Hand-held game apparatus and game program

• US 7,922,582 B2
• Filed: 05/28/2008
• Issued: 04/12/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nintendo Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Nintendo Company Limited
• Inventors: Miyamoto, Shigeru, Eguchi, Katsuya
• Primary Examiner(s): Lewis; David L
• Assistant Examiner(s): Torimiro; Adetokunbo
• Application Number:
  US12/127,923
• Publication Number:
  US 20090143138A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,049 Days
• Field of Search: 463/30, 463/31, 463 36- 38, 463/43, 463/44
• US Class Current: 463/30
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/10 Control of the course of the game, e.g. start, progess, end
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/2145 the surface being also a display device, e.g. touch screens
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/26 having at least one additional display device, e.g. on the game controller or outside a game booth
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/426 involving on-screen location information, e.g. screen coordinates of an area at which the player is aiming with a light gun
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/45 Controlling the progress of the video game
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/5378 for displaying an additional top view, e.g. radar screens or maps using two or more virtual cameras concurrently A63F13/5252
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/92 Video game devices specially adapted to be hand-held while playing
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/1075 using a touch screen
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/307 for displaying an additional window with a view from the top of the game field, e.g. radar screen
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/6669 using a plurality of virtual cameras concurrently or sequentially, e.g. automatically switching between fixed virtual cameras when a character change rooms

Abstract

A hand-held game apparatus and a game program allow a user to play a game while going back and forth between a narrow-range map and a broad-range map. The player can manipulate a touch panel mounted on a display for displaying the broad-range map. If the player manipulates the touch panel to point to a coordinate position on the broad-range map, thus designating coordinates for a narrow-range map to display, an image of the narrow-range map, which is changed as desired, is displayed. If the player indicates a moving direction on the broad-range map, to designate a scroll direction, the displayed broad-range map is moved (scrolled).

Claims

1. A hand-held game apparatus comprising:

a memory device which stores a virtual game map image;

a first liquid crystal display section which displays a first game picture including a partial range of the virtual game map image;

a second liquid crystal display section, located near the first liquid crystal display section, which displays a second game picture including, out of the virtual game map image, a broader range than does the partial range displayed on the first liquid crystal display section;

a housing which accommodates the first liquid crystal display section and the second liquid crystal display section in predetermined positions;

a touch panel, mounted at least correspondingly to the second liquid crystal display section, which outputs coordinate data when the touch panel is manipulated, the coordinate data indicating a manipulated position on a display surface of the second liquid crystal display section;

a manipulation detector circuit which at least detects a designated moving direction in accordance with a change in a designated coordinate position, based on the coordinate data output from the touch panel;

a first map image data generating circuit which, based on a game program, generates, from the virtual game map image, narrow-range map image data for causing the first liquid crystal display section to display a narrow-range map image, which represents a relatively narrow range out of the virtual game map image;

a second map image data generating circuit which, based on the game program, generates, from the virtual game map image, broad-range map image data for causing the second liquid crystal display section to display a broad-range map image, which represents a relatively broad range out of the virtual game map image;

a map image data change logic which, in response to an instruction of a moving direction as detected by the manipulation detector circuit on the broad-range map image, changes the broad-range map image data generated by the second map image data generating circuit, and changes the narrow-range map image data generated by the first map image data generating circuit; and

a display controller which controls the first liquid crystal display section to display as the first game picture the narrow-range map image based on the narrow-range map image data generated by the first map image data generating circuit or changed by the map image change logic, and controls the second liquid crystal display section to display as the second game picture the broad-range map image based on the broad-range map image data generated by the second map image data generating circuit or changed by the map image change logic,

wherein the virtual game map image is larger than the broad-range map image, said narrow-range map image comprising a magnified portion of said broad-range map image viewed from the same direction as the broad-range map image, said map image data change logic causing said displayed broad-range map image to scroll in said designated moving direction through said virtual game map image and thereby reveal different portions of the virtual game map image, said map image data change logic causing said narrow-range map to scroll with said broad-range map image so that said narrow-range map image during scrolling comprises a portion of said broad-range map image.

2. The hand-held game apparatus according to claim 1, wherein,

the manipulation detector circuit further detects the designated coordinate position based on a manipulation of the touch panel, and

the map image data change logic changes, in response to the manipulation detector detecting the designated coordinate position, the narrow-range map image data generated by the first map image data generating circuit so as to represent an enlarged narrow-range map image around the designated coordinate position,

the display controller controls the first liquid crystal display section to display as the first game picture the narrow-range map image data having been moved by the map image data change logic.

3. The hand-held game apparatus according to claim 1, further including an object image data generating circuit which generates object image data for causing at least one liquid crystal display section to display an object belonging to the game, wherein

the object image data generating circuit generates at least one of a large-size player object image data for causing the first liquid crystal display section to display a large-size player object and small-size player object image data for causing the second liquid crystal display section to display a small-size player object, and

the display controller is operable to control at least one of:

the first liquid crystal display section to display the narrow-range map image based on the narrow-range map image data having been changed by the map image data change logic, together with a large-size player object image based on the large-size player object image data generated by the object image data generating circuit, the large-size player object image is superposed on the narrow-range map image, and

the second liquid crystal display section to display the broad-range map image based on the broad-range map image data having been changed by the map image data change logic together with a small-size player object image based on the small-size player object image data generated by the object image data generating circuit, the small-size player object image is superposed on the broad-range map image, thus causing the changed narrow-range map image and the changed broad-range map image to be displayed.

4. A hand-held game apparatus according to claim 1, wherein,

the map image data change logic is operable to:

change, in accordance with the designated coordinate position as detected by the manipulation detector circuit on the broad-range map image displayed by the second liquid crystal display section, the narrow-range map image data generated by the map image display engine so as to represent a narrow-range map image around the designated coordinate position, and

the manipulation detector circuit, when the coordinate data indicates that a coordinate position on the broad-range map image is inputted a plurality of times, detects the coordinate position as the designated coordinate position and when the coordinate data indicates that an input is performed such that a coordinate position on the broad-range map image is continuously changed, detects a direction, in which the coordinate position is changed, as the designated moving direction.

5. The game apparatus of claim 1, wherein said apparatus further comprises an animation generator that generates at least one animated game character that a human player can move about the broad-range map with the touch panel.

6. The game apparatus of claim 1, wherein said narrow-range map image provides a window into said broad-range map image and said broad-range map provides a window into the virtual game map image.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a game program for use with a hand-held game apparatus comprising:

a memory device which stores a virtual game map image;

a first liquid crystal display section which displays a first game picture including a partial range of the virtual game map image;

a second liquid crystal display section, located near the first liquid crystal display section, which displays a second game picture including, out of the virtual game map image, a broader range than does the partial range map displayed on the first liquid crystal display section;

a housing which accommodates the first liquid crystal display section and the second liquid crystal display section in predetermined positions;

a touch panel, mounted at least correspondingly to the second liquid crystal display section, which outputs coordinate data when the touch panel is manipulated, the coordinate data indicating a manipulated position on a display surface of the second liquid crystal display section; and

a computer,

the game program causing the computer to execute;

manipulation detection which at least detects a moving direction in accordance with a change in a designated coordinate position, based on the coordinate data output from the touch panel;

first map image data generation which generates, from the virtual game map image, based on a game program, narrow-range map image data for causing the first liquid crystal display section to display a narrow-range map image, which represents a relatively narrow range out of the virtual game map image;

second map image data generation which generates, from the virtual game map image, based on the game program, broad-range map image data for causing the second liquid crystal display section to display a broad-range map image, which represents a relatively broad range out of the virtual game map image;

map image data change imparting which changes, in response to an instruction of a moving direction as detected by the manipulation detection on the broad-range map image, the narrow-range map image data generated by the second map image data generation, and changes the narrow-range map image data generated by the first map image data generating circuit;

display control which controls the first liquid crystal display section to display as the first game picture the narrow-range map image based on the narrow-range map image data generated by the first map image data generation or changed by the map image change logic, and controlling the second liquid crystal display section to display as the second game picture the broad-range map image based on the broad-range map image data generated by the second map image data generation or changed by the map image change imparting, and

wherein the virtual game map image is larger than the broad-range map image, said narrow-range map image comprising a magnified portion of said broad-range map image viewed from the same direction as the broad-range map image, said map image data change logic causing said displayed broad-range map image to scroll in said designated moving direction through said virtual game map image and thereby reveal different portions of the virtual game map image, said map image data change logic causing said narrow-range map to scroll with said broad-range map image so that said narrow-range map image during scrolling comprises a portion of said broad-range map image.

8. A hand-held game apparatus comprising:

a memory device which stores a virtual game map image;

a first liquid crystal display section which displays a first game picture including a partial range of the virtual game map image;

a second liquid crystal display section, located near the first liquid crystal display section, which displays a second game picture including, out of the virtual game map image, a broader range than does the partial range displayed on the first liquid crystal display section;

a housing which accommodates the first liquid crystal display section and the second liquid crystal display section in predetermined positions;

a touch panel, mounted at least correspondingly to the second liquid crystal display section, which outputs coordinate data when the touch panel is manipulated, the coordinate data indicating a manipulated position on a display surface of the second liquid crystal display section;

a manipulation detector circuit which at least detects a designate moving direction in accordance with a change in a designated coordinate position based on the coordinate data output from the touch panel;

a first map image data generating circuit which, based on a game program, generates, from the virtual game map image, narrow-range map image data for causing the first liquid crystal display section to display a narrow-range map image, which represents a relatively narrow range out of the virtual game map image;

a second map image data generating circuit which, based on the game program, generates, from the virtual game map image, broad-range map image data for causing the second liquid crystal display section to display a broad-range map image, which represents a relatively broad range out of the virtual game map image;

a map image data change logic which, in response to an instruction of a moving direction as detected by the manipulation detector circuit on the broad-range map image, changes the broad-range map image data generated by the second map image data generating circuit, and changes the narrow-range map image data generated by the first map image data generating circuit; and

a display controller which controls the first liquid crystal display section to display as the first game picture the narrow-range map image based on the narrow-range map image data generated by the first map image data generating circuit or changed by the map image change logic, and controls the second liquid crystal display section to display as the second game picture the broad-range map image based on the broad-range map image data generated by the second map image data generating circuit or changed by the map image change logic,

wherein the virtual game map image is larger than the broad-range map image, said narrow-range map image comprising a magnified portion of said broad-range map image viewed from the same direction as the broad-range map image, said map image data change logic causing said displayed broad-range map image to shift in said designated moving direction through said virtual game map image and thereby reveal different portions of the virtual game map image, said map image data change logic causing said narrow-range map to shift with said broad-range map image so that said narrow-range map image during scrolling comprises a portion of said broad-range map image.