Nintendo Revolution patent?
by Ben Zackheim 
{ Jan 30th 2005 at 11:17AM }
IGN has posted a piece about an updated Nintendo patent. The patent could point toward a new kind of display for their next console. In a nutshell, the filing is meant to secure tech that "prevents a fixation point from frequently moving." A fixation point is the point on the screen where your eye focuses during play. How, exactly, they're going to alter this age-old gaming rule remains to be seen. It certainly ramps up the gyroscope rumor Regardless, the speculation can now reach new heights. Maybe they've developed a cable display that jacks into your brain…
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Worm @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
I don't care what anyone says. Nintendo knows how to do video games better than anyone else.
Luke @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
Again, this post begs the question:
Why no Revolution atom on Joystiq?
About the content, I have read the IGN article, and for some reason I just can't wrap my brain around this one. I don't get how this would work. I don't get how this would eliminate the need for a Split screen in multiplayer?
Throw me a bone here people!
Alex @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
NINTENDO REVOLUTION ATOM NEEDED JOYSTIQ!!!
When will they learn, Luke?
nnnnn @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
Am i allowed to guess?
i'm guessing that it could it be a screen(gameboy?) with a gyroscope.
so that the screen on the Gameboy will be like a "window" that look thru to the "world of the game". the object in the gameworld is fixed, but you move your "window" to see everything else in that world.
to put it more simply: it's like the LCD screen on the back of a Digital Camera, but what you see on the screen is another world.
the picture used on the patent fits my descripition. it'll be truly fun if Nintendo is producing something like that.
Luke @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
Fun, but it could be combersome.
Here's the deal. As innovative and fun as this may be, is it practical? How big would the screen be? Would it be part of a huge controller? And if so, would that be too heavy?
Though this idea certainly sounds interesting, and honestly I haven't heard this exact idea brought to the table. It certainly would make sense given some of the vague comments we have all heard about the next console.
nnnnn @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
just imagine holding a Sony T33. small, light, big screen - and now you're playing games on it. of course these games will be of new genres.
well, i believe it won't be too crumbersome, look at the motion sensor in the GBA cart of "Yoshi's Universal Gravitation" & "Mawaru Made in Wario" (which i have both) it's small and works beautifully to enhance games.
in terms of the size of the screen, perhaps there's going to be a Zoom in/out button on the GBA?
The gyroscope, Gameboy Screen, and 3D polygon engine, all aren't new technologies, but using them this way fits in with Nintendo's philosophy of building fresh ideas with existing technologies.
and i also remember Shigeru Miyamoto once said something like this on the back of the NGC box: "imagine you open a door and you discover a whole new world...etc" but this time, it's a window on a GBA screen!! it's the begining of (affordable) virtual reallity.
anyway, i don't care if my guess for the patent is right or not. i just hope i see Nintendo produce something fun in this year's E3.
eddie @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
i believe the revolution will in fact have a 3D projector whihc comes along with it, this will explain the use of this new technology
and if they can somehow mange to make it, it will be an interesting buy;)
but i doubt this digital camera effect will happen because it is too inconvenient---although it does sound cool
Hopefully Nintendo isn't leading us to a very high dissapointment
but i doubt it---i love nintendo---whooooooo
Luke @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
nnnnn: Yeah, I can see what you mean. But I sincerely doubt/hope that the Nintendo Revolution is not a handheld the size of a GBA.
Though imagine your idea in the GBNext....
nnnnn @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
haha, yeah. i don't see we'll get this "camera concept" on the Revolution... so hopefully we get this sooner. maybe on the NDS~!
CaptSnuffy @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
Nintendo just keep trying to innovate so hard that they end up screwing themselves in the end
Remember, the best days for Nintento were the days when they kept it simple.
Luke @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
"Nintendo just keep trying to innovate so hard that they end up screwing themselves in the end"
-First of all, where's your proof of this?
Last I checked the DS was selling out everywhere it's sold. The only innovations I can think of that didn't work for Nintendo were the powerglove, the virtual boy, and that ROB robot thing. But those are old school innovations, and at least they tried. Can't blaim them for that.
But all the current innovations that Nintendo has tried have worked like a charm. Rumble pack, Nintendo DS, D-Pad, and even innovative games.
So I really don't see what you mean.
Masud @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
From reading the IGN article it seems as though all they are talking about is a means to make it so that the camera always shows any and all fixation points. For example in a sports game that would require the camera to be in a location, on or above the field, that can show the entire field and thereby show all possible fixation points without having to chage perspectives. That is what it sounds like to me anyway. That would make it so that the "constant change in perspective that makes playing games tougher than it should" never happens.
Luke @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
I just don't get how that's any different than having a steady wide shot. Like a football game would just show the whole field the entire time. Why does there have to be special tech for this?
nnnnn @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
haha. that's why i thought of the "camera concept". so it's not a constant changing of the camera angle by the A.I., but if there's anychange, it's actually & NATURALLY by you.
Beans @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
The whole camera concept, as neat as it sounded, will more than likely not be the case. Nintendo did say that the Revolution is not a two screened system whats so ever. It wont be dissmised though, its certainly an option for a few games, maybe, but not standard for this system or any relations to this patent.
The basic idea of this patent is probably very simple. Just don't think so hard and renember-The Rev. will connect to computer monitors.
Oh and just for the record, when has Nintendo ever "Kept it simple", exactly? Pretty much anything they have ever done in the past have been innovations. There natural born risk takers-the NES its self was a huge risk for them (Video game crash). Andtoday most of those innovations have become intergrated staples of gaming. And today, they are still at it-Expanding and breaking through the industry. I think its great for the industry, especially now when its really needed.
All I can say now is that their latest innovations are coming and they will be bigger than ever. Lets just sit tight and see what happens on May 17th.
*Doesn't spell or grammar check*
rog27 @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
The revolution will most likely either be part system - part 3d projector (unlikely) or it will use stereoscopic techniques (along with wireless, electroshuddered glasses) to blend two slightly different views together to produce a holographic-like image on a normal CRT screen (utilizing synched processors as in DS). The reason this second theory is so believable is because of this patent in conjunction with nintendo admitting the DS to be a guinea pig for the "ideas" behind the revolution. The DS has two seperate but synchronized CPUs. They are not processing the same data in parallel, but rather, completely different data in a synchronized parallel fashion. Nintendo proved it could be done with the DS. Now they are moving the "idea" to the next level with stereoscopic visioning techniques like those used by IMAX3D. The IMAX 3D technique allows for 80-90% of all sides/dimensions of an object to be viewed simultaneously (only the complete opposite side of an object is hidden from view) and from any viewing angle. Again, Nintendo admitted this all had been done before just not in the living room. And I think this is what they were referring to. It also makes sense because the revolution will be a dual processor console.