JP2001347068A - External storage medium and portable game machine for playing using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an external storage medium permitting a game meeting various needs of users, and a portable game machine mounted with the external storage medium to allow a player to play the game. SOLUTION: This external storage medium is stored with data related to images displayed on a display part and stored with a program for displaying or not displaying the image on the display part according to the detection of an acceleration sensor and displaying a moving direction for guiding the player on which direction to move a case body in order to display the image on the display part.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an external storage medium used for a portable game machine such as a portable game machine, and a portable game machine to which the external storage medium is mounted.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a game device advances a game based on a game program stored in advance, and during the progress of the game, a user performs a manual input operation using an operation means such as a controller. The game is further advanced while the input data is reflected, and the game is performed while repeating the game.

[0003] In recent years, the use of game devices has become very diverse. As an example, besides performing a manual input operation by a user, for example, a vibration sensor for detecting vibration transmitted to the game device itself is incorporated in the game device, for example, when a user wears the game device and walks. Is detected by the vibration sensor, the character appearing in the game is grown based on the detected data, and the user is displayed with the grown character according to the number of steps to urge the user to perform health management.

[0004]

The game device is used for various uses such as the health management as described above, and a game device capable of supporting various functions and uses is desired.

[0005] In recent years, game devices have been becoming more portable and smaller in size, but the size of the display screen for displaying the contents of the game tends to be smaller. In such a small display portion of the screen, for example, the movement and the movement range of the character may not be fully represented on the liquid crystal display panel.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems and to provide an external storage medium capable of playing a game that meets various needs of a user, and a portable game to which a player is equipped to play a game by mounting the external storage medium. It is an object to provide a machine.

[0007]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention employs the following means.

That is, according to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a display unit for displaying an image of a character or the like appearing in a game, an operation unit operated by a player while watching the image displayed on the display unit, A portable game machine including a case body for housing the display unit, and an acceleration sensor for detecting the movement of the case body when the player moves the case body while holding the case body by hand; An external storage medium attachable to a gaming machine, which stores data relating to an image displayed on the display unit, and causes the display unit to display or hide an image in response to detection of the acceleration sensor. And storing a program for performing a moving direction display for guiding a player to move the case in which direction in order to display an image on the display unit.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a display unit for displaying an image of a character or the like appearing in a game, an operation unit operated by a player while watching an image displayed on the display unit, the operation unit and the operation unit. An external storage medium that can be mounted on the portable game machine using a portable game machine having a case body for housing a display unit, and that when the player is mounted on the portable game machine, the player An acceleration sensor that detects the movement of the case body when the user moves the hand while holding the hand, stores data related to an image displayed on the display unit, and stores the data in the display unit according to the detection of the acceleration sensor. A program for displaying or not displaying an image and displaying a moving direction for guiding a player to move the case body in order to display the image on the display unit is stored. The features.

[0010] In the external storage medium of the present invention, in addition to the configuration described in claim 1 or 2, a player moves the case body by hand to aim at an image displayed on the display unit. Can be displayed on the display unit, and when the aiming symbol and the image overlap on the display unit, a display prompting the player to input the operation unit can be performed. By adopting such a configuration, for example, the player moves the case body by hand and searches for an image of the target character or the like, finds the image by displaying it on the display unit in the previous period, and further displays the image on the display unit. By superimposing the aiming symbol on the displayed image and operating and inputting by pressing the operation unit in accordance with the display prompting the input of the operation unit, it is possible to perform a game such as attacking the image and adding a score. .

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a portable gaming machine in which a player plays a game by mounting the external storage medium according to the first or second aspect, wherein a display unit for displaying the image is provided. And a case in which a player can perform an operation with a finger of a hand, and a case body accommodating the operation unit and the display unit.

The external storage medium can be applied not only to the above-mentioned portable game machine but also to a home game machine and a business game machine.

That is, an image of a character or the like appearing in a game is displayed on the display unit, and the player operates the image while watching the image displayed on the display unit. The player holds the operation unit by hand. A game machine having a controller as an operation unit having an acceleration sensor for detecting the movement of the operation unit when the player moves the game unit, and a game machine body for proceeding a game based on an operation input of the operation unit; An external storage medium attachable to the main body of the machine, storing data relating to an image displayed on the display unit, and displaying or not displaying an image on the display unit in response to detection of the acceleration sensor. Storing a program for performing a moving direction display for guiding a player to move the operation unit in order to display an image on the display unit. It is also possible to provide an external storage medium. According to the external storage medium having such a configuration, the action of the player actually holding and operating the operation unit with his / her hand is reflected on a change in image display such as display / non-display of an image on the display unit. It is possible to cause the player to play a game, and to make the player aware of an image that is not displayed on the display unit.

[0014]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings, taking a game cassette as an example of an external storage medium and a portable game machine as a portable game machine. The present invention is not limited to this.

The portable game machine has a display section for displaying an image of a character or the like appearing in a game, an operation section operated by a player while watching the image displayed on the display section,
A case body for accommodating the operation unit and the display unit, and an acceleration sensor for detecting a movement of the case body when the player moves while holding the case body by hand.

The external storage medium is attachable to the portable game machine, stores data relating to an image displayed on the display unit, and displays or displays an image on the display unit in response to detection of the acceleration sensor. A program for causing the player to move the case body in a direction in which the case body is moved in order to display the image on the display unit in a non-display manner is stored. Hereinafter, the details of the specific example will be described.

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing functions of the portable game machine according to the present embodiment.

This portable game machine has a game program 1
a, using an external storage means A having a ROM 1 for storing a plurality of image data 1b and sound data 1c, and using the external storage medium A as a game machine body B having a CPU as a control unit 2 for executing a game program 1a The control unit 2 uses the image data 1 on the display screen 3a of the liquid crystal display device as the display unit 3 along with the progress of the game program 1a.
b, an image of a character or the like appearing in the game is displayed, a sound is generated from the speaker 4 as sound data 1c, and a plurality of operation buttons as an operation unit 5 for the user to manually input his / her intention. And an acceleration sensor 6 that detects the movement of the case when the player moves the case while holding it by hand.

As the acceleration sensor 6, a semiconductor type acceleration sensor is used. This semiconductor type acceleration sensor is composed of a thin silicon beam portion (sensor portion) and a weight portion, and uses a piezoresistance effect of the sensor portion to generate a stress accompanying the strain of the beam portion caused by acceleration. Is to be detected. When acceleration is applied to the weight, the sensor portion is distorted, so that the electric resistance value of a plurality of diffusion layers formed above the sensor portion (here, diffusion layers formed in four rows) is changed. A weight is made at the tip of a thin piezoresistive sensor that is bent by stress by processing a silicon chip. The resistance value of the piezoresistive sensor is calculated by forming a bridge circuit as shown in Fig. 2 and using the fact that the resistance value decreases by compressive stress and increases by tensile stress. Converted to voltage output. Note that R1 to R4 in FIG. 2 are diffusion resistances corresponding to the respective resistance values of the diffusion layer.

The gaming machine body B has a RAM 10 as a work area in which the game program 1a is executed, and is provided with two power supplies 11 composed of AA batteries.

The image data 1b is stored separately in an image code and image data. Although not shown, a display drive circuit is connected to the display unit 3. This display drive circuit also includes a display control unit. The image data 1b required to advance the game from the ROM 1 of the external storage medium A according to the instruction of the control unit 2 is temporarily stored in the RAM 10, and the image code is read in accordance with the instruction of the display control unit, and the image code corresponding to each image code is read. By sequentially transferring the image data to the display screen 3a, an image is displayed on the display screen 3a.

Further, the game program 1a causes the display unit 3 to display or hide an image in response to the detection of the acceleration sensor 6, and the player uses a case body described later to display the image on the display unit 3. The content for displaying the moving direction for guiding the direction in which to move is stored.

Next, the structure of the portable game machine will be described.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a portable game machine as a portable game machine used in the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a bottom view showing the portable game machine. FIG. 5 is a schematic perspective view showing the game cassette A and the game machine main body B in the present embodiment.

Referring to FIGS. 3 to 5, the portable game machine includes a case body 21 for storing the above-described various functions. A display screen 3a for displaying an image in accordance with the progress of the game to the user is disposed substantially at the center of the surface of the case body 21 in the longitudinal direction. The display screen 3a is disposed such that its center line (two-dot chain line in the figure) D is located slightly above the short-side center line (single-dot chain line in the figure) C of the case body 21. I have.

An operation unit 5 is provided on both left and right sides of the display screen 3a for the user to input his / her intention. The operation unit 5 includes an operation controller 5a located on the left side of the display screen 3a, two push buttons 5b located on the right side, and a pause key 5c. The operation controller 5a has four pressing points, up, down, left, and right. The operation controller 5a and the push button 5b (the center positions of the two push buttons) (the three-dot chain line F in the figure)
It is arranged to be located slightly above the center line D of a. Moreover, the operation controller 5a and the push button 5
b is arranged substantially symmetrically with respect to the display screen 3a.
This allows the user to place the palms on both the left and right sides of the case 2
When the finger 1 is held in contact with both side surfaces, the abdomen of the thumbs on both sides is located in the operation unit 5, and the input operation becomes extremely easy. The pause key 5c is for temporarily stopping a displayed image when the user turns on the pause key. As described above, the display screen 3a is disposed substantially at the center in the longitudinal direction on the surface of the case body 21. The surface of the case body 21 is formed such that the area near the push button 5b side is larger than that on the operation controller 5a side. The user may proceed with the game by arbitrarily selecting and pressing an appropriate one of the two push buttons 5b at a relatively high speed. To operate the two push buttons 5b alternately at such a high speed, the area near the push buttons 5b is increased as in the present embodiment, and
The operability can be improved by increasing the distance between the push buttons 5b to some extent. On the other hand, if the distance between the two push buttons 5b is too small, the operability deteriorates.

Further, a power switch 22 which can be manually operated by a user is provided above the operation controller 5a.
Are arranged. The power switch 22 is set to be turned on when the user keeps pressing it for a certain period of time (for example, two seconds). Thus, even if the user accidentally presses the power switch 22 momentarily, the power is not turned on, and wasteful power consumption can be prevented. further,
On the right side of the power switch 22, a light emitting device 32 composed of an LED device or the like is arranged. Thus, for example, even when the contrast volume of the display screen 3a to be described later is the darkest and the image is hardly seen on the display screen 3a, the user can check whether the power switch 22 is ON. Because you can judge immediately,
It is less likely that the power supply 11 is continuously turned on and the power supply is wasted unnecessarily without knowing the operation state of the power supply switch 22.

On the lower side of the operation controller 5a,
A plurality of elongated holes 24 are provided to make sounds from the speaker 4 easily audible to the user.

The following functions are provided inside the case body 21.

On the back side of the push button 5b, two AA dry batteries (power supply) 11, which are power supplies, are arranged in parallel. A substantially circular and thin auxiliary battery (power supply) 26 is provided on the back side of the speaker 4. This auxiliary battery 26
Although not shown in the functional block diagram of FIG. 1, the clock display circuit and the memo storage circuit provided in the game machine main body B are provided to always operate regardless of the ON operation of the power switch 22. . The clock display circuit is provided, for example, for the purpose of displaying Japan time or displaying time in various parts of the world. The memo storage circuit is provided for the purpose of, for example, making a memo of a work or a private business not related to the game by key input, storing the memo, and displaying it when desired. In recent years, it is often desired that electronic devices have many functions. On the other hand, there has not been a game device including the above-described functions, and the game device according to the present embodiment plays a game or uses the above-described functions according to the situation, and uses the game by the user himself / herself. Can be determined each time.

The following functions are provided inside the case body 21 and on its lower end surface. First, from the left side, a volume control 27 for changing the volume reproduced from the speaker / microphone 4, an external power supply adapter 29 for taking in power from outside in addition to the dry battery 25 and the auxiliary battery 26 in the case body 21, and an earphone An adapter 28 and a display volume 30 for changing the density of an image displayed on the display screen 3a are provided. The volume volume 27 and the display volume 30 can be changed by a user's manual operation. The acceleration sensor 6 is located below the dry battery and is built in the case body 21.

Further, since there is no function on both sides of the case body 21 that can be manually operated by the user, when the user plays the game while holding it with both left and right hands, for example, the hand may be displayed incorrectly. It is possible to prevent the image on the liquid crystal display screen 3a from being completely invisible due to the contact with the volume 30 for the game, and the game can be favorably advanced.

An insertion opening for inserting the external storage medium A is formed in the upper end surface of the case body 21 at a substantially central portion in the longitudinal direction thereof. In the back of the insertion slot,
A connector as connection means for electrically connecting to the external storage medium A is provided.

On the left side of the upper end surface of the case body 21, there is provided an adapter 31 for electrically connecting to another game device (for example, for a communication unit for electrically connecting to a communication unit). Have been.

Next, in the present embodiment, an example of playing a game while making the acceleration sensor 6 function will be described. In this game, a plurality of enemy characters are sequentially found, and shooting is performed while aiming at the enemy characters to obtain points. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the flow of this game.

First, the player mounts the external storage medium A on the game machine main body B, and turns on the power switch 22 in this state. Then, the control unit 2 of the game machine main body B reads out the game program 1a stored in the ROM 1 of the external storage medium A, executes the program 1a in the RAM 10, and executes the RO of the external storage medium A.
Necessary data among the image data 1b and the sound data 1c stored in the M1 is temporarily stored in the RAM 10 once, the image data 1b is transferred to the display unit 3, and the sound data 1c is sequentially transferred to the speaker 4. . On the display screen 3a, a friendly character, an enemy character, or a background image appearing in the game is displayed, and a demonstration of the game is performed. Further, the player starts the game by operating the operation controller 5a and the two push buttons 5b. The game is displayed on the display screen 3a as a stage, for example, a city in a big city, a jungle, or a building. On the display screen 3a, a moving direction display for guiding the player to move the case body 21 in which direction is performed, and an arrow 41 of the guiding direction is displayed (see FIG. 7A). still,
On the display screen, an approximately circular ring for aiming at the image and an aiming symbol 42 consisting of a triangular mark indicating the center direction of the ring in each of four directions around the ring are displayed. The player moves the case body 21 in the direction while watching the arrow 41 so that the enemy character is displayed and appears on the display screen 3a. Then, when the enemy character 43, which is the target, starts to be displayed on the display screen 3a, the arrow 41 disappears, and the player operates the operation controller 5a to set the aiming symbol 4
2 to move the aiming symbol 42 to the enemy character 4
3 so as to overlap (see FIG. 7B). Then, when the aiming symbol 42 overlaps the enemy character 43,
The triangle mark of the aiming symbol 42 glows red or flashes (see FIG. 7C). At this time, when the player presses the push button 5b, a bullet is fired toward the enemy character 43, and the enemy character 43 can be defeated. However, the time interval at which the triangular mark of the aiming symbol 42 glows or blinks red is very short, and the enemy character 43 is not always in a fixed position on the display screen 3a and is constantly moving. It is difficult to accurately shoot the character 43, and if the reaction of the player operating the operation controller 5a and the push button 5b is slow, the character 43 may be attacked by the enemy character 43 or may escape from the display screen 3a. An arrow 41 is displayed on the display screen 3a (see FIG. 7D). In this way, the player is the fast-moving enemy character 4
The player moves the case body 21 along the arrow 41 in such a way as to chase the enemy character 3, and attacks the enemy character 43 so that the enemy character 43 is displayed on the display screen 3a. That is, the game program 1a causes the display unit 3 to display or not display an image in accordance with the detection of the acceleration sensor 6,
This stores the content for performing a moving direction display for guiding a player to move a case body to be described later in order to display an image on the display unit 3. In addition to the above-described game operation, by incorporating a power-up element of the character, a bomb, a boss character, and the like, it becomes possible to enjoy a dynamic game as compared with a conventional portable game machine. In addition, it is possible to mount a wireless unit capable of wirelessly communicating game-related data on a portable game machine and play a competitive game using a plurality of players using wireless communication.

In the present embodiment, a game in which an enemy character is searched and attacked by the movement of the player's case body so as to be displayed on the display screen is described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this. At the attraction venue, a plurality of people have portable game machines, attach an external storage medium storing the above-mentioned game program to each portable game machine, and refer to the display contents of the aiming symbol on the display screen as a case. It is also possible to play a game such as moving the body, searching for each other's characters, and attacking each other.

In this embodiment, the case where the external storage medium is mounted on the portable game machine has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention provides a game in which the external storage medium can be mounted. It can be applied to home game machines and arcade game machines equipped with a main unit and a controller connected to it, and in this case, it is also possible to play games by incorporating an acceleration sensor in the controller It is.

Further, in the present embodiment, the acceleration sensor is provided on the portable game device side, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the acceleration sensor may be provided on the external storage medium side. In the function described in the above embodiment, the acceleration sensor may be provided on the external storage medium side. With this configuration, it is not necessary to provide an acceleration sensor in the portable game device, and it is possible to contribute to the cost reduction of the portable game device. Since all the contents of the program relating to the game stored in the external storage medium do not require an acceleration sensor, it is effective to provide the external storage medium with the use of the acceleration sensor in accordance with the contents of the game. is there. In addition, the acceleration sensor is not provided in either the portable game machine or the external storage medium, but an external unit having an acceleration sensor is separately provided, and the game is performed by attaching the external sensor to the portable game machine together with the external storage medium. It is also possible to make it. With this configuration, the structure of the external storage medium can be shared with the structure without the acceleration sensor, so that the manufacturing cost on the manufacturing side is likely to be low.

As the external storage medium in the present invention, a predetermined program is stored in a ROM or a non-volatile memory other than the ROM and a game cassette containing the predetermined program, and a CD-R in which the predetermined program is stored as optical information.
It is also possible to use OM, DVD, or the like.

[0042]

Therefore, according to the external storage medium of the present invention, the action of the player holding and moving the case with his / her hand is reflected in the change of the image display such as display / non-display of the image on the display unit. In addition, it is possible to cause the player to play a game, and to display an image not displayed on the display unit in a moving direction display for guiding the player to move the case body in which direction. Thus, the player can be made conscious, and it is possible to supplement a portion that is difficult to express on a small display unit such as a portable game machine. According to the portable gaming machine of the present invention, by executing the program in the above-described external storage medium,
It is possible to provide the player with a game that incorporates, as one parameter, an action in which the player moves the case body by hand.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram for explaining functions of a game machine body and a game cassette.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the liquid crystal display device 3.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a portable game machine as a portable game machine used in the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a bottom view showing the portable game machine.

FIG. 5 is a schematic perspective view showing a game cassette A and a game machine main body B in the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a game flow when playing a game using the portable game machine according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the contents of a display screen when a game is played in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List A external storage medium B game machine main unit 1 ROM 1a image data 2 control unit 3 display unit 3a display screen 5 operation unit 6 acceleration sensor 21 case body 41 arrow 42 aiming symbol

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A display unit for displaying an image of a character or the like appearing in a game, an operation unit operated by a player while watching an image displayed on the display unit, and the operation unit and the display unit are stored. Using a portable game machine having a case body and an acceleration sensor for detecting the movement of the case body when the player moves while holding the case body by hand, an external device that can be attached to the portable game machine A storage medium, which stores data related to an image displayed on the display unit, causes the display unit to display or hide an image in response to detection of the acceleration sensor, and causes the display unit to display an image. An external storage medium storing a program for performing a moving direction display for guiding a player to move the case body in a direction to be displayed. 2. A display unit for displaying an image of a character or the like appearing in a game, an operation unit operated by a player while watching an image displayed on the display unit, and the operation unit and the display unit are stored. An external storage medium attachable to the portable game machine using a portable game machine having a case body, wherein the player holds the case body by hand when attached to the portable game machine. An acceleration sensor for detecting the movement of the case body when moved; storing data relating to an image displayed on the display unit; displaying or not displaying an image on the display unit according to the detection of the acceleration sensor; Storing a program for displaying a moving direction for guiding a direction in which the player moves the case body to display an image on the display unit. Storage medium. 3. A portable game machine in which a player plays a game by mounting the external storage medium according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a display section for displaying the image, and wherein the player has a finger. A portable game machine comprising: an operation unit that can be operated by a user; and a case housing the operation unit and the display unit.