PlayStation has had a lot of patents published as of late, with yet another one just being published. The newest patent coming from PlayStation looks at a new system to help players beat parts of games they get stuck on.
Recent PlayStation patents have looked at new ways to improve accessibility in their first-party titles and consoles and are part of an industry-wide push to increase the accessibility of new games so that as many players as possible can enjoy them. The newest patent looks as though it would function in conjunction with PlayStation's other recent patent for generating gameplay tips with collected player data.
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PlayStation's newest patent looks to implement a system in PlayStation titles that will monitor a player's progress to identify when they get stuck at a part or are not progressing as steadily as intended. The patent theorizes setting metrics to rank the player's progress and having determined ways to assist the player whenever they reach a level on one of those metrics.
The patent also explores having a hierarchy of thresholds so that the system can deliver different types of assistance depending on how much it analyzes the player to need to help players get through difficult sections or even get a game's most difficult PlayStation trophies.
An example provided by the patent looks at a player stuck on a puzzle. The theoretical system would notice that a player was not progressing past the puzzle as fast as the developers intended. After the player had spent too much time at the puzzle, the system may provide them with an additional hint, such as a voice line or a message on the screen. If the player still doesn't solve the puzzle within a specific time frame the system may highlight a needed object. If that still isn't enough, the system will eventually give the player the solution so that they can proceed. The system intends to keep players in the game rather than having to go to a website or strategy guide to solve the most difficult puzzles of a series like Resident Evil.
The system detailed within the patent is an interesting one that could be a big help for players who get stuck at parts of games before putting them down forever. However, many players may want the system to be able to be toggled so that players who want to experience the game's difficulty without assistance have that option. This is especially likely for games and players who favor particularly difficult experiences like the X-COM series. Of course, many patents never lead to any meaningful developments, so it will be interesting to see just how far PlayStation goes with this one.