The Patent on Loading Screen Mini-Games is No More

Back in 1995 when Namco released the first Ridge Racer on the original PlayStation it included a full copy of Galaxian on the loading screen. It was an awesome little touch to a game that was plagued by the loading screens of the early 3D graphics era. In fact, it was such a great idea that Namco decided to patent it! They have sat on the patent for two decades now, and we've had to suffer through two decades of loading screens. How many hours have you spent spinning around models of weapons in Fallout 4 waiting for your game to load up, or when fast traveling? Imagine if during that time you could be playing Holotape games on your Pip Boy! Well now that the Namco no longer holds a monopoly on loading screen fun, we will most likely start to see more and more games distract us from how long it takes to enter their immersive worlds. One more step towards packing it all in for the real world and just jacking into the virtual one.