JP2667652B2 - game machine - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a game machine that gives a sense of realism to a player.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a so-called cockpit type game machine in which a player sits on a seat and performs an operation while looking at a screen, a pseudo sound is generated in accordance with the content of the game and a wind pressure is applied to the player. Also, there is known an apparatus that gives a sense of reality by an auditory effect and a bodily sensation effect by vibrating a seat. For example, JP-A-60-1
JP-A-53888 proposes a device in which a speaker device is vibrated at a low frequency in synchronization with generation of a pseudo sound, and a wind pressure generated by the vibration is made to be felt by a player, and a seat is vibrated in synchronization with the speaker device. ing. In addition, actual Kaihei 1-1
Japanese Patent No. 30385 proposes a device in which a bodily sensational vibration having a correlation with the pseudo sound is given to a player via a seat in synchronization with the pseudo sound generated in accordance with the game development.

[0003]

However, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Sho 60-153888 discloses a conventional Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 1-13.
In the game machine described in Japanese Patent No. 0385, a signal for bodily sensation is formed from a signal for sound output by a speaker, and it is difficult to give various bodily sensation vibrations to a player, and the sense of realism is limited. there were.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, and to provide a game machine which gives a player various bodily sensations and has a sense of realism.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a game machine which progresses a game in response to an operation of a player sitting on a seat, and a storage means for storing a plurality of audio signals. A plurality of reading means for selecting and reading voice signals from the voice signals stored in the storage means in accordance with the progress of the game, and reproducing the voice signals read by the plurality of reading means respectively in a predetermined manner. Reproduction signal generation means for generating first and second reproduction signals by reproducing at a magnification, speaker means for outputting audio by the first reproduction signal, and low-frequency signal components from the second reproduction signal An extraction means for extracting, and a vibration means fixed to the seat and vibrated by an extraction signal of the extraction means are provided (claim 1).

In the game machine according to the first aspect,
A magnification setting means for individually setting a reproduction magnification of each audio signal in the first reproduction signal and a reproduction magnification of each audio signal in the second reproduction signal in accordance with the progress of the game. (Claim 2).

Further, the storage means stores an audio signal formed by encoding a natural sound.

Further, the vibration means is fixed to the back side of the seating surface of the seat.

[0009]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a plurality of reading means select and read audio signals from the audio signals stored in the storage means in accordance with the progress of the game. Each is reproduced at a predetermined reproduction magnification to generate first and second reproduction signals. Then, a sound is output from the speaker means by the first reproduction signal. Further, a low-frequency signal component is extracted from the second reproduced signal, and the vibration means is vibrated by the extracted signal, so that the player sitting on the seat feels the vibration.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, a plurality of reading means select and read a sound signal from the sound signals stored in the storage means in accordance with the progress of the game. The signals are respectively reproduced at a predetermined reproduction magnification to generate first and second reproduction signals. At this time, the reproduction magnification of each audio signal in the first reproduction signal and the reproduction magnification of each audio signal in the second reproduction signal are individually set in accordance with the progress of the game. Then, a sound is output from the speaker means by the first reproduction signal. Further, a low-frequency signal component is extracted from the second reproduced signal, and the vibration means is vibrated by the extracted signal, so that the player sitting on the seat feels the vibration.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the natural sound is encoded and formed by the plurality of reading means.
Each audio signal is selected and read from the audio signals stored in the storage means in accordance with the progress of the game, and each audio signal is reproduced at a predetermined reproduction magnification, and the first and second audio signals are reproduced.
Is generated. Then, a sound is output from the speaker means by the first reproduction signal. Further, a low-frequency signal component is extracted from the second reproduced signal, and the vibration means is vibrated by the extracted signal, so that the player sitting on the seat feels a more realistic vibration.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, a plurality of reading means select and read an audio signal from the audio signals stored in the storage means in accordance with the progress of the game. The signals are respectively reproduced at a predetermined reproduction magnification to generate first and second reproduction signals. Then, a sound is output from the speaker means by the first reproduction signal. Further, a low-frequency signal component is extracted from the second reproduced signal, and the vibration means fixed to the back side of the seating surface of the seat is vibrated by the extracted signal, so that the player sitting on the seat can receive the signal from the seating surface. Feel the vibration.

[0013]

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a main part of a seat of a game machine according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a side sectional view of the game machine, and FIG. 4 is an external perspective view of the game machine. This game machine is a so-called cockpit type game machine in which a player sits on a seat 1 and controls a plane or a car, for example, to play a game. Two identical game machines are provided side by side as a pair of game machines. It is configured so that four players can compete with each other together with another pair of game machines.

This game machine has an input unit 2 (see FIG. 1).
The joystick 2 is mounted on a console provided at a height where a player sitting on the seat 1 can easily operate by hand.
The accelerator pedal 22 and the brake pedal 23 are located just above the floor surface and at a position where the player can easily perform the depressing operation with the toes, and the coin insertion slot 24 and the start button 25 are provided at the boundary with the adjacent game machine. , Respectively.

The game machine has an output unit 3 (FIG. 1).
As a reference), a monitor 31 is provided in front of the player near the face of the player sitting on the seat 1, and speakers 32 are provided on both sides of an operation table provided with the joystick 21.

The joystick 21 is mounted on the operation console at 36
It can be tilted in the direction of 0 °, and when it is tilted down by an elastic force such as a spring, it returns to its original upright state. The accelerator pedal 22 and the brake pedal 23 are used when accelerating and decelerating a character such as a car or an airplane appearing in the game, respectively.

The monitor 31 is composed of a CRT or the like, and displays an image created by computer graphics or the like. The speaker 32 is for outputting sound effects such as ground sound and BGM in the game.

When the player inserts a coin into the coin slot 24 and starts the game by pressing the start button 25, the player sees the image displayed on the monitor 31 and plays the sound output from the speaker 32. The user plays the game by operating the joystick 21, the accelerator pedal 22, and the brake pedal 23 while listening.

The seat 1 is composed of a backrest portion 10 and a seating portion 11 and the like, and has an appearance imitating the cockpit of an airplane. The seat 1 is supported by a support member 12. I have. The support member 12 includes a pair of leg portions 121 and a base portion 12 that extends between the two leg portions 121 below the seating portion 11.
2 and the like, and are formed of metal, hard synthetic resin, or the like.

The seat 11 is a bottom plate 11 made of plywood or the like.
1. It is composed of a surface portion 113 made of vinyl leather or the like and a sponge 112 packed between the surface portions 113, so that a player can sit with good cushion. The bottom plate 111 is
It is fixed to the base 122 at a plurality of locations by bolts 131 and nuts 132. Bottom plate 111 and base 122
Between them, the cushion rubber 14 is arranged around the bolt 131. At the center of the lower surface of the bottom plate 111, a vibrator 33 is fixed as the output unit 3 of the game machine.

The base portion 122 has a hole slightly larger than the vibrator 33 at substantially the center, and is configured so as not to contact the vibrator 33.

The vibrator 33 is constituted by a magnetostrictive vibrator formed by winding a magnetic material around a magnetic body and in contact with the bottom plate 111 to apply vibration to the seating portion 11. The magnetostrictive vibrator generates elastic vibrations when the magnetic material expands and contracts at the AC frequency when the magnetic material is magnetized by an alternating current applied to the windings. To be transmitted. Note that the alternating current flowing through the winding is generated by a low-frequency component of an audio signal described later. Further, the seat portion 11 is easily vibrated by the cushion rubber 14.

Since the vibration exciter 33 is arranged on the bottom plate 111 of the seat 11 of the seat 1, the player sitting on the seat 11 can more directly experience the vibration. it can.

As shown in FIG. 5, the seat 1 may be formed by bending the base 122 of the support member 12 downward at the center thereof. In this case, the base 1
It is possible to configure so as not to make contact with the vibrator 33 without making a hole in 22.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a control system of the game machine. The input unit 2, the output unit 3, the audio signal reading unit 4,
It comprises a reproduction signal generation unit 5, an audio output unit 6, a low-pass filter (LPF) 7, a power amplification unit 8, and a control unit 9.

The input unit 2 includes a joystick 21, an accelerator pedal 22, a brake pedal 23, a coin slot 2.
4 and a start button 25, and when the player operates each of them, an operation signal is input to the control unit 9.

The audio signal reading section 4 comprises a storage section 40 and reading sections 41, 42,..., 4n. The storage unit 40 is composed of, for example, a ROM, and various digital sounds obtained by encoding natural sounds such as ground noise, car engine sounds, airplane jet sounds and collision sounds, explosion sounds, and sound for BGM of a game. Is stored.

The reading units 41, 42,...
An A / A converter is provided, which performs D / A conversion on the audio data stored in the storage unit 40 and reads it as an analog audio signal.

The reproduction signal generator 5 has a function of adjusting the levels of the n audio signals read by the readers 41 to 4n, and reproduces the first and second reproduction signals at predetermined reproduction magnifications. The first reproduction signal is output to the audio output unit 6, and the second reproduction signal is output to the LPF 7. The reproduction signal generation unit 5 includes, for example, an n-input 2-output mixer that incorporates an attenuator that attenuates and adjusts a plurality of input audio signal levels to respective arbitrary levels and mixes and outputs the attenuated audio signals. Be composed.

The reproduction magnification of each of the n audio signals in the first reproduction signal and the reproduction magnification of each of the n audio signals in the second reproduction signal are individually set by the control unit 9. . Thereby, for example, as the first reproduction signal, the audio signal of the reading unit 41 is reproduced at 1 time, and the audio signals of the reading units 42 to 4n are reproduced at 0 time, and as the second reproduction signal, When the audio signal of the reading unit 41 is reproduced at 0.3 times, the audio signal of the reading unit 42 is reproduced at 0.7 times, and each of the audio signals of the reading units 43 to 4n is reproduced at 0 time, the reading unit 41 The first reproduced signal is obtained only by the audio signal of the reading unit 41, and the second reproduced signal is obtained by the audio signals of the reading units 41 and 42.

The audio output unit 6 drives the speaker 32 by the first reproduction signal output from the reproduction signal generation unit 5. The LPF 7 extracts only low-frequency signal components from the second reproduced signal output from the reproduced signal generation unit 5. The power amplifying unit 8 amplifies a low-frequency signal component output from the LPF 7 and applies the signal component to the vibrator 33.

The control unit 9 comprises a microcomputer having a ROM 91 for storing a game program and a RAM 92 for temporarily storing data, and starts a game in response to a signal from a start button 25.
The game is advanced in accordance with the game program stored in the game, and has the following control functions.

(1) Judgment of the operation on the input unit 2, that is, the operation on the character is judged based on the direction and angle at which the joystick 21 is tilted and the depression angles of the accelerator pedal 22 and the brake pedal 23.

(2) An image is displayed on the monitor 31 based on the control on the monitor 31, that is, the operation on the game program of the ROM 91 and the input unit 2.

(3) Based on the control of the audio signal reading unit 4, that is, the operation of the game program of the ROM 91 and the operation of the input unit 2, which of the audio data stored in the storage unit 40 is read by which reading unit 41. 4n indicates whether to read.

(4) Based on the control on the reproduction signal generation unit 5, ie, the operation of the game program in the ROM 91 and the operation on the input unit 2, each of the audio signals read by the reading units 41 to 4n in the first and second reproduction signals. Set the playback magnification individually.

With the above arrangement, the player sits in the seat 1, inserts a coin through the coin insertion slot 24, presses the start button 25 to start the game, and starts displaying a car, an airplane or the like displayed on the monitor 31. A game is performed by operating a character such as a human through the input unit 2.

A first reproduction signal is output from the reproduction signal generator 5 in synchronization with, for example, a collision or an explosion in accordance with an image such as the state of the character displayed on the monitor 31. When driven, sound is output from the speaker 32. Further, the second reproduction signal is output from the reproduction signal generation unit 5, the low frequency component is extracted by the LPF 7, amplified by the power amplifier 8, and the vibration is applied to the seating unit 11 by the vibrator 33 vibrating. Therefore, a bodily sensation vibration is given to the player.

Also, for example, by outputting only the second reproduction signal from the reproduction signal generator 5 to the LPF 7 in accordance with the video, only the vibration is given to the player. Also, by adjusting the reproduction magnification of each of the audio signals read by the reading units 41 to 4n in the first and second reproduction signals to different magnifications, the audio signals applied to the speaker 32 and the vibrator 33 are respectively adjusted. Formed with different signals. Also, by adjusting the reproduction magnification of each audio signal read by the reading sections 41 to 4n in the first and second reproduction signals to the same magnification, the audio signals applied to the speaker 32 and the vibrator 33 are the same. The signal is formed.

As described above, the player can enjoy a realistic game by the video displayed on the monitor 31, the sound output from the speaker 32, and the bodily sensation from the seating section 11.

Further, the reading unit for the bodily sensation output to the vibrator 33 is also used as the reading unit for the audio signal output to the speaker 32, so that the number of components such as the reading unit is increased. It is possible to give the player a bodily sensation without causing the player to play the game, and to realize a game rich in the presence of the player.

The first and second reproduced signals generated by reproducing each of the audio signals read by the reading units 41 to 4n at a predetermined reproduction magnification by the reproduction signal generation unit 5 are output to the speaker 32 and the vibrator. 33, various audio signals can be generated as compared with the number of the reading units 41 to 4n. Therefore, the reading units 41 to 4n can be used efficiently.

Also, since the reproduction magnification of each audio signal in the first and second reproduction signals can be set individually, it is possible to output reproduction signals generated by different audio signals to the speaker 32 and the vibrator 33. it can. Therefore, the sound output from the speaker 32 and the bodily sensation vibration given to the player by the vibrator 33 can be respectively optimized.

The sound data read by the reading units 41 to 4n is obtained by encoding natural sounds and storing them in the storage unit 40. Therefore, the sound data is given to the player by bodily sensation vibration by the vibrator 33. Realism can be increased. In particular, the inventors conducted an experiment in which the vibrator 33 was vibrated using various signal waveforms, and performed a subjective evaluation on the sense of reality provided to the player. As a result, a simple signal waveform such as a sine wave was used. It has been found that using natural sounds can increase the sense of realism as compared with the case.

[0045]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a plurality of reading means select and read audio signals from the audio signals stored in the storage means in accordance with the progress of the game. Reproducing each audio signal at a predetermined reproduction magnification to generate first and second reproduction signals, outputting sound from the speaker means using the first reproduction signal, and outputting a signal having a lower frequency than the second reproduction signal. Since the components are extracted and the vibrating means is vibrated by the extracted signal, various first and second reproduced signals can be generated as compared with the number of reading means. Therefore, the reading means can be used efficiently, various sounds can be output from the speaker means, and the player can experience various vibrations.

According to the invention of claim 2, the reproduction magnification of each audio signal in the first reproduction signal and the reproduction magnification of each audio signal in the second reproduction signal are individually set according to the progress of the game. As a result, the speaker means and the vibration means can use a reproduced signal generated from different audio signals. Therefore, it is possible to optimize the sound output from the speaker means and the bodily sensation vibration given to the player by the vibration means.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, natural sounds are encoded and formed, and a plurality of reading means respectively output sound signals from the sound signals stored in the storage means in accordance with the progress of the game. Selectively read, each audio signal is reproduced at a predetermined reproduction magnification to generate first and second reproduction signals, sound is output from the speaker means according to the first reproduction signal, and the second reproduction signal is output. Extract low frequency signal components,
Since the vibrating means is made to vibrate with this extracted signal,
Various first and second reproduction signals can be generated as compared with the number of reading means. Therefore, the reading means can be used efficiently, various sounds can be output from the speaker means, and the player can experience various vibrations.
Further, since natural sound is used as the audio signal, the sense of presence given to the player by the bodily sensation vibration by the vibration means can be further increased.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, a plurality of reading means select and read each of the sound signals from the sound signals stored in the storage means in accordance with the progress of the game.
Each audio signal is reproduced at a predetermined reproduction magnification, and the first,
A second reproduced signal is generated, a sound is output from the speaker means according to the first reproduced signal, a signal component of a lower frequency is extracted from the second reproduced signal, and the extracted signal is fixed to the back side of the seating surface of the seat. The vibrating means is made to vibrate,
Various first and second reproduction signals can be generated as compared with the number of reading means. Therefore, the reading means can be used efficiently, various sounds can be output from the speaker means, and the player can experience various vibrations.
Moreover, the player can feel the vibration more directly from the seating surface.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a control system of an embodiment of a game machine according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a main part of a seat of the game machine according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the game machine.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the game machine.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a main part showing an example of different configurations of seats of the game machine.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 seat 2 input unit 3 output unit 31 monitor 32 speaker 33 shaker 4 audio signal reading unit 40 storage unit 41, 42, ..., 4n reading unit 5 reproduction signal generating unit 6 audio output unit 7 low-pass filter (LPF) 8 power Amplifying unit 9 Control unit 91 ROM 92 RAM

 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Hiroshi Kawaguchi 7-3-3 Minatojima Nakamachi, Chuo-ku, Kobe 2 Konami Co., Ltd.

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A game machine which progresses a game in response to an operation of a player sitting on a seat, a storage means for storing a plurality of audio signals, and a game progression from the audio signals stored in the storage means. A plurality of reading means for selecting and reading audio signals respectively in accordance with a plurality of reading means, and reproducing each of the audio signals read by the plurality of reading means at a predetermined reproduction magnification to generate first and second reproduction signals. Reproduction signal generation means, speaker means for outputting sound in accordance with the first reproduction signal, extraction means for extracting a low-frequency signal component from the second reproduction signal, and extraction means fixed to the seat, A game machine comprising: vibrating means for vibrating in response to an extraction signal. 2. The game machine according to claim 1, wherein a reproduction magnification of each of the audio signals in the first reproduction signal and a reproduction magnification of each of the audio signals in the second reproduction signal are determined in accordance with the progress of the game. Characterized in that the game machine comprises a magnification setting means for individually setting. 3. The game machine according to claim 1, wherein said storage means stores an audio signal formed by encoding a natural sound. 4. The game machine according to claim 1, wherein said vibration means is fixed to a back side of a seating surface of said seat.