Pausing video games has been a simple, all of nothing, uneventful affair for decades but it seems Sony is trying to shake things up. The makers of PlayStation have filed a brand-new patent for a “Soft Pause.” The tech described in the patent is looking to change that with what’s being called a “soft pause.” Unlike a traditional pause, this system keeps the game running while reducing the intensity of gameplay for the player.
A method for performing a soft pause of a video game is provided, including: executing a video game by a game machine; receiving a trigger event; responsive to the trigger event, then changing the execution of the video game from a normal mode to a soft pause mode of execution, wherein the soft pause mode is configured to continue the execution of the video game with one or more changes to the execution that reduce an intensity of gameplay for a player of the video game.
The soft pause can be triggered by the player in multiple ways such as pressing a button, receiving a message, or other in-game events. So the soft pause can happen directly or indirectly. Once it is activated, the game continues but it is modified in a number of ways to make it less demanding.
These changes could include slowing down time, lowering the difficulty, boosting player-assist features, or reducing the intensity of game audio. The patent also describes an AI-assisted version of the soft pause that analyzes incoming messages to determine urgency or importance and adjusts gameplay accordingly.
For example, a high priority notification can trigger the soft pause in games and trigger a more significant slowdown or reduction in gameplay challenges, allowing you to deal with the interruption without being overwhelmed by what’s happened in the game.
But how is this actually useful over the traditional pause system?
This approach is especially relevant for multiplayer games, where a full pause might not be feasible. Instead of stopping the game for everyone, only the affected player experiences a “softer” version of the game.
It remains unclear when and if Sony would ever use this technology in the future commercial games… may be on PS6?
