IP is a joke. Fuck copyright. Fuck patents. Nintendo is out here patenting physics.
"The movement of movable dynamic objects placed in the virtual space is controlled by physics calculations, and the movement of the player’s character is controlled by user input. When the player’s character and a dynamic object come in contact in the downward direction relative to the character (in other words, when the character is on top of an object), the movement of the dynamic object is added to the movement of the player’s character.”
These aren't even inventions. They are just obvious models of the real world that would occur to anyone who is trying to replicate physical interactions in a virtual world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_mechanics
These are Japanese patents but I also have no fucking doubt a lot of this stuff has very obvious prior art even in gaming, to say nothing of other physics-based software packages.
But now with fewer limitations on property law and a somehow worsening economic landscape!
It's bananas to think about how this shit would play out back decades ago.
Nintendo v Sega
A case about how Sonic's Invincibility power up is an infringement on Mario's Invincibility power up.
This litigious shit is wearing thin on people who are already feeling a financial strain. Entertainment is getting too difficult to purchase and that'll just mean more piracy and independent forms of entertainment.
Once more realize that these things are ultimately impossible to enforce on everyone, we'll see a new landscape.
Don't know if that'll be in my lifetime, but I'm hoping. I want to see more of those silly crossover fanfic games like they had on Newgrounds, but with the software assets and resources we've developed as a society.