CA2095820C

CA2095820C - Linked video game system and portable game system

Info

Publication number: CA2095820C
Application number: CA002095820A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Robert Macandrew Best
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1990-11-14
Filing date: 1991-10-07
Publication date: 2004-04-13
Anticipated expiration: 2011-10-07
Also published as: EP0557444A1; AU9088191A; WO1992008531A1; AU652209B2; US5358259A; JP2784409B2; JPH04266781A; CA2095820A1

Abstract

This invention is a combined system (Fig. 9) and methods for the system which comprise a video game system (42) that generates animated picture sequences (21, 25, 28) for display on a player's video display (11) and also transmits related digital data to a portable game system (46) by way of a data transmission link (45) that causes display of game images on an LCD device (13) in the portable game system (46). A human player (10) responds to visual images on the video display (11) and the LCD (13) by manipulating push buttons (14) and other control members on the portable game system (46) or other controller.

Description

W~ 92/08531 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ PCT/U591/07266 TALKING VIDEO GAI~;S
Technical Field This invention relates to video games, animated cartoons, and picture/sound synchronization.
Hackaround Art We are all born with a desire to talk and to be talked to. Listening to other people talk and thereby sharing their emotional experiences is also a desire we are born with and this desire has been partly satisfied by motion picture film and television in which voice sounds are now essential. Until recently, voice sounds were seldom used in video games or were used in an optional manner. People have a desire to participate in voice conversations with other people, but this desire is not satisfied by current video games.
Adding voice sounds to conventional video games is not enough to simulate a face to face voice conversation.
A talking video game called Thayer's Quest was attempted in 1984 and was played from an analog laser-readable video disc. One of the reasons for the commercial failure of Thayer's Quest was that each spoken sentence was programmed to accompany only one sequence of video frames.
Since the video was not compressed, the maximum amount of play time was limited to about half an hour which was further reduced to a fraction of that by the branching ,story. Hence, only a few minutes of voice sounds were actually heard during the game. Whenever a human player saw a certain video character, the character usually spoke the same words. This greatly reduced the entertainment value of the game. Another consequence of programming the audio and video to be inseparable, was that branching scenes were not distinguished from branching dialog.
Talking video games will be much more entertaining if each scene has a rich variety of possible dialog sequences.

' W0 92/08531 . PCT/US91/07266 Talking video games are disclosed in my U.S. Patents Nos. 4,305,131; 4,333,152; 4,445,187 and 4,569,026. These patents show only one talking animated character and one human player, although multiple characters and players were suggested in the texts. These patents also show push-button controllers that display alternative words to say to animated characters.
It is common practice in the video game art f or stories to branch. It is also common practice for digital data of animated characters to be stored separately frost background scenery and to generate each frame of an animated picture from both the background data and the character data to minimize the number of stored images.
It is well known for human players to input choices using any of a variety of input devices such as push buttons, rotatable knobs, pressure sensitive membrane, proximity sensitive pads or screen overlay, light pen, light sensitive gun, joy stick, mouse, track ball, moving a cursor or crosshairs or scrolling through highlighted options, speech recognition, etc.
In the prior art, each choice by the human can be immediately followed by a synthesized voice or digitized voice recording that speaks the words selected by the human player, so the human will quickly adjust to the fact that the spoken words he hears for his side of the dialog are initiated by his fingers rather than his vocal cords.
The prior art also includes methods for generative video images of moving lips and facial expressions on a talking head or other animated character. See for example, U.S. Patent No. 4,884,972 issued December 5, 1989 to Elon Gasper who contemplates use in video games.
_Summarv of Invention This invention provides a video game system that generates animated pictures for display on a video screen and also generates a display on an LCD in a - 2a -portable game system which can also be operated as an independent game system.
This invention comprises a video game system that generates picture sequences of a player-controlled character in a simulated game world for display on a player' s video display and also transmits related digital data to the portable game system by way of a data transmission link that causes display of game images on an LCD device in the portable game system.
The human player responds to visual images on both the video display and the LCD by manipulating push buttons and other control members which send control data to the video game system to control game processing. The portable game system may also be operated independently of the data link.
Drawing Figures FIG. 1 illustrates an animated cartoon talking game with two human players who take turns selecting words to say to one or two animated characters on a TV screen who then respond to the words .

W' X2/08531 2 ~ ~ ~ $.'~ ~ PCT/US91/07266 -3- '.
FIG. 2 illustrates an animated talking game with one human player and two animated cartoon chasacters.on a TV
screen who talk to the human and to each other.
FIG. 3 is an animated cartoon illustrating a kissing scene in.which one character's unspoken thoughts are sounded.
FIG. 4 is an animated cartoon illustrating a ledge-hanging scene in whieh a talking cartoon character requires immediate action by the human player.
FIG. 5 is an animated sequence illustrating branching dialog in which two cartoon characters respond to sentences selected by a human player by talking to the human player and to each other. --.--.... _....
FIG. 6 is an animated sequence illustrating branching dialog in which one animated character responds to a sentence selected by a human player and refers to a second character (not shown .
FIG. 7 is an animated sequence showing hands simulating the hands of a human player performing an action.
FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating scene branching and dialog branching within each scene.
FIG. 9 is a pictorial view of a video game system having a CD-ROM disc drive connected to a television or video monitor with auxilary devices for displaying prompting words.
pescription of Preferred Embodiments Characters in role-playing video games are of two kinds: player-controlled characters and non-player characters. A player-controlled character is a human player's animated counterpart and does what the human player chooses to have him do. Non-player characters are not directly controlled by a human player, but can be indirectly influenced by a human player, either by responding to an action selected by the human player or by responding to what a player-controlled character does or says. Non-player characters should be programmed to say many different alternative things depending on what a player or player-controlled character has just "said". A
scene may repeat several times with a non-player character saying something different each time and the alternative responses for each human player being different each time a scene is repeated.
Hand-held controllers are preferable to displaying menus on the video screen, because in two-person games the menu displayed to one player may be different from the other player's menu. Part of the fun comes from a player not knowing what, choices the other player has. Also, video screen menus disrupt the illusion that a player is talking with a real video character: Hence, the preferred embodiment of my invention makes use of hand-held menu display controllers with a push-button or equivalent for each menu item. The invention also makes use of echo voices that repeat the selected words so that other human players will know what is being said. ' Referring to FIG. 1, in a typical embodiment of this invention a video game system displays on a video screen 11 an~animated picture sequence to two human game players.
Human players 10 and 12 take turns selecting a phrase or sentence to "say" to a character or characters on a video screen who then talk back responsively. In this example it is player 10's turn. Player 12's hand-held controller is blank, indicating that she cannot say anything to a character at this moment. The video screen shows two animated characters traveling in a boat or other vehicle.
The characters are non-player characters that talk directly to human players in this example. Each human player holds a hand-held controller with three push buttons next to a liquid-crystal display 13, shown enlarged in FIG. 1 for clarity.
As the boat scene begins, the video game system displays two or three or more alternative responses on display 13 or other display device. While player 10 is deciding which button to press, a linking picture sequence 92!08531 ~ J ' 2 PCT/US91/07266 -S-(not shown) continues to show the same boat scene with one character looking back from the boat as if looking at player 10 standing on the dock. Player 10 selects one of the displayed responses (in this example "WHERE ARE.YOU
GOING?").which is then echoed as voice sounds or is displayed as sub-titles on the video screen so that player 12 will know what player 10 has just said to an animated character. This character 18 answers responsively with voice sounds: "TO THE ISLAND." after which a second character 17 responds with "WE'LL HE THERE AN HOUR." in response to what. character l8 just said.
In the preferred embodiment, the game system generates a voice to echo the words selected by player 10. ---...--.--.-so that player 12 hears what player 10 has "said" to the animated character. When it is player 12's turn, player 12's hand-held controller will then display alternative words (not shown in FIG. 1) that she can "say" in response to what animated character 17 or 18 has said. Thus a three-way or four-way dialog can be simulated.
Before each game begins, display 13 may show identifying information for each player-controlled character so that each human player may select which character he or she wants to play. Alternatively, each player-controlled character may be shown on video screen 11 and the question asked "Who wants to play this character?" for each character shown. The game system then records which hand-held controller responds to the question, so later that character's words will be shown on display 13 only for the player who is playing that character (in this example player 10). A human player may also choose to play a player- controlled character that need not always be shown on the video screen, but who may be off-screen (for example, standing on the dock in FIG.
1), and can carry on a dialog with on-screen characters.
Referring to FIG. 2, in another embodiment of the invention, a video game system displays on a video screen 11 an animated picture sequence having two or more WO 92/0$531 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ O -6- PGT/US91/07266 animated talking characters 17 and 18. In this example, character 1? is a player-controlled character that human player 12 controls. Player 12 plays the role of character 17 and can talk to character 18 and other characters in the game through character 17. Player 12 holds a hand-held controller with three.push buttons next to a liquid-crystal display 13, shown enlarged in FIG. 2 for clarity. The game system displays three alternative responses on display 13. Player 12 selects one of the displayed responses (in this example "RISS 1~ AGAIN") with push button 14. The echo voice sounds 15 for character 17 then repeat the words selected from display 13. The Words - axe directed at character 18 whose voice--sounds 16 then respond to character 17.
The two animated characters may respond in reverse sequence, that is, the non-player character 18 may say his line first eo that the player-controlled character 17 can respond as ordered by human'player 12. For example, after player 12 selects "RISS ME AGAIN", character 18 may say "WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO?" a prerequisite sentence that is not one of the displayed alternatives, then character 17 can respond with "RISS I~ AGAIN" which is responsive to what character 18 has just said.
Echo voices or sub-titles may also be used to express unspoken thoughts or the thoughts of non-speaking beings such as babies or animals or inanimate objects. Cloud balloon 19 in FIG. 2 represents an unspoken thought of character 18 which is sounded (with mouth.not moving) in response to spoken sentence 15 of character 17. Voice sounds for unspoken thoughts may be electronically altered to indicate to players that a voice is not a normal spoken voice. For example, unspoken thoughts can be given a hollow or tremulous sound or a whispering sound by electronically or digitally editing voice sound data before converting to audio.
Referring to FIG. 3, when characters 17 and 18 perform a competitive or cooperative activity such as W' X2/08531 kissing, one of the characters may speak (with moving mouth) or think unspoken thoughts (sounded with unmoving mouth) as in cloud balloon 29, responsive to the action being shown or to what was said or done in the prior sequence shown in FIG. 2 or in response to a phrase selected from display 13.
Referring to FIG. 4, in another embodiment of this invention, a video game system generates an animated picture sequence showing a character hanging by his fingers from a ledge on the outside of a building. His friends on the roof have thrown him a rope which is not long enough to reach the FIG. 4 character. This ledge-hanging situation is followed by the next scene shown in FIG. 5.
Referring to FIG. 5, picture sequences 21, 25, and 28 are parts of one roof scene in which two talking characters discuss how to rescue the character in FIG. 4.
One or two human players participate in the conversation by "saying" words or phrases or sentences to the animated characters who then answer responsively and ask questions or make remarks that lead to the next input by a player.
The alternatives shown on display 22 are suggested solutions to the problem posed in sentence 20. When the human player 10 presses button 14 next to "CALL
E1~RGENCY", one of the characters responds by asking question 23 to the other character who responds with question 24 directed at the human player. Question 24 is also accompanied by alternative actions 26. When a player presses the button next to "SLIDE DOWN THE ROPE", a character comments on this choice of action with sentence 27 in sequence 28. Thus a simulated verbal dialog can continue through several exchanges of words within the same scene.
Referring to FIG. 6, in another embodiment of this invention a video game system generates animated picture sequence 31 and 32. The picture sequence has one scene showing a burning car in the background and a frightened t3 t~ °a_ woman 17 in the foreground. During part 31 of the sequence the woman's voice 15 says "PLEASE HELP ME1 MY
MOTHER IS TRAPPED IN THE CART" The game then displays two or more alternative responses. Human player 10 selects one of the displayed responses (such as "PRY THE DOOR
OPEN") and presses the corresponding push button 14 or equivalent. While the player is deciding which button to press, a linking picture sequence (not shown) continues to show the same scene with the woman looking anxiously at the player. When the player selects a response, part 32' of the animated sequence continues showing the same burning car scene with the woman's voice 16 answering responsively: "I TRIED TO, BUT I CAN'T GET IT OPEN"-----Selecting a response by pushing a button 14 can result in a change to a different scene, but in this FIG.
6 example the scene remains the same and only the dialog changes. Each of the three alternative responses on display 13 will result in a different answer by~animated character 17. The animated sequences 31 and 32 are generated by the video game system by overlaying three moving pictures: (1) the background sequence showing the burning car with flames continually flickering, (2,) a sprite or mosaic of sprites showing the woman character 17 moving in a natural manner against the background~and (3) mouth and other facial sprites selected (by table lookup) by the game system approximately lip-synchronized with voice sounds 15 and 16.
Since the player's response time is variable, sequence 31 or 32 with a closed mouth sprite should cycle continually until a button 14 is pressed or until a time limit is reached, at which time a prompting picture sequence with words such as "Hurryl Hurryl" may be sounded and displayed with moving mouth sprites. The burning car can be any object such as a damaged bus, airplane, boat, or building that provides a danger situation.
Referring to FIG. 7, the game system displays on the video screen an animated sequence showing one or more W 92/08531 2 ~ 9 ~ ~ ~ ~ PCT/US91/07266 _9_ hands 36 simulating the hands of a human player performing an action. In this example, animated sequence 33 shows a hand holding pipe 35 or a fire extinguisher or ather such tool while the human player whose real hand 10 is illustrated pressing button 14 next to display 13 selects one of the alternative actions shown on display 13. Note that display 13 in FIG. 7 shows alternative actions which would result in scene changes, but display 13 in FIG. 6 shows alternative words or phrases to say to animated character 17 in a common scene. In FIG. 7, pressing button 14 to select "PRY THE DOOR OPEN" results in picture sequence 34 showing hands 36 prying open the car door with _.._ ... pipe 35. _._._ _ _ The flowchart shown in FIG. 8 illustrates the distinction between branching dialog and branching scenes.
For example, in scene 64 branch point 60 is displayed to the player showing two alternative verbal responses 61 or 62. Either verbal response results in a different answer from an animated character, but not a scene change.
However, the alternatives at branch point 63 will result in a scene change, either to scene 65 or to scene 66.
Branch point 62 may result in either a scene change to scene 67 or a dialog branch depending on a player's choice.
To allow each background scene to be used with different animated characters who can move around against the background scene, the digital animation data for the background scene should be stored separately from the digital animation data for each character. Similarly, to allow each character to say many different sentences without a scene change, the digitized voice data should be independent of the animation data. In the preferred embodiment, animated character video, voice sound sequences and guidance word sequences are generated independently from separately stared digital data. Dialog data that is not used in one scene may be used later in a different scene with the same or different characters.

. - CA 02095820 2002-04-03 WO 92/08531 ' PCTlUS91/07266 _ -1~- , The voice data may consist of sequences of codes or compressed digital recordings of words', phrases, word segments or phonemes in several distinctive voices so that each character can speak thousands of preprog~raauned -:words or sentences. Similarly, the digital data for each animated character's body may be stored separately from sprite data for moving lips, facial expressions, and gestures, so that each character and its distinctive voice can be lip-synchronized with different mouth movements depending on the dialog: The digital data far each anim~ted,character may also combine body images, lips , facial expressions,.h~nd,gestures and voice sounds.
Referring to FIG. 9, video game system 42 is connected by cable 41 to a television 11 or video monitor ~5 and by cable 45 to one or more hand-held control units 44 and.47 or portable game system 46, each having three push buttons 14 next to a liquid-crystal display 13. Infra-red or radio signals may be used instead of cables. System 42 includes a disk reader that reads digital data from a CD-ROM disk 43, or write-once disk or card-or other medium containing digital data from which system 42 generates animated picture sequences, compressed audio :for voice and other sounds, synchronizing data, and words to display on units 44, 46 and 47. Portable game system 46 with appropriate ROM program cartridge 30 may substitute for units 44 and 47. Cable 45 connects game system 42-to controllers 44, 46 or 47 and transmits alternative guidance words or other verbal expressions for display on displays 13. Cable 45 also transmits push-button 14 responses to game system 42.
If portable game system 46 has only one or two available push-buttons, selection from among responses shown on display l3 may be done as shown in F'IG. 7 by pressing push-button 14 multiple tiaras to position a pointer 49, cursor, or other such.indicatoz next to (or on) a selected sentence.

W' X2/08531 ~ ~ ~ J ~ ~ ~ PCf/US91/07266 When a human player presses a button 14 (FIG. 2, 5, 6, or 7), the game system may generate a voice sound speaking the selected sentence as a substitute for the player's side of the dialog. The animated character, then "responds" as if the generated voice sounds had been , spoken by the human player. Because the player selects the words which are actually sounded, he will quickly adjust to the fact that the spoken words he hears for his side of the dialog are initiated by his fingers rather than his vocal cords. This echo voice is important for games with multiple human players so that each player will hear what each of the other players has "said" to -w---w-on-screen characters. Pushing a button-14 selects both a _ simulated verbal response to the previous words spoken by an animated character and also selects a new dialog sequence that corresponds to the simulated verbal response shown on display 13. The selected dialog sequence includes the face and voice of the animated character speaking words which are responsive to the player's selected verbal response.
Alternatively, sub-titles such as illustrated on video screen 11 in FIG. 1 may be used instead of echo voices and be displayed on a video screen or on a hand-held controller as a substitute for the player's side of the dialog. Digitized live action picture sequences are equivalent to animated cartoon picture sequences for this invention. The term "verbal expression" means any word, words, phrase, sentence, question, expletive, curse, keyword, combination of keywords, symbol, or any meaningful human voice sound such as "huh?" or "hmmm" or laughter or scream. The word kissing is used herein to mean simulated touching of one animated character's mouth to another animated character's mouth or other body part.
No video game yet satisfies the basic human desire for people to speak and respond to us as individuals.
Although the telephone provides a partial satisfaction of ;
our desire to talk with other people, it is necessarily WO 92/08531 ~.t,~, -limited to living people who are willing to talk with us.
Historical and imaginary people cannot talk with us and famous living people do not'want to. Hence, there is is a strong but unfulfilled human desire waiting to be .
satisfied by new technology. Talking animated characters will change the nature of video games as dramatically as talking pictures changed silent film. Talking video games will let human players talk with images of famous people (living or historical or imaginary) and with animal-like characters, and participate in simulated adventures and dramas and conversations with interesting characters and groups of characters who will talk to each player responsively . -Talking video games that stir-human emotions like dramatic films will have lasting appeal, because they will satisfy a basic human desire, the desire to talk with other people.
Although I have described the preferred embodiments of my invention with a degree of particularity,' it is understood that the present disclosure has been made only 2Q by way of example and that equivalent steps and components may be substituted and design details changed without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. In an electronic game system, a method of using an independently operable portable a game system as a manually operated display controller that controls a video game apparatus, said portable game system having a discrete display device and a plurality of manually operable control members; the method comprising the steps of:
(a) generating a picture signal in said video game apparatus from portions of digital data representing at least one player-controlled object moving in a simulated game world for display on a picture display device;
(b) electronically transferring portions of said digital data from said video game apparatus to said portable game system through a data transmission link;
(c) displaying game images on said discrete display device in said portable game system in accordance with said transferred portions of digital data;
(d) generating control data in said portable game system caused by manual operation of at least one of said control members in said portable game system; and (e) electronically transferring said control data from said portable game system to said video game apparatus to control which portions of said digital data are used by said video game apparatus.

2. Method according to claim 1, wherein said control data controls which moving picture sequence is generated for display on said picture display device.

3. Method according to claim 1, wherein at least one of said transferring steps transfers portions of said digital data through a data transmission link that is partly wireless.

4. Method according to claim 1, wherein said images comprise at least one of words, verbal expressions, symbols, numbers, lines, and/or pictures of objects.

5. Method according to claim 4, wherein said objects comprise at least one of a geometric figure, pointer, arrow, cursor, indicator, and/or other objects.

6. Method according to claim 1, wherein said picture display device is part of a television apparatus that receives said picture signal from said video game apparatus.

7. Method according to claim 1, wherein said discrete display device is a liquid crystal display (LCD) device.

8. Method according to claim 1, wherein at least one of said control members enters words, symbols, numbers, and/or other verbal expressions as control data.

9. Method according to claim 1, wherein said digital data is stored in a disk shaped computer readable data storage device in read-only form.

10. Method according to claim 1, wherein said control data represents a manual selection of an action of said player-controlled object displayed on said discrete display device.

11. Method according to claim 1, further comprising a second portable game system, wherein said control data is initiated by manual operation of a control member in the second portable game system for transmission to said video game apparatus to cause transmission of portions of said digital data from raid video game apparatus to one of said portable game systems.

12. Method according to claim 1, wherein control data from a plurality of portable game systems is transferred to said video game apparatus.

13. Method according to claim 1, further comprising a step of transferring a plurality of portions of said digital data from said video game apparatus to a corresponding plurality of portable game systems.

14. Method according to claim 13, wherein at least two of said portable game systems are operated competitively by respective players and wherein a portion of said transferred digital data is displayed on one portable game system and wherein a different portion of said transferred digital data is displayed on another portable game system, thereby mutually depriving each player of information displayed for a competing player.

15. Method according to claim 13, wherein at least two of said portable game systems are operated cooperatively by respective players and wherein a portion of said transferred digital data is displayed on one portable game system and wherein a different portion of said transferred digital data is displayed on another portable game system, thereby providing each player with different information for mutual player cooperation.

16. An electronic game system comprising:
(a) a video game apparatus operable to generate a picture signal from portions of computer readable game data representing moving pictures of at least one player-controlled object moving in a simulated game world for display on a picture screen;
(b) an independently operable portable game system having a discrete display device and a plurality of manipulatable control member;
(c) an electronic data transmission link that transfers digital data from said video game apparatus to said portable game system to cause generation of images for display on said discrete display device; and (d) at least one of said manipulatable control members operable to generate control data in said portable game system for transmission to said video game apparatus to control which portions of said digital data are used by said video game apparatus.

17. The game system of claim 16, wherein said discrete display device displays at least one of words, verbal expressions, symbols, numbers, lines, and/or pictures of objects.

18. The game system of claim 17, wherein said objects comprise at least one of a geometric figure, pointer, arrow, cursor, indicator, and/or other objects.

19. The game system of claim 16, further comprising a computer readable program storage device that is manually replaceable for use with said portable game system.

20. The game system of claim 16, wherein said control data changes movement of said player-controlled object in said simulated game world.

21. The game system of claim 16, further comprising a disk reader in said video game apparatus for electronically reading portions of digital data from an information storage disk from which said video game apparatus generates animated picture sequences.

22. The game system of claim 16, wherein said digital data is stored on an information storage disc in read-only form.

23. The game system of claim 16, wherein said data transmission link is partly wireless.

24. The game system of claim 16, wherein said picture screen is part of a television apparatus that receives said picture signal from said video game apparatus.

25. The game system of claim 16, wherein said control members comprise push-button switches and a direction switch.

26. The game system of claim 16, wherein said discrete display device is a liquid crystal display (LCD) device.

27. The game system of claim 16, wherein at least one of said control members enters at least one of words, symbols, numbers, and/or other verbal expressions as game data.

28. The game system of claim 16, wherein said video game apparatus comprises a plurality of connectors that disconnectably connect to a plurality of portable game systems through a corresponding plurality of data transmission links, and wherein said plurality of data transmission links transfer digital game data from said video game apparatus to said corresponding plurality of portable game systems.

29. In an electronic games system, a method of using an independently operable portable game system that is digitally linked to a video game apparatus that generates a picture signal representing at least one player-controlled object moving in a simulated game world for display on a picture screen, said portable game system having a discrete display device and a plurality of manually operable control members; the method comprising the steps of:
(a) reading digital data into said video game apparatus;
(b) electronically transferring portions of said digital data from said video game apparatus too said portable game system through a data transmission link;
(c) generating images on raid discrete display device in said portable game system in accordance with said transferred portions of digital data;
(d) generating control data in said portable game system caused by manual operation of at least one of said control members in said portable game system; and (e) generating images on said discrete display device in said portable game system in accordance with said control data.

30. Method according to claim 29, wherein said transferring step transfers portions of digital data through a data transmission link that is partly wireless.

31. Method according to claim 29, further comprising the step of electronically transferring said control data through said data transmission link to said video game apparatus to control movement of said player-controlled object.

32. Method according to claim 29, wherein said images comprise at least one of words, verbal expressions, symbols, numbers, lines, and/or pictures of objects.

33. Method according to claim 32, wherein said objects comprise at least one of a geometric figure, pointer, arrow, cursor, indicator, and/or other objects.

34. An electronic game system comprising:
(a) a video game apparatus generating a picture signal from portions of digital data for display as pictures of a player-controlled object moving in a simulated game world on a picture screen;
(b) an independently operable portable game system manually operated as a display controller having a discrete display device and a plurality of manipulatable control members generating control data; and (c) an electronic data transmission link that transfers digital data from said video game apparatus to said portable game system to cause display of images on said discrete display device in accordance with said transferred digital data.

35. The game system according to claim 34, wherein said control data is transferred to said video game apparatus through an electronic data transmission link.

36. The game system according to claim 34, wherein said data transmission link is partly wireless.

37. The game system according to claim 34, further comprising a disk reader in said video game apparatus for electronically reading portions of said digital data from an information storage disk into said video game apparatus.

38. The game system according to claim 34, wherein said digital data is stored on a manually changeable computer readable data storage disk in read-only form.

39. The game system according to claim 34, further comprising a manually changeable program storage device storing a computer readable game program for use in said portable game system.

40. The game system according to claim 34, wherein said images comprise at least one of words, verbal expressions, symbols, numbers, lines and/or pictures of objects.

41. The game system according to claim 40, wherein said objects comprise at least one of a geometric figure, pointer, arrow, cursor, indicator and/or other objects.

42. The game system according to claim 34, wherein said picture screen is part of a television apparatus that receives said picture signal from said video game apparatus.

43. The game system according to claim 34, wherein said discrete display device is a liquid crystal display (LCD) device.

44. The game system according to claim 34, wherein at least one of said control members enters at least one of words, symbols, numbers, and/or other verbal expressions as control data.

45. The game system according to claim 34, wherein said video game apparatus includes a plurality of connectors that disconnectably connect to a plurality of portable game systems through a corresponding plurality of data transmission links, and wherein said plurality of data transmission links transfer digital game data from said video game apparatus to said corresponding plurality of portable game systems.

46. In an electronic game system, a method of using an independently operable portable game system as a manually operated display controller that controls a video game apparatus, said portable game system having a discrete display device, and a plurality of manually operable control members; the method comprising the steps of:
(a) electronically reading digital data from a data storage disk into said video game apparatus;
(b) generating a picture signal from a portion of said digital data in said video game apparatus representing at least one player-controlled object moving in a simulated game world for display on a picture display device;
(c) electronically transferring portions of said digital data from said video game apparatus to said portable game system;
(d) displaying game images on said discrete display device in said portable game system in accordance with said transferred portions of digital data;
(e) generating control data in said portable game system caused by manual operation of at least one of said control members in said portable game system; and (f) electronically transferring said control data from said portable game system to said video game apparatus to control which portions of said digital data are used by said video game apparatus.

47. The method of claim 46, wherein said player-controlled character is displayed on said picture display device that is part of a television apparatus.

48. The method of claim 46, wherein said displayed images comprise animated picture sequences of said player-controlled character.

49. The method of claim 46, wherein said digital data is stored on said data storage disk in computer readable read-only form.

50. The method of claim 46, further comprising a manually changeable program storage device storing a computer readable game program for use in said portable game system.

51. The method of claim 46, wherein at least one of said control members enters words, symbols, numbers, and/or other verbal expressions as control data .

52. The method of claim 46, wherein said discrete display device is a liquid crystal display (LCD) device.

53. The method of claim 46t, wherein said discrete display device displays guidance words for guiding the human player in operation of the video game.

54. The method of claim 46, wherein said images comprise at least one of words, verbal expressions, symbols, numbers, lines, and/or pictures of objects.

55. The method of claim 54, wherein said objects comprise at least one of a geometric figure, pointer, arrow, cursor, indicator, and/or other objects.

56. A manually replaceable program storage device for storing a computer readable game program for use in a portable game system that is manually operated to control a separate video game apparatus than reads digital data from an optical disk and generates therefrom a picture signal representing a player-controlled object moving in a simulated game world for display on a picture screen, the portable game system having a discrete display device for displaying images in accordance with said game program and in accordance with digital data transferred from said video game apparatus to said portable game system.

57. The program storage device of claim 56, wherein said game program is stored in a data storage medium in a cartridge.

58. The program storage device of claim 57, wherein said data storage medium is a read-only memory (ROM) .

59. The program storage device of claim 56, wherein said images displayed on said discrete display device represent at least one of words, verbal expressions, symbols, numbers, lines, and/or pictures of objects.

60. The program storage device of claim 59, wherein said objects comprise at least one of a geometric figure, pointer, arrow, cursor, indicator, and/or other objects.

61. A program memory cartridge containing a data storage medium storing a computer readable game program for use in an independently operable portable game system that receives portions of digital game data transferred through a data transmission link from a video game apparatus that reads said digital game data from a data stoppage disk; said portable game system having a discrete display device, manually operated control members, and means for connecting to said program memory cartridge that is manually removable from said portable game system, the portable game system generating images on said discrete display device in accordance with said game program stored in said program memory cartridge and in accordance with said game data transferred from said video game apparatus to said portable game system.

62. The memory cartridge of claim 61, wherein said images generated on said discrete display device represent at least one of words, verbal expressions, symbols, numbers, lines, and/or pictures of objects .

63. The memory cartridge of claim 62, wherein said objects comprise at least one of a geometric figure, pointer, arrow, cursor, indicator, and/or other objects.

64. The memory cartridge of claim 61, wherein said game program is stored in read-only form.

65. A disk-shaped data storage device containing computer readable digital game data for use in a video game apparatus having a disk reader that reads said digital game data from said disk-shaped device; said disk-shaped device storing digital game data comprising;
(a) data from which said video game apparatus generates a picture signal representing at least one player-controlled object moving in a simulated game world for display on a picture screen;
(b) data that said video game apparatus transfers to a portable game system to cause display of images on a discrete display device in said portable game system; and (c) data that said video game apparatus transfers to said portable game system to determine which data in said portable game system are transferred to said video game apparatus.

66. The disk-shaped device of claim 65, wherein said images generated for display on said discrete display device represents at least one of words, verbal expressions, symbols, numbers, lines, and/or pictures of objects.

67. The disk-shaped device of claim 66, wherein said objects comprise at least one of a geometric figure, pointer, arrow, cursor, indicator, and/or other objects.

68. The disk-shaped device of claim 65, wherein said digital game data is stored in read-only form on said disk-shaped device.

69. The disk-shaped device of claim 65, wherein said player-controlled object is an a human-like figure with animated body parts.

70. The disk-shaped device of claim 65, wherein said player-controlled object is an inanimate object.

71. In an electronic game system, a method of using an independently operable portable game system as an auxiliary display for a video game apparatus, said portable game system having a discrete display device and a plurality of manually operable control members; the method comprising the steps of:
(a) generating a picture signal from portions of digital data in said video game apparatus for display as moving pictures of at least one player-controlled object on a picture display device;
(b) electronically transferring portions of said digital data from said video game apparatus to said portable game system through a data transmission link; and (c) displaying game system on said discrete display device in the portable game system in accordance with said transferred portions of digital data.

72. The game system of claim 71, further comprising the step of generating control data in said portable game system in response to manipulation of one of said control members to control movement of at least one player-controlled object displayed in said images on said discrete display device.

73. The game system of claim 71, further comprising the step of selecting from among a plurality of alternatives in response to manipulation of one of said control members .

74. An electronic game system comprising:
(a) a video game apparatus operable to generate a picture signal from portions of digital data representing moving pictures of a first player-controlled object moving in a simulated game world for display on a picture screen;
(b) an independently operable portable game system having a discrete display device and a plurality of manipulatable control members;
(c) an electronic data transmission link that transfers digital data from said video game apparatus to said portable game system so as to cause generation of images for display on said discrete display device;
(d) at least one of said manipulatable control members operable to generate control data in said portable game system to control movement of at least one second player-controlled object displayed on said discrete display device; and (e) at least one of said manipulatable control members operable to generate control data in said portable game system for transmission to said video game apparatus to control which portions of said game data are used by said video game apparatus.

75. The game system of claim 74, wherein said data transmission link is partly wireless.

76. The game system of claim 74, wherein said discrete display device is a liquid crystal display (LCD) device.

77. The game system of claim 74, wherein said second player-controlled object is a picture of a geometric figure, pointer, arrow, cursor, indicator, and/or other object.

78. The game system of claim 74, wherein said controlled movement of said second player-controlled object indicates one alternative from among selectable alternatives.

79. The game system of claim 74, wherein said picture screen is part of a television apparatus that receives said picture signal from said video game apparatus.

80. The game system of claim 74 , wherein at least one of said control members enters at least one of words, symbols, numbers, and/or other verbal expressions as control data.

81. The game system of claim 74, wherein said discrete display device displays guidance words for guiding the human player in operation of the video game .

82. The game system of claim 74, wherein said transmitted control data controls movement of said first player-controlled object in said simulated game world.