Summary:

The ‘134 patent describes a baseball video game on a touch screen handheld system. A player can control the location, speed, and movement of the pitch. In traditional games, the movement and location of the ball is determined before the pitch is thrown. The player will select a location and a pitch, press the button and let it go. In this game, however, the location of the pitch is moveable until the pitcher has released the pitch.

Abstract:

With a game implemented by the present game program, an expected pass display area of a ball will be displayed on a monitor between a dispatch position of the ball and a arrival position of the ball. When a dispatch operation of a pitcher character is initiated, the contact position of a command means in the expected pass display area will be identified if the command means is placed into contact with the expected pass display area. If the contact position is moved in the expected pass display area by the command means before a character has dispatched a moving object, the contact position after movement will be identified as the final contact position. When this occurs, a ball character will be dispatched from the pitcher character to the final contact position.


Illustrative Claim:

1. A computer readable medium storing a game program for causing a computer to implement a baseball video game in which a moving object being a ball of the baseball video game is dispatched from a pitcher character displayed on a touch panel type of monitor, the game program comprising: code for setting an expected pass display area of a moving object between a dispatch position of the moving object where the pitcher character exists and an arrival position of the moving object where a catcher character exists; code for initiating a dispatch operation of the pitcher character; code for identifying a contact position of input means in the expected pass display area where the input means is placed into contact with the expected pass display area of the monitor; code for allowing the contact position to be movable in the expected pass display area by the input means until the moving object is dispatched from the pitcher character, and changing movement speed of the contact position in the expected pass display area in response to the characteristics of the pitcher character; code for identifying the contact position after movement as a final contact position; and code for dispatching the moving object from the pitcher character to the final contact position.

Summary:

The ‘235 patent allows multiple users to connect to an online game through a single console. Thus, a player and up to three friends can be authenticated together when joining a multiplayer game. After the players are authenticated once, the process is sped up and the players are accepted together, without needing to be authenticated. This system also is designed to prevent cheating by authenticating the party and constantly checking for signs of cheating. If cheating is detected, the users, as a group, are kicked from the server and then marked as cheaters.

Abstract:

A console-based multi-user authentication process allows multiple users of a game console to be authenticated together in a single request/reply exchange with an authentication entity. The results of which is the possession of a single ticket that can be used to prove authenticity of multiple authentication principals to one or more online services. Also described is a handshake process that can be used to initially establish an authentication account for each game console, in which the account creation server can trust that a genuine game console is making the request.

Illustrative Claim:

1. A computer-readable storage medium for a game console comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed, direct the game console to: create multiple validated user identities (U1, H1), (U2, H2), . . . , (UU, HU) composed of the multiple user identities U1, U2, . . . , UU and associated values H1, H2, . . . , HU calculated from each user's key; form a single request containing a game console identity X, a game title identity G, the multiple validated user identities, and an identity A of an online service, as follows: Request=[X, G, A, (U1, H1), (U2, H2), . . . , (UU, HU)]; and submit the request to a ticket issuing entity over a network, whereby the ticket issuing entity simultaneously authenticates each of the identities contained in the request.

Summary:

The ‘895 patent provides for a game which includes a world map including multiple regions. The game allows players to compete against other players. Each of the players selects a character which belongs to different nations. The players connect to a network and communicate with other during competitions. Points are totaled during the game according to victories and accomplishments achieved by the players. Different tasks in the game are allotted different points. Thus, a player has the opportunity to achieve a higher point award by accomplishing one task, while receiving fewer points for completing another. Players may join together in order to earn more points during the course of the game.

Abstract:

A world map includes multiple regions. Each region includes one or multiple areas. A player causes his/her player character to belong to any nation. As a task given to the player character, a battle with an enemy character is provided on the map of each area (the battle may be waged by a party). When the, player character wins the battle in each area, predetermined points are given to a home nation of the player character participating in the battle. The points given to each home nation are totaled for each region, and a nation that dominates each region is decided according to a result of the total points.

Illustrative Claim:

1. A network game system having a server apparatus and a plurality of client apparatuses each connected to the server apparatus via a network, each of the client apparatuses comprising: a group selector that selects a group to which a player character operated in a virtual space based on a player's operation belongs, the virtual space being divided into a plurality of zones; a group information transmitter that transmits group information on the group selected by the group selector to the server apparatus via the network; an operation instructing device that instructs an operation of the player character in the virtual space based on a player's operation; an operation transmitter that transmits the operation to the server apparatus via the network; a change information receiver that receives change information indicating a change in a content of a game sent from the server apparatus; and a display controller that causes a display device to display the content of the game indicated by the change information, the server apparatus comprising: a group information receiver that receives the group information transmitted from the group information transmitter; a group register that registers groups to which each player character of the plurality of client apparatuses belongs based on the received group information; an operation receiver that receives the operation of the player character transmitted from the operation transmitter; a point calculator that calculates points corresponding to a degree of achievement of a task of each player character based on the received operation of the player character; a point totaler that, every fixed periodic judgment interval, which is independent from tasks assigned to player characters, totals the points calculated by the point calculator for each of the zones for each group to which each player character belongs; a game changer that changes the content of the game in a next fixed periodic judgment interval, which is independent from tasks assigned to player characters, based on the points totaled for each zone and for each group in a current fixed periodic judgment interval, which is independent from tasks assigned to player characters; a change information transmitter that transmits change information on the content of the game changed by the game changer to each of the plurality of client apparatuses via the network; a dominion provider that provides dominion of each zone to a dominating group having a greatest number of total points for the zone, wherein the game changer changes the content of the game according to whether dominion of each zone is provided to any one of the groups by the dominion provider so that each player character belonging to the dominating group receives an advantage within each zone dominated by the group of the player character; a point corrector that corrects the total points of each group in accordance with a number of registered player characters of each group; and a group changer that changes the group of the player characters registered in the group register based on an instruction from the client apparatus corresponding to each player character, wherein the point totaler totals the points of the player character subjected to the group change after excluding the points calculated by the point calculator before changing the group from the total points of each group, and wherein the point calculator calculates a different number of points as the points corresponding to the degree of achievement of the task, depending on whether the player character's group has dominion of the zone where the player character has accomplished the task.