillment of actually accomplishing anything. You'd simply return the game saying that it sucked...why? cause the game was waaaay to easy!

Nintendo's got the power. Now you're playing with power. Now you're not even playing, it's just power playing power.

Power.

@ adny2

But not all games are so nicley balanced.  Example: Ninja Gaiden for the Xbox is a 16-chapter game, but the chapter 7 boss is the hardest boss in the games.  A lot of my friends never beat NG because of that boss.  What if they could just skip over that part and keep playing?

Or what if you good skip over some dumb swimming section, or a dumb mini-game, or a dumb escort mission, or anything that makes you say "you know, I like this game, but this one part is fricken stupid"?

I first read about this on Gamasutra and this caught my eye.

"The system doesn't appear to allow players to actually bypass gameplay or save progress made by the automated playthrough. Specifically, the patent refers also to the method for storing pre-played gameplay data that doesn't interfere with the user's own gameplay saves."

I don't think that sounds like a DVD, just an option.

Come back, Nintendo. I miss you.

This pretty much makes a game a movie.  Non interactive story telling.

@ Claude:

Oh wow, that sounds way different.  That sounds like the game doesn't play itself at all.  It's just that if you're having a hard time with it, you can watch a video of someone else doing it, and then you have to do it yourself.

This idea could potentially ruin console gaming as we know it.....im growning to dislike Nintendo more and more these days which sucks because i used to love the company :(

Yes, bring on the hate, but stop and think a moment.

I read this on Kotaku.  I wonder if it will be used in the next Zelda game.

Alone in the Dark already did the "DVD Chapter Select" thing.  Video hint guides are readily available even though networked consoles (360), and the "hint" button has been a staple of games since the first electronic simulation of mahjong tile stack matching games.

I'd say we've got partial or complete invalidation based on prior art.

"@ Claude:

Oh wow, that sounds way different.  That sounds like the game doesn't play itself at all.  It's just that if you're having a hard time with it, you can watch a video of someone else doing it, and then you have to do it yourself."

Mode Digest

The mode that Ryan's article is about. The player watches a video of the dev playing the game where the player is blocked. whenever the player wants he can press a button and continue the action from where the video was. The game will look up a save file online with the equipment and all of the point where the player stopped the video.

Oldschool dont you think that this ide kind of takes away the whole "playing" aspect out of a game though?. Whats the point in a young developer pouring hours of hard work into a game that a good chunk of the market are going to skip to the end of simply because they are too lazy (or more likely a failure of a gamer) to play!....

(Clearing of the throat noise)......Dumb!

While I agree that such an "automated" way of playing can bring new posibilities like gags, humor, drama and other deep, complex emotions, it is my opinion that videogame already has those in the shape of cutscenes, intelligent programing & level design; likewise, if you need a tutorial on how to do something or how to complete a level so you can achieve progress in the game, I would point, like Jonathan Blow did, that there is a deep flaw in the way the title was made.

Videogames, to me, represent an active way of interaction; to hinder such interaction (hinder at best, murder at worst) should be considered an act of involution.
From full duplex to half duplex. I want to comunicate back, I want my actions and opinions to have weight and consecuences in that world.

Interactivity is an integral element of what sets appart video games and films, for instance. And considering that the video game industry is giving the film industry a good run for its money, I would think twice to spend such a behemoth effort to make videogames play like movies.

I have considered the posibility that maybe this is the way for video games to, in a not so immediate future, consume the film industry. Maybe like cellphones did to PDA's, or how the internet is doing with every other mass media outlet. But to me, it keeps coming back to the uncanny valley.

Yes because the developers interviewed by the Kotaku article's opinion surely fails in comparison to a few people from neogaf -_-

"Wait a sec, this is not all that the patents states...

3 modes

Mode: Game

a small screen in the corner with hints

Mode Digest

The mode that Ryan's article is about. The player watches a video of the dev playing the game where the player is blocked. whenever the player wants he can press a button and continue the action from where the video was. The game will look up a save file online with the equipment and all of the point where the player stopped the video.

Mode Scene

This is the "DVD chapter" select, it will be impossible to save however."

"Oldschool dont you think that this ide kind of takes away the whole "playing" aspect out of a game though?. Whats the point in a young developer pouring hours of hard work into a game that a good chunk of the market are going to skip to the end of simply because they are too lazy (or more likely a failure of a gamer) to play!...."

I suppose I see your point oldschool, I guess its just more of a personal thing that I have to complete every game I own and dont enjoy the concept of such things as Gameshark.

I guess ultimately If its only on a nintendo platform its irrelevant to me at any rate since i dont play my wii as it is lol :)

If I want to experience a medium of digital entertainment with focus on graphical visuals, I'll watch Beowulf. But seeing as I like to play video games, I think I'll skip the CG-athon.

I have some grave concerns about the implications of making the interactivity of video games optional, though if the past four years have taught me anything, it's not to discount any of Nintendo's crazy, left-field ideas out of hand."

It makes sense to me in a purely linear game, but as soon as we get sand-box, or even remotely open ended, the number of variables would seem to invalidate the potential of this system.

If, in order for games to be accessible to a wider audience, we need to make it so that most people can skip over the playing it part, then what that really means is that our medium sucks.

"I suppose I see your point oldschool, I guess its just more of a personal thing that I have to complete every game I own and dont enjoy the concept of such things as Gameshark.

I guess ultimately If its only on a nintendo platform its irrelevant to me at any rate since i dont play my wii as it is lol :)"

"And if you disagree with my assessment, I have one final question to ask of you before I hear your rebuttal: what say you of the availability of an auto-aim function in any particular FPS you might treasure?"

I dislike Auto-aim in FPS games.

Ok, so it doesn't actually play itself in so far as making progress for you?

I've only skimmed the patent, but the general idea I'm getting from reading around is that it just shows you what you should do next. If so, that would be just like using a guide. You're stuck, so you select an option to show you what to do rather than checking out GameFAQs or whatever? That's a pretty clever idea, but it only applies to linear games or linear sections of games.

"[0107]In the scene shown in FIG. 11, when a player cannot find how to open the door 103, a player may press the hint button 102. In this case, as shown in FIG. 12, a relatively small window 104 is displayed in a portion of the upper right area of the screen so as to reproduce moving images (hereinafter, referred to as an approach movie) indicating how to open the door 103. In FIG. 12, an approach movie representing a state where the player character 101 moves onto a switch 105 provided on the floor for opening the door 103, and stands on the switch 105 (that is, presses the switch 105) is reproduced. By viewing the approach movie, the player can know how to open the door 103. Therefore, the player moves the player character 101 to the switch 105 provided on the floor, and causes the player character 101 to stand thereon, as indicated by the approach movie, so as to open the door 103, thereby continuing the game."

Thats pretty much what the new Prince of Persia is doing.  Holding your hand through the game.

I have a solution for the outraged gamers in these comments: simply don't use this possible feature. It will be there to assist those people who want to use it but it won't be forced down anyone's throat. When I play games, I almost never play on the easiest difficulty setting but the mere existence  of it doesn't detract from my enjoyment of the game because I don't use it. Just as I probably won't use this possible feature too often but I welcome it's presence in future games.

Some people argue that the autosave key in PC first person shooters ruins games because of possible "abuse". Bullshit. I'll tell you what ruins games, first person shooters without an autosave key (Farcry I'm looking in your disgusting direction). How does your knowing someone out there playing the same game you are and using many more autosaves than you diminish your enjoyment of a game? It shouldn't affect the experience at all just like this autoplay feature won't. Little Timmy from Australia letting the AI get through a hard song in Guitar Hero 15: Dead Horse Milking won't negate Pierre the frat boy from America's wicked performance in that very same song. Having options is never a bad thing except at GiantBomb apparently.

Thats.. Really not so cool. Balance the game, and stop trying to widen the audience pools, seriously, they exist for a reason. So basically, it makes the game into a movie you can just watch. i think it would be cooler to habe you play through a game, then have it go back and watch your character play with fancy animations and effects and stuff, plus up the visuals a tad like one might in an ingame cin. And even that isn't really a cool idea... lol

Though I agree that this would help non-hardcore gamers complete many games (it is quite obvious that is directed towards the "casual" audience), it is completely dumping the value most of us know as "Perseverance". Of course, you can choose whether to use it or not, but the fact that the option will be there will cause many people to give in way to early and just run through the game; therefore, not enjoying it in my opinion. I am mostly referring to the Scene and Digest features, as we already have the "Hint" feature in many websites such as GameFAQs.

Of course, developers could choose not to use this on their games.

I just can't imagine a Ninja Gaiden game (if by any chance we get another) with this feature.

That is the most insanely retarded idea I have ever heard in my life... So not only has Nintendo gone the casual route, but they are also alowing the games to now play themselves. That's just plain idiotic.

nice read, yeah I can see this concept used

If you don't want to play a game, then don't play a game!  WTF?!

Also, if a game would make me think of ever using something like this then it is a shitty game and I wouldn't want to play it anyway!

inbefore MGS4.

"That is the most insanely retarded idea I have ever heard in my life... So not only has Nintendo gone the casual route, but they are also alowing the games to now play themselves. That's just plain idiotic."

"LiquidPrince said:

"That is the most insanely retarded idea I have ever heard in my life... So not only has Nintendo gone the casual route, but they are also alowing the games to now play themselves. That's just plain idiotic."

You too, my god... you played Prince of Persia and it had a replay mechanic/character,  please read."

"LiquidPrince said:

"That is the most insanely retarded idea I have ever heard in my life... So not only has Nintendo gone the casual route, but they are also alowing the games to now play themselves. That's just plain idiotic."

You too, my god... you played Prince of Persia and it had a replay mechanic/character,  please read."