Sony has patented a new universal controller button that could change the way players interact with games on the company’s PlayStation consoles. The new “gameplay rewind” button could allow players to revisit certain parts of the game that have already been completed and view those sections, then return to live gameplay. Players might also be able to generate “favorites” while playing games, and the so-called rewind button would allow them to repeatedly access favorite parts of their games.
Sony patents “Gameplay Rewind” button for controllers
A patent document (via Tech4Gamers) titled “Gameplay Rewind with User Triggered Buttons” describes a dedicated button on the controller that will allow users to generate a bookmark of the game they are playing. The device will remember these user-generated bookmarks, and the game played by the user should also be able to generate them automatically.
Figure 4A shows the rewind button and Figure 4B shows the rewind interface.
Photo credit: WIPO/Sony
Sony explains how such a feature could be useful to gamers. The company says a rewind button could allow users to “rewatch” recently played parts of the game, in case they missed instructions provided by a non-playable character (NPC).
For example, you could play Life is Strange: True Colors, where you go around a bar and talk to customers, report back to the bartender, and repeat what two people ordered. If you paid attention when customers spoke to you, you would be able to give the exact order, or you might get it wrong. Although there is no penalty for wrong answer in this game, the rewind button could have helped you in such a scenario.
Accessing previous gameplay moments can be a challenge, and Sony says it would involve hacking an existing service to access a particular part of the game. The company adds that even if a player managed to save certain parts of the game, they would need to stop playing to access the content.
According to the company, players will be able to press the universal button during live gameplay, and the console will display a new interface offering playback-style controls, including a “rewind” option. Selecting the rewind option will show users a “subset of frames captured from gameplay,” according to the company.
These captured frames can be manually (or automatically) bookmarked and stored during gameplay. They will be displayed in order – in reverse order – when the player enters rewind mode, as per details shared in the patent document .
As a result, players will be able to interact with past moments of the game. For example, they can replay a particular section if they do not remember the instructions provided by an NPC, or if they missed certain information displayed by the game during passing through an important area.
Sony’s patent document also suggests that users will be able to “interact” with gameplay moments in rewind mode, but there is no information on how this would work. It should be noted that the existence of a patent does not necessarily mean that Sony will include support for such a feature on its controllers in the future.
