Coming to light yesterday are some pretty interesting patents filed by Apple regarding gaming, specifically multiplayer gaming in what appears to be a mesh of augmented reality and FPS gaming. It all meshes together using services such as location finding, a way to shoot your enemies which will register on their phone and more.
How will this effect future Android games though, or devices for that matter if used in the same style as these patents outline?
While right away there really isn’t cause for alarm unless you were developing an application/game for something similar to laser tag but in the real world using your phone, however, that hasn’t stopped Apple, or most companies for that matter, suing the hell out of each other over patents. God forbid if a developer gets caught up in this.
In a nutshell, the patents outline a way for the iPhone to basically show locations of players on the screen and enabling you to track them down and shoot them (if regarding this as the supposed Laser Tag game they are developing). We have all played at one point or another one of those location games available on the Android Market like Parallel Kingdom. It would basically work in a similar way using a combination of geopositioning technology and the sensors on the phone. Players will be able to manipulate the device appropriately to shoot, look up player info or whatever the case may be at the time.
You would be shooting virtual lasers that would register onto the enemy’s phone if he/she is hit by that virtual laser. Bringing this to another level, you could technically use this same outline for FPS style gaming with a real world twist including LOS issues (Line of Sight) and the works. Think Call of Duty or Counterstrike but in person. Twisted but somehow appealing at the same time.
The problem though could end up being that with these patents in place, any Android (or other mobile OS) augmented reality games or location based games that sport any similar functionality could come under scrutiny thanks to these patents even though the hardware isn’t identical, that’s never stopped anyone from suing someone else over something ‘just being similar’.
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I would love to hear what everyone else has to say about this both from a gamer and developer standpoint. Should we be at all concerned over these patents or am I just reading into things a bit too much considering the history of how companies are suing each other lately. You can read a complete look at the patents and details explained over at PatentlyApple.
Website Referenced: PatentlyApple
