New Sony Patent Deals With Adding New Content to Emulated Games

A newly published Sony patent may reveal one idea it has in mind for Gaikai.

A patent filed for by Sony in 2012 has been published today by the United States Patent & Trademark Office, revealing the company's apparent interest in finding ways to more easily introduce new content into classic games being streamed through the cloud. Essentially, the patent describes the ability to suspend gameplay in an emulated game and then introduce new content in a manner that doesn't involve reverse engineering the game's code.

"Finding new ways to play preexisting video games can increase the longevity of older games," the patent states. "Instead of replaying the same level or completing the same missions repeatedly, gamers often desire new challenges when replaying legacy games. In response to this need, game designers have begun to produce mini-games. Within a mini-game, the gamer can be instructed to complete new objectives or challenge their friends for high scores in a format that was not originally designed into the legacy game."

Basic examples of the types of mini-games the patent is referring to are limiting the number of lives or amount of health players have when fighting a boss.

Sony's patent, which is entitled "Suspending State of Cloud-Based Legacy Applications," would allow for triggers or "snapshots" to be used as the mechanism through which the emulated game is suspended and the new content is then delivered. It also talks about offering games on platforms they were not originally designed for, which is what you'd expect from cloud-based gaming.

Put as simply as possible, "The present disclosure is related to video game emulation. Among other things, this application describes a method and apparatus for emulating a video game that includes generating snapshots that can be used for incorporating new content into the emulated video games."

While it's unclear what Sony would do if granted the patent, it should be reiterated that this deals with cloud-based game streaming. The patent was originally filed on June 29, 2012, just prior to the company's announcement of its acquisition of cloud gaming service Gaikai. Sony has announced it will make use of Gaikai on PlayStation 4 -- including the ability to stream PS3 games to the system, a feature purportedly coming this year -- but it has never given any indication it planned to do more with it than stream games as they already exist.

It's already been suggested this patent could allow for Sony to release games in the style of NES Remix, which offers twists on levels from classic NES games like Donkey Kong, Excitebike, and Super Mario Bros. Do you have any theories or hopes for what we'll see from Sony involving this patent, if anything? Let us know in the comments below.