Mindware (then known as MNM Software) made a Star Wars game on the X68000, subtitled Attack on the Death Star.
This one is somewhat similar to the arcade, starting out with a space battle against TIE Fighters before going on to the surface and eventually into the trench. The targeting reticle is gone- you're now steering the ship. Enough TIEs need to be downed before going on the surface run. AotDS has a time attack score system based on how fast the three stages are cleared. Yuzo Koshiro did some good arrangements of the Star Wars themes.
A really important thing is that AotDS in particular had the view-change feature, at least a year BEFORE Virtua Racing did it. Sega tried to patent view-change in 1992, being granted the patent in 1997. Several companies joined together to oppose this. Mindware's president testified in court that Sega had been shown this game, which would be cited as "prior art" in the trial. So, this patent ultimately got thrown out.
It's a good thing that this particular patent got shot down.
14 Jan 2013, 02:21 PM
Frogacuda
I'm not sure these patents ever hold up, though. Sega patented that arrow thing in Crazy Taxi, and a bunch of other games have lifted that since without consequence.
14 Jan 2013, 02:49 PM
Error
You just have to look at what Samsung and Apple are fighting over to know that patents can be upheld. They can also be ignored in a sort of I'll ignore this if you ignore that kind of way.
14 Jan 2013, 03:22 PM
kedawa
A patent 'not holding up' will still cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars in lawyer/court fees.
14 Jan 2013, 03:23 PM
Frogacuda
Can you name one gameplay patent that has ever been legally challenged and upheld though?
15 Jan 2013, 04:28 AM
Space Pirate Roberts
In board and card games at least, it's a settled matter that play mechanics aren't subject to IP protection. You can trademark your original term for a mechanic (Magic's "tapping" and the associated symbol of a rotating card for example), and of course the game as a whole is copyrighted (but even then, it has to be a full-on bootleg copy to count as infringing, with rules text copied verbatim and such - reword the rules and change the art/theme, and you can make a game that is mechanically an exact copy of another and the courts won't say jack. The community on the other hand...), but that's about it.
15 Jan 2013, 08:38 AM
Fe 26
I've never for the life of me figured out how or why people get patents on obvious things.
15 Jan 2013, 09:45 AM
Frogacuda
You can get a patent on almost anything, but that doesn't mean it'll hold up in court.
15 Jan 2013, 08:30 PM
kedawa
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fe 26
I've never for the life of me figured out how or why people get patents on obvious things.
