SCEA files patent for interactive movie technology
by Griffin McElroy 
on Nov 4th 2009 2:45PM
"Interactive movie technology," you may find yourself asking, "isn't that just another word for
video games?" Well,
grandpa, yes and no. While
this recently filed patent from Sony Computer Entertainment America will likely be implemented in some form of game -- our guess is
PlayStation Home -- it doesn't really resemble anything we've ever seen from a ludological offering. Basically, SCEA is designing a framework for "avatars" to interact with a film in a number of different ways, such as tossing tomatoes at on-screen actors, or climbing into the film to deliver a swift kick to one of the characters'
behinds.
The patent's illustrations resemble pencil-drawn versions of
Mystery Science Theater 3000, where a player's avatar can be seen sitting in a chair in front of the interactive movie. These interactions can even be scored, granting bonus points for a well-aimed tomato toss. We have no idea how well this type of technology would work, but our deep, deep fondness for
Mike and the 'Bots makes us more than a little interested in how SCEA is planning on using it.
[Via
Siliconera]
