Sony Patents ‘Gameplay Rewind’ Common Controller Button: The way it Works

Sony has patented a brand new common controller button that might change the way in which avid gamers work together with video games on the corporate’s PlayStation consoles. The brand new ‘gameplay rewind’ button may let avid gamers revisit sure elements of the sport which have already been accomplished and look at these sections, after which return to stay sport play. Gamers may additionally have the ability to generate “bookmarks” whereas enjoying video games, and the purported rewind button would enable them to repeatedly entry the favorite elements of their video games.

Sony Patents ‘Gameplay Rewind’ Button for Controllers

A patent doc (by way of Tech4Gamers) titled “Gameplay Rewind with Person Triggered Buttons” describes a devoted button on the controller that may enable customers to generate a bookmark of the sport that they’re enjoying. The gadget will keep in mind these bookmarks generated by the person, and the sport being performed by the person also needs to be able to routinely producing them.

Fig 4A exhibits the rewind button and Fig 4B exhibits the rewind interface
Picture Credit score: WIPO/ Sony

Sony explains how such a function might be helpful for avid gamers. The corporate says {that a} rewind button may let customers “evaluation” not too long ago performed parts of the sport, in case they missed directions supplied by a non-playable character (NPC).

For instance, you might be enjoying Life is Unusual: True Colors, the place you go round a bar and speak to patrons, report again to the bartender and repeat what two folks ordered. In the event you had been paying consideration when the patrons had been speaking to you, you’d have the ability to give the correct order, otherwise you would possibly get it improper. Whereas there isn’t any penalty for offering a improper reply on this sport, the rewind button may have presumably helped you out in such a situation. 

Having access to earlier moments of gameplay generally is a problem, and Sony says that it might contain hacking an current service to realize entry to a specific a part of the sport. The corporate provides that even when a participant managed to document some elements of the sport, they would wish to cease enjoying the sport to entry the content material. 

In line with the corporate, avid gamers will have the ability to press the common button throughout stay gameplay, and the console will show a brand new interface that provides playback-style controls, together with a “rewind” possibility. Choosing the rewind possibility will present customers a “subset of captured picture frames from the gameplay”, in response to the corporate.

These captured picture frames may be manually (or routinely) bookmarked and saved throughout gameplay. They are going to be displayed in sequence — in reverse order — when the participant enters rewind mode, as per the main points shared within the patent doc. 

In consequence, avid gamers will have the ability to work together with previous moments from the sport. For instance, they will replay a specific part if they don’t keep in mind directions supplied by an NPC, or they missed some info proven by the sport when passing by means of an essential space.

Sony’s patent doc additionally means that customers will have the ability to “work together” with gameplay moments in rewind mode, however there isn’t any info on how that may work. It is price noting that the existence of a patent doesn’t essentially imply that Sony will embody assist for such a function on its controllers sooner or later.