Nintendo

The single Hardware patent describes an analog stick that measures not just position but the force applied at the limits of its range of motion. By placing sensors at the mechanical endpoint of stick travel rather than relying solely on displacement tracking, the system can distinguish between a gentle nudge and a hard press in any direction. This approach adds a pressure dimension to traditional analog input without requiring the stick shaft to make direct contact with the housing opening.

A UI and UX patent covers a mapping system designed for games with multiple vertical layers. Player movement is tracked separately across ground, air, and underground zones, with the current layer's path rendered more prominently than tracks from other heights. When replaying recorded movement, icons indicate which vertical layer the playback is currently traversing, providing spatial context in environments where players move between different elevation zones.

Two game engine patents address different aspects of interactive mechanics. One defines a system for assembling and disassembling virtual objects where shaking or rapidly changing the direction of a selected component breaks its bonds while leaving the rest of the structure intact, enabling players to edit complex constructions without starting over. The other ties competitive advantages directly to club-level progression in sports games, where a team's rank affects both general performance and the likelihood of useful items appearing during specific in-game actions, creating a feedback loop between organizational growth and moment-to-moment play.

Three Networking patents tackle the challenge of keeping multiplayer experiences smooth and non-disruptive. One renders other players as ghost characters that appear visually but pass through all objects and obstacles, allowing competitors to share the same space without physical interference. Another makes overlapping characters turn translucent and displays player information only during overlap, preserving the feel of solo play even when others are present. The third addresses latency by subtly slowing moving objects after key events, using the delay to absorb timing differences between devices and prevent the visual jumps that typically occur when synchronizing state across 3 or more network participants.

The Graphics patent presents a system for controlling visibility at the zone level rather than through simulated light sources. Game events can trigger entire areas to switch from dark to illuminated by overriding normal rendering calculations for predefined regions. This approach uses mask data within a deferred rendering pipeline to blend event-driven visibility changes with standard lighting, giving designers direct control over what players can see independent of where light objects are placed in the scene.