The present invention relates to a game device, program, information storage media, game device control method, game distribution method and game distribution device, and particularly relates to technology capable of enabling a player to easily select game data to be played when playing a game.
It is possible to increase the level of interest in a game by enabling a player to make their own data (game data) to be used in a game or to obtain game data from another disc or via a network. For example, it is well known that a player can make their own step data in dance games where a player acts out steps according to step instructions displayed on a screen based on step data. In this kind of game, it is typical for game data made by a player to be capable of being stored on a non-volatile storage device such as a memory card or hard disc storage device etc. It is therefore possible from the next time the player plays the game onwards for the player to play the game based on game data that they themselves have made by selecting game data for the game to be played from game data stored in the non-volatile storage device.
However, it is the nature of this kind of game data that players tend to collect such game data, and situations where players do not erase the game data they have made themselves but simply keep the data are common. There are therefore cases where the number of items of game data is increased while game data having a large volume is displayed on a game data selection screen. Such cases cause the possibility to arise that it may be impossible to select the game data that the player wishes to play the game with in a straightforward manner. In particular, if game data for which the likelihood of selection is high, i.e. game data which is played frequently, cannot be selected in a straightforward manner, this is stressful for the player.
The present invention has been conceived in view of the above, and aims to provide a game device, program, information storage media, game device control method, game distribution method and game distribution device capable of enabling a player to select game data to be played in a straightforward manner while playing a game.
In order to resolve the aforementioned problems, a game device of the present invention comprises secondary play candidate data storage means for storing secondary play candidate data containing one or a plurality of game data used in playing a game and a name for the game data, primary play candidate data name selection means for selecting one or a plurality of game data names from secondary play candidate data stored in the secondary play candidate data storage means as one or a plurality of primary play candidate names, primary play candidate data storage means for storing primary play candidate data including primary play candidate data name information for displaying said one or a plurality of primary play candidate data names selected by the primary play candidate data name selection means, primary play candidate data name display means for displaying said one or a plurality of primary play candidate data names selected by the primary play candidate data name selection means based on primary play candidate data name information, play target data name selection means for selecting one or a plurality of game data names from primary play candidate data names displayed by the primary play candidate data name display means as one or a plurality of play target data names, play target data acquisition means for acquiring game data relating to said one or a plurality of play target data names selected by the play target data name selection means as play target data, and game control means for controlling a game based on game data acquired by the play target data acquisition means.
Further, a program of the present invention is a program for having a computer such as a home-use game machine, a business use game machine, a portable game machine, a portable telephone or a personal computer to function as secondary play candidate data storage means for storing secondary play candidate data containing one or a plurality of game data used in playing a game and a name for the game data, primary play candidate data name selection means for selecting one or a plurality of game data names from secondary play candidate data stored in the secondary play candidate data storage means as one or a plurality of primary play candidate names, primary play candidate data storage means for storing primary play candidate data including primary play candidate data name information for displaying said one or a plurality of primary play candidate data names selected by the primary play candidate data name selection means, primary play candidate data name display means for displaying said one or a plurality of primary play candidate data names selected by the primary play candidate data name selection means based on primary play candidate data name information, play target data name selection means for selecting one or a plurality of game data names from primary play candidate data names displayed by the primary play candidate data name display means as one or a plurality of play target data names, play target data acquisition means for acquiring game data relating to said one or a plurality of play target data names selected by the play target data name selection means as play target data, and game control means for controlling a game based on game data acquired by the play target data acquisition means.
Further, an information storage media of the present invention is an information storage media for storing a program for having a computer such as a home-use game machine, a business use game machine, a portable game machine, a portable telephone or a personal computer to function as secondary play candidate data storage means for storing secondary play candidate data containing one or a plurality of game data used in playing a game and a name for the game data, primary play candidate data name selection means for selecting one or a plurality of game data names from secondary play candidate data stored in the secondary play candidate data storage means as one or a plurality of primary play candidate names, primary play candidate data storage means for storing primary play candidate data including primary play candidate data name information for displaying said one or a plurality of primary play candidate data names selected by the primary play candidate data name selection means, primary play candidate data name display means for displaying said one or a plurality of primary play candidate data names selected by the primary play candidate data name selection means based on primary play candidate data name information, play target data name selection means for selecting one or a plurality of game data names from primary play candidate data names displayed by the primary play candidate data name display means as one or a plurality of play target data names, play target data acquisition means for acquiring game data relating to said one or a plurality of play target data names selected by the play target data name selection means as play target data, and game control means for controlling a game based on game data acquired by the play target data acquisition means.
Further, a control method for a game device of the present invention comprises a secondary play candidate storage step of storing secondary play candidate data containing one or a plurality of game data used in playing a game and a name for the game data in a non-volatile storage device, a primary play candidate data name selection step of accepting selection of one or a plurality of game data names from secondary play candidate data stored in the non-volatile storage device as one or a plurality of primary play candidate names, a primary play candidate data storage step of storing primary play candidate data including primary play candidate data name information for displaying said one or a plurality of primary play candidate data names selected in the primary play candidate data name selection step in the non-volatile storage device, a primary play candidate data name display step for displaying said one or a plurality of primary play candidate data names selected in the primary play candidate data name selection step based on primary play candidate data name information, a play target data name selection step for accepting selection of one or a plurality of game data names from primary play candidate data names displayed in the primary play candidate data name display step as one or a plurality of play target data names, a play target data acquisition step for acquiring game data relating to said one or a plurality of play target data names selected in the play target data name selection step as play target data, and a game control step for controlling a game based on game data acquired in the play target data acquisition step.
Further, a game distribution method of the present invention is a game distribution method for distributing a program, collectively or divided into parts, for having a computer such as a home-use game machine, a business use game machine, a portable game machine, a portable telephone or a personal computer to function as secondary play candidate data storage means for storing secondary play candidate data containing one or a plurality of game data used in playing a game and a name for the game data, primary play candidate data name selection means for selecting one or a plurality of game data names from secondary play candidate data stored in the secondary play candidate data storage means as one or a plurality of primary play candidate names, primary play candidate data storage means for storing primary play candidate data including primary play candidate data name information for displaying said one or a plurality of primary play candidate data names selected by the primary play candidate data name selection means, primary play candidate data name display means for displaying said one or a plurality of primary play candidate data names selected by the primary play candidate data name selection means based on primary play candidate data name information, play target data name selection means for selecting one or a plurality of game data names from primary play candidate data names displayed by the primary play candidate data name display means as one or a plurality of play target data names, play target data acquisition means for acquiring game data relating to said one or a plurality of play target data names selected by the play target data name selection means as play target data, and game control means for controlling a game based on game data acquired by the play target data acquisition means.
Further, a game distribution device of the present invention is a game distribution device for distributing a program, collectively or divided into parts, for having a computer such as a home-use game machine, a business use game machine, a portable game machine, a portable telephone or a personal computer to function as secondary play candidate data storage means for storing secondary play candidate data containing one or a plurality of game data used in playing a game and a name for the game data, primary play candidate data name selection means for selecting one or a plurality of game data names from secondary play candidate data stored in the secondary play candidate data storage means as one or a plurality of primary play candidate names, primary play candidate data storage means for storing primary play candidate data including primary play candidate data name information for displaying said one or a plurality of primary play candidate data names selected by the primary play candidate data name selection means, primary play candidate data name display means for displaying said one or a plurality of primary play candidate data names selected by the primary play candidate data name selection means based on primary play candidate data name information, play target data name selection means for selecting one or a plurality of game data name from primary play candidate data names displayed by the primary play candidate data name display means as one or a plurality of play target data names, play target data acquisition means for acquiring game data relating to said one or a plurality of play target data names selected by the play target data name selection means as play target data, and game control means for controlling a game based on game data acquired by the play target data acquisition means.
The present invention selects one or a plurality of primary play candidate data names from secondary play candidate data containing one or a plurality of items of game data and names for this game data. Primary play candidate data configured so as to contain primary play candidate data name information necessary for displaying a selected primary play candidate name is stored in a storage media. A primary play candidate data name is displayed based on the stored primary play candidate data name information. One or a plurality of the displayed primary play candidate data names is selected as a play target data name. A game can then be controlled based on game data for the selected play target data name.
Primary play candidate data is, for example, data for which the play frequency is high, etc. Further, primary play candidate data name information is not limited to the game data name itself, and may be, for example, an address indicating a storage position where a game data name is stored, etc. Moreover, the non-volatile storage device maybe, for example, and EEPROM (Electrically Erasable and Programmable Read Only Memory) or a hard disc storage device, etc. Further, collective distribution is distribution, for example, where the whole of a program is distributed all together. Further, distribution in parts is, for example, distributing parts of the program as required according to a phase of a game.
According to the present invention, when selecting game data as a play target, it is possible for the player to easily select game data for the play target because primary play candidate data names selected by the player are displayed.
Moreover, in an aspect of the present invention, primary play candidate data stored in the primary play candidate data storage means contains a game data name taken as the primary play candidate data name information and contains game data itself relating to at least part of the game data name. In doing this, it is possible to reduce the number of accesses to a storage media required in order to acquire primary play candidate data names, and time required in order to display the primary play candidate data names can be made shorter. Stress felt by a player when selecting game data as a play target can therefore be alleviated.
Further, in an aspect of the present invention, there is provided secondary play candidate data deletion means for deleting game data corresponding to primary play candidate data stored in the primary play candidate data storage means and the game data name from the secondary play candidate data storage means. By doing this, it is possible to delete secondary play candidate data selected as primary play candidate data in a straightforward manner and convenience experienced by the player in deleting the secondary play candidate data is improved.
Moreover, in an aspect of the present invention, there is further provided primary play candidate data collective reading means for collectively reading primary play candidate data stored in the primary play candidate data storage means, wherein the primary play candidate data name display means displays the game data name included as primary play candidate data name information in primary play candidate data collectively read out by the primary play candidate data collective reading means as the primary play candidate data name based on the primary play candidate data name information, and the play target data acquisition means acquires game data from the primary play candidate data collectively read out by the primary play candidate data collective reading means.
Collective reading is reading of primary play candidate data (configured so as to contain a game data name taken as the primary play candidate data name information and game data itself relating to at least part of the game data name), enabling the primary play candidate data name display means to display a game data name contained in the primary play candidate data, and enabling the play target data acquisition means to acquire play target data from the primary play candidate data. For example, in a game device where the primary play candidate data name display means and the play target data acquisition means are implemented by program execution means such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), arbitrary utilization is possible by the program execution means by reading out primary play candidate data for storing in storage means such as a main storage device.
In doing so, for example, at the time of starting the game, game data selected as play target data can be acquired by collectively reading out primary play candidate data from the storage media. It is therefore not necessary to access the storage media again and the time required for reading the game data can be made shorter. Namely, the time a player has to wait for when reading out game data can be made shorter and stress felt by a player can be further alleviated.
The following is a detailed description based on the drawings of a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
The home-use game machine 46 is a computer game system including a microprocessor 14, graphics processing unit 16, main memory 26, input/output control unit 30, sound processing unit 20, controller 32, and DVD player 24. The microprocessor 14, graphics processing unit 16, main memory 26, and input/output control unit 30 are connected so as to be capable of mutual data communication using a bus 12, with the controller 32, sound processing unit 20, DVD player 24 and memory card 42 being connected to the input/output control unit 30. Each configuration element of the home-use game machine 46 is housed in a case.
The microprocessor 14 controls the respective elements of the home-use game machine 46 based on an operating system stored in a ROM (not shown), a game program read from the DVD 25, and saved data read from the memory card 42, so as to implement the providing of games to each player. The bus 12 is for exchanging addresses and data among the respective elements of the home-use game machine 46. The main memory 26, for example, has a configuration containing RAM (Random Access Memory), which is written with game programs read out from the DVD 25 and saved data read out from the memory card 42 as necessary. The graphics processing unit 16 has a configuration containing VRAM (Video Random Access Memory). The graphics processing unit 16 receives image data from the microprocessor 14, draws a game screen image on the VRAM based on the received data, and converts this content to a video signal, and output the signal to the monitor 18.
The input/output control unit 30 is an interface enabling the microprocessor 14 to access the controller 32, the sound processing unit 20, the DVD player 24, and the memory card 42. The sound processing unit 20 includes a sound buffer and reproduces music data, game sound effects and audio messages, and so on, which is reads out from the DVD 25 and stored in the sound buffer, and outputs sound via the speaker 22. The DVD player 24 reads game programs recorded on the DVD 25 in accordance with instructions from the microprocessor 14. The controller 32 is a general-purpose operation input means for enabling a player to carry out various operations and is equipped with an instruction button. Further, the memory card 42 is configured so as to include a non-volatile memory (for example, EEPROM etc.) that is detachable from the home-use game machine 46 and is for storing saved data etc. for various games.
With the game device 10 of this embodiment, secondary play candidate data storage means and primary play candidate data storage means are realized by a memory card 42. Further, the primary play candidate data name selection means, primary play candidate data name display means, play target data name selection means, play target data acquisition means, game control means and primary play candidate data collective reading means are implemented by hardware and software centered about the microprocessor 14.
As shown in
A data configuration for the primary play candidate data name information is shown in
The priority primary play candidate game data is game data collectively read out together with primary play candidate data name information as primary play candidate data at the play target data selection screen (refer to
In the following, a description is given of moving game data from the secondary play candidate data to the primary play candidate data file, and selecting play target data based on the primary play candidate data file.
In the following, a detailed description is given of moving game data from secondary play candidate data to the primary play candidate data file.
As shown in
As shown in
At the game data movement destination designation screen 60, when the select button is designated, movement of the game data is executed (S205). Namely, game data selected by the player is read out, and is moved to a game data region designated for the primary play candidate data file stored in the main memory 26. The content of the primary play candidate data name information is then changed. The primary play candidate data file stored in the main memory 26 is then written and saved to the memory card 42 (S206). As a result, the process for moving game data to the primary play candidate data file is complete. This processing is implemented through execution of a program stored in the DVD 25 etc. by a microprocessor 14.
The following is a detailed description of from selection of the play target data based on the primary play candidate data file to execution of the game.
As shown in
According to the game device 10 described above, only game data names contained in the primary play candidate data file are displayed when a player is selecting data to be played, and a player can therefore easily select data to be played. Further, primary play candidate data is collectively readout in advance when selecting data to be played. Therefore the time required from selecting the data to be played to executing a game can be made shorter.
The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above.
For example, in the above description, an example is given of implementing the present invention using a home-use game machine but the present invention may also be similarly applied to a business use game machine. It is preferable in this case for the monitor and speakers to be formed integrally.
Further, for example, in step S206 of
Further, for example, in S301 of
Further, information comprising the primary play candidate data name information is not limited to that shown in
Further, in the above, a description is given of moving game data from secondary play candidate data to a primary play candidate data file but, for example, when a player saves game data in a game, the game data may also be saved in a primary play candidate data file. Convenience for the player is therefore improved as a result.
Further, in the above description, a game program and game program data are supplied from an information storage media of a DVD 25 to a home-use game machine 46 but the game program and game data can also be distributed to each home via a communication network.
As described above, by applying the present invention to a game etc., it is possible for a player to easily select game data to be played when playing a game.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2002-054805 | Feb 2002 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/JP03/02249 | 2/27/2003 | WO |