Posts tagged patents 
Patents from gaming's past
See that odd diagram above? That's Nintendo's original design for the Zapper. Aside from that, you'll find other gems such as the early prototype for R.O.B., along with some other non-Nintendo patents. It's an excellent gallery of diagrams that Technologizer has put together here, so don't waste ...
Explore the wonderful world of old game patents
Technologizer has put together a really beautiful gallery of old electronic gaming patents, the oldest example of which you can see just above. You won't want to miss the early designs of R.O.B., wireless Atari controllers and paleolithic game cabinets. No, not all of the images in the gallery are ...
Another PSP Phone patent appears, with touchscreen and feedback
Another patent has emerged for the elusive "PSP Phone," this time featuring an iPhone-esque touchscreen design, rather than the ugly swivel-screen look. The patent, filed by Sony Ericsson, uses a combination of the touch-screen, accelerometer and haptics to alter the display and buttons for ...
Apple patent hints at iPhone/iPod Touch gaming
A patent application filed by Apple in September 2006 has recently been published, revealing multi-touch technology aimed specifically at handling multitasking in gaming environments. If it sounds wordy and confusing, it's because it's a patent. The technology described allows users to access a ...
Ugly new Playstation logo discovered
German gaming news site GameFront has uncovered a Japanese trademark filed by Sony, which features the familiar four Playstation shape buttons mapped around the surface of a sphere. It's doubtful that this could be the logo for the inevitable Playstation 4 (after all, where's the Spiderman font?). ...
Nintendo has patent on motion sensing portable
When is news not at all surprising but really exciting just the same? When it's word that Nintendo is, according to a patent filed in March, possibly working on a portable system with Wii-like motion sensing tech. The patent describes the system as having "a housing to be held by a player. The ...
MS sued over controller design
Some no-name company from Texas is dragging Microsoft and Nintendo to court over 12 supposed patent infringements related to game controllers, that amazingly went un-noticed until now. Sony, fresh off a losing court battle over force feedback technology, seems to have avoided the dual shakedown this ...
LA Times tackles Sony's "used games" patent
The LA Times, a couple months late to the story, has reopened the festering wound we like to call "the Sony used games patent." Rumors that the PS3 would incorporate technology that would prohibit the later sale of used games -- technology that was patented (#6,816,972) by Sony in 2000 -- have been ...
MS patents 360 TV?
Microsoft's 5000th patent intends to make Xbox Live celebrities of us all. Most of us are familiar with the Gotham TV feature in Project Gotham 3, but MS wants to take the concept to a whole 'nother level. Patent No. 6,999,083 concerns a "System and method to provide a spectator experience for ...
