Game apparatus and game program

• US 8,187,096 B2
• Filed: 09/29/2006
• Issued: 05/29/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/14/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nintendo Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Nintendo Company Limited
• Inventors: Ohta, Keizo, Sato, Kenta
• Primary Examiner(s): Lewis, David L
• Assistant Examiner(s): MOSSER, ROBERT E
• Application Number:
  US11/529,294
• Publication Number:
  US 20070243931A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,069 Days
• Field of Search: 463/1, 463 36- 38, 463/47, 345156-158
• US Class Current: 463/37
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/211 using inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers or gyroscopes
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/428 involving motion or position input signals, e.g. signals representing the rotation of an input controller or a player's arm motions sensed by accelerometers or gyroscopes
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/105 using inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/8029 Fighting without shooting

Abstract

A game apparatus sequentially acquires acceleration data outputted by an acceleration sensor of an input device (step S2). Further, smoothed data representing a value which is obtained by smoothing an acceleration represented by the acceleration data is calculated (step S3). A game process is executed using the acceleration data and the smoothed data (step S4). For example, the game apparatus controls an action of an object appearing in a game space by using the acceleration data and the smoothed data.

Claims

1. A game apparatus for executing a game process using acceleration data, the acceleration data outputted by an acceleration sensor of an input device, the game apparatus comprising:

a processing system configured to cause;

receiving the acceleration data;

calculating smoothed data based at least in part on the acceleration data and previously calculated smoothed data, the smoothed data representing a value obtained by smoothing an acceleration represented by the acceleration data; and

executing the game process based at least in part on the acceleration data and the smoothed data.

2. The game apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the game process includes:

determining, using the smoothed data, a state of a player object in a game space for determining a first action to be performed by the player object, and

determining, using the acceleration data, a state of the player object for determining a second action to be performed by the player object.

3. The game apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the state of a player object in the game space for determining the first action includes an attitude of the player object in the game space, and

the state of the player object for determining the second action includes a position of the player object in the game space.

4. The game apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the position of the player object in the game space is based at least in part on a movement distance that is based at least in part on the acceleration data and a moving direction in accordance with the attitude of the player object.

5. The game apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the game process includes:

calculating a difference between a value of the acceleration represented by the acceleration data and the value represented by the smoothed data, and

wherein executing the game process is further based on the difference.

6. The game apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the game process includes:

determining, using the smoothed data, a state of a player object in a game space for determining a first action to be performed by the player object, and

determining, using the difference, a state of the player object for determining a second action to be performed by the player object.

7. The game apparatus according to claim 6, wherein

the state of the player object for determining the first action includes an attitude of the player object in the game, and

the state of the player object for determining the second action includes a position of the player object in the game space.

8. The game apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the position of the player object in the game space is based at least in part on a movement distance that is based at least in part on the difference and by a moving direction in accordance with the attitude of the player object.

9. The game apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the game process includes:

controlling, using the smoothed data, a state of a first player object appearing in the game space for determining an action to be performed by the first player object, and

controlling, using the difference, a state of a second player object appearing in the game space for determining an action to be performed by the second player object.

10. The game apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the game process includes:

controlling, using the smoothed data, a state of a first player object appearing in a game space for determining an action to be performed by the first player object, and

controlling, using the acceleration data, a state of a second player object appearing in the game space for determining an action to be performed by the second player object.

11. The game apparatus according to claim 1, wherein calculating the smoothed data is done each time the acceleration data is received, and wherein the value represented by the smoothed data having been most recently calculated approaches, at a predetermined rate, a value represented by the acceleration data.

12. The game apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the game process includes:

calculating, using the smoothed data, first data corresponding to a tilt of the input device,

calculating, using the acceleration data, second data corresponding to a movement of the input device, and

wherein executing the game process is further based on the first data and the second data.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon a game program executed by a computer of a game apparatus for executing a game process using acceleration data which is sequentially outputted by an acceleration sensor of an input device, the game program causing the computer to execute:

sequentially acquiring the acceleration data;

sequentially calculating smoothed data based on a value which is obtained by smoothing an acceleration represented by the acceleration data, the smoothed data additionally being calculated based on a previously acquired value of smoothed data; and

executing the game process using the acceleration data and the smoothed data.

14. The storage medium according to claim 13, wherein the game process includes:

determining, using the smoothed data, a state of a player object in a game space for determining a first action to be performed by the player object, and

determining, using the acceleration data, a state of the player object for determining a second action to be performed by the player object.

15. The storage medium according to claim 14, wherein

a state of a player object in a game space for determining the first action includes an attitude of the player object in the game space, and

a state of the player object for determining the second action a position of the player object in the game space.

16. The storage medium according to claim 15, wherein the position of the player object in the game space is based at least in part on the acceleration data and a moving direction in accordance with the attitude of the player object.

17. The storage medium according to claim 13, wherein

the game process includes calculating a difference between a value of the acceleration represented by the acceleration data and the value represented by the smoothed data, and

executing the game process further using the difference.

18. The storage medium according to claim 17, wherein the game process includes:

determining, using the smoothed data, a state of a player object in a game space for determining a first action to be performed by the player object, and

determining, using the difference, a state of the player object for determining a second action to be performed by the player object.

19. The storage medium according to claim 18, wherein

a state of a player object in a game space for determining the first action includes an attitude of the player object in the game space, and

a state of a player object in a game space for determining the second action a position of the player object in the game space.

20. The storage medium according to claim 19, wherein the position of the player object in the game space is based at least in part on a movement distance based on the difference and a moving direction in accordance with the attitude of the player object.

21. The storage medium according to claim 17, wherein the game process includes:

controlling, using the smoothed data, a state of a first player object appearing in a game space for determining an action to be performed by the first player object, and

controlling, using the difference, a state of a second player object appearing in the game space for determining an action to be performed by the second player object.

22. The storage medium according to claim 13, wherein the game process includes:

controlling, using the smoothed data, a state of a first player object appearing in a game space for determining an action to be performed by the first player object, and

controlling, using the acceleration data, a state of a second player object appearing in the game space for determining an action to be performed by the second player object.

23. The storage medium according to claim 13, wherein

sequentially calculating smoothed data each time the acceleration data is acquired, and

calculating the smoothed data further includes performing a calculation by which the value represented by the smoothed data having been most recently calculated approaches, at a predetermined rate, a value represented by the acceleration data.

24. The storage medium according to claim 13, wherein

the game process includes:

calculating, using the smoothed data, first data corresponding to a tilt of the input device including the acceleration sensor,

calculating, using the acceleration data, second data corresponding to a movement of the input device, and

executing the game process further using the first data and the second data.

25. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon a game program executed by a computer of a game apparatus for executing a game process using acceleration data which is sequentially outputted by an acceleration sensor of an input device, the game program causing the computer to execute:

sequentially acquiring the acceleration data;

sequentially calculating smoothed data based on a value which is obtained by smoothing an acceleration represented by the acceleration data, the smoothed data additionally based on at least two previously acquired acceleration data; and

executing the game process using the acceleration data and the smoothed data.

26. A game apparatus for executing a game process using acceleration data, the acceleration data outputted by an acceleration sensor of an input device, the game apparatus comprising:

a processing system configured to cause;

receiving the acceleration data;

calculating smoothed data based on at least two previous received acceleration data, the smoothed data representing a value obtained by smoothing an acceleration represented by the acceleration data; and

executing the game process based at least in part on the acceleration data and the smoothed data.

27. The game apparatus according to claim 26, wherein the processing system is further configured to calculate the smoothed data based on previously calculated smoothed data and the unsmoothed acceleration data.

28. The game apparatus according to claim 26, wherein the processing system is further configured to calculate the smoothed data based on at least two previous received unsmoothed acceleration data.

29. A game apparatus for executing a game process using acceleration data, the acceleration data outputted by an acceleration sensor of an input device, the game apparatus comprising:

a processing system configured to;

receive unsmoothed acceleration data output by the acceleration sensor;

calculate smoothed data representing a value which is obtained by smoothing an acceleration represented by the unsmoothed acceleration data;

calculate tilt data from the smoothed data;

calculate movement data from the unsmoothed acceleration data; and

execute the game process using the smoothed data and the unsmoothed acceleration data, the game process using the tilt data and the movement data to perform first and second game actions of the game process, respectively, the first game action being different from the second game action.