Got the story here VG247

Nintendo has filed a patent application in the US that could see you being assisted through tougher parts of levels by characters in the game.

Shigeru Miyamoto is behind the idea and its main purpose will be to save us all time bothering to become any good at a game, and simply show us where the secret door is instead of you know, actually bothering to work it out for ourselves.

“In some of these games, a volume of the story or the scenario is too large, and therefore a lot of time is needed for clearing the game,” reads the patent application.

“Further, in some cases, various puzzles are set in the scenario… However, there is a problem that these puzzles and the like are too difficult, and therefore the game may be stuck halfway, and the game may not be cleared to the end.”

“As means for solving the problem, disclosed is a game control method for lowering the difficulty level of a game by presenting, while the game is being played, a hint for allowing the game to be continued.”

By Mike Bowden

I wouldnt really fancy that too much myself.

Kinda takes the challenge out of it.

this patent was posted on here a week ago or so and thought to be for Zelda.

It had pics and all that junk.

I hope its optional, I wouldnt like the computer to beat Zelda or Mario for me. There's no way this isnt optional.

It could help newcomers, but I hope they dont make the game easier for the newbies. They can have all the casual stuff they want, as long as they main core franchises remain as core as ever.

Perhaps, just perhaps.... this means games don't have to be dumbed down, but instead offer optional assistance for those in need of it.

@twroo
Yeah but once its there for you optional or not it would take some of the challenge out of it.

yea its obvious it will be optional. And I think this is a great idea. It might piss off companies like Prima or whoever else does strategy guides.

But if it has an in game strategy guide then they can make things harder cause if you can't figure it out you can always go and turn on the help thing to show you what to do. And be nice to not have Navi yelling "hey" all the time to tell me to go do the main quest when I'm off exploring or doing sidequests

@reask: Like the playthrough videos and guides you find from the internet? Or cheat codes?

If it is optional, it's your own fault for using it if you want the challenge (not that many games are much of a challenge these days)

I have a collection of magazines with all kinds of guides in that I could have used if I wanted, but I didn't. (except for REmake)

This kind of functionality is there for those people who don't complete their games... and believe me there are a good number of them, I think Okami on the Wii must have only been completed by about half of it's owners.

@ bdbdbd
Funny enough I was thinking that a minute ago.
It could be good or bad I suppose in all fairness.
Mind you I hate it now if I have to get a walk through for a game.
Makes me feel the game beat me so I suppose it could work that way for this.

I just have my doubts about it somehow but that is just my thoughts on it.
You would have to wait and see how it would be implemented.

I'd be very surprised if this wasn't optional. Something like that being enforced on the player is too intrusive. I think, if this IS for Zelda, then it's a great way of expanding the appeal of the franchise, without alienating the core. Think about it: The game isn't dumbed down, the difficulty level isn't lowered, and players can play Zelda without this feature. But, for someone who is experiencing Zelda the first time, puzzles or bosses could be intimidating or difficult to the point where they give up on the game. These new players might not use guides or online FAQs, so the built in hint system would be a massive benefit to them, and a great help in encouraging them to finish the game, or even try a second play through without the hint system.

The hint system would bring more 'casual' gamers to a 'core' franchise. That's how I see it.

I've also read the patent, and some other sites' coverage of it. The feature only demonstrates how to solve the puzzles etc-if you use the hint system to see the solution of a puzzle, you have to act this out yourself, none of the progress the CPU shows you is saved. It doesn't allow you to skip sections like the new Alone in the Dark (I think that's the one that allows you to do that?). 

The other interesting thing in this patent is the replay mode, I think that strengthens my theory. Which of course, is a theory, until Miyamoto or Nintendo choose to show us something. Which they might not, this technology might never see the light of the day.

But yeah, I think it's pretty cool-so long as it isn't intrusive, which I don't think it would be, it won't systematically shift the Zelda franchise into something easy or 'casual', but it will broaden it's appeal and accessibility. That, as far as I'm concerned, would be a great thing.