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Sony Patents To Let Players Replay Campaign From Any Possible Point

Thick Thighs Save Lives

NeoGAF's Physical Games Advocate Extraordinaire
There are certain moments in games that really resonate with us, but having to play through the whole campaign or a chapter to get to it can be exhausting. Thankfully, Sony has an answer for that. The patent secured by the publisher wants to add trigger points in many parts of a game’s campaign, allowing users to play from specific points. In other words, getting to certain battles or story moments will not require you to spend hours again.

The legal document dubbed “CONTENT STREAMING WITH GAMEPLAY LAUNCH” mentions the system that can allow gamers to re-experience the cutscenes and story moments of the games right from the get-go. Sony says that players can technically view these moments through online videos and other means, but it does not bring the same level of satisfaction. The conventional way requires users to replay the whole campaign again.
The-image-shows-a-UI-with-multiple-trigger-points-that-can-be-chosen.png

"Such media content may have at least one or more trigger points and each trigger point may be associated with a set of game data specific to a gameplay scene within an interactive title. […] The interactive title for gameplay may be launched by the user device based on the identified set of game data associated with the selected trigger point.”
The trigger points explained by Sony allude to the chapters and sub-chapters that can be accessed anytime the player wants. The patent argues that users have to repeat a playthrough for certain moments in many titles or watch the content online. The usual solution, watching the footage on the web, can hog most of the immersion from the heartfelt scenes we often want to experience again.
The-image-reveals-a-UI-with-multiple-options-for-selection-in-a-trigger-point-e1699341456845.png

Additionally, the players enjoying a Sony exclusive may want to undo a specific choice during a part of the gameplay. The feature can allow an easy way to change the chosen path. It may save the headache of restarting the entire playthrough by letting users backtrack to a specific point in gameplay.
The-flowchart-image-shows-the-inner-workings-of-the-proposed-system.png

Frankly, many titles already have similar features, but they are rarely seen in Sony games. The system was a popular hit in titles like the Sony exclusive, Detroit: Become Human, and Until Dawn. Having the ability to play from specific parts of the campaign is an integral part of games that many titles still lack. For instance, players will have to repeat the whole story of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 to get to specific boss fights and city changes.

Every patent thread on every gaming forum always goes the same: nobody understands what is actually being patented but makes sweeping judgments anyway. To be fair, patents are somewhat arcane, and I find the type of outlets reporting on game patents don't themselves understand what was published, compounding the misunderstanding.

The claims of a patent are what you're actually obtaining a patent on. Forget the summary and abstract. For this application, this is what is being patented:

A method for generating streaming content with gameplay launch points, the method comprising:
  • receiving user-generated content associated with an interactive content title, wherein the user-generated content includes one or more different scenes recorded from a gameplay session of the interactive content title;
  • identifying trigger points corresponding to different portions of the user-generated content, wherein each trigger point is associated with a set of game data from the gameplay session;
  • generating a media content stream by combining a set of the different scenes with a corresponding set of the trigger points;
  • monitoring a stream of the generated media content stream over a communication network to a user device; and
  • receiving a selection of one of the trigger points in the set from a display of one of the scenes in the set of different scenes, wherein an interactive environment of the interactive content title is launchable based on the set of game data associated with the selected trigger point.


This is quite clearly not "chapter select" or "checkpoints". My interpretation is combining save states with game recordings, such that a viewer of a game recording can launch the game from a particular place in the recording in the state the game was in at that place in the recording.
 
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nemiroff

Gold Member
Here we go with the utterly stupid method patents again.

The patent office making more money the more patents get approved is the worst idea ever.
 
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Uhhhh...why don't they just let devs...include a Movies Gallery in their game which fills with cutscenes after you initially unlock them? Tekken's been doing that since the '90s and I'm pretty sure Namco didn't patent it.

I don't see the point in this patent whatsoever.

Save state in emulators is magic.

Doesn't even seem like it's save states. Basically sounds like another way of reloading a hard save.

The patent, at least from what I'm understanding, would make more sense if it let you jump to a point in the game you maybe didn't even reach yet, and generate any data you'd need to experience that point in a mandatory sense if you haven't unlocked that content in the playthrough yet. That'd seem like better use of saving time for the player IMO.
 
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TexMex

Member
I think that many users didn't read the actual patent

100%, that or people don’t understand what it is that they’re reading, or understand why - if a patent for this tech doesn’t already exist - they’d obviously want it. Just typical, constant snark.

Lot of people pointing out chapter select too. Chapter select is not “any possible point” in a campaign.
 
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Killjoy-NL

Gold Member
Sony admitting even they know that people want to skip most parts of their games on replay due to their games being filled mostly with walking and talking sections? Or did Sony just rediscover mission select?
Most people don't even finish 1 playthrough.

So this patent is only for a minority and allows for people to quickly jump to a specific part of a game.
If they would implement such a system, I'd assume it'll be a general feature and not something specific to Sony's 1st party titles.
 

TheInfamousKira

Reseterror Resettler
I can already see the slimy potential for TOP TEN SEQUENCES FROM 2027 releases, where it's like ten two hour long demos but it's like 70 bucks. It all starts here.
 
With the ps1 games on modern systems there is the REWIND feature that lets you go back about 10mins. Would this new system allow that, but for permanent memory?
 
100%, that or people don’t understand what it is that they’re reading, or understand why - if a patent for this tech doesn’t already exist - they’d obviously want it. Just typical, constant snark.

Lot of people pointing out chapter select too. Chapter select is not “any possible point” in a campaign.

Explain it to me like I'm five, then. Because it sort of just sounds like a save state system enforced at the application level.

And turning each 'save state' into a checkpoint categorized into a chapter select.
 

Killer8

Member
Halo has had this since Halo 3.

 
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