The ludicrousness is the point. “Capture a creature in a ball”… How close is that to Red Dead’s lasso? Could Nintendo patent capturing a creature with a rope? Does anyone hold that patent yet? No, it would be silly to try to patent something like that - yet at one point I’m certain it was someone’s “technique” while everyone else was jumping on the horses back like Breath of the Wild.
Imagine if you had a hammer and decided to use it to hit a nail and then someone came along and said “I see you’re using my method to build a house! Pay up!”
Well, you can’t patent something like that!
Imagine you open up a game engine, any engine, and decide you need to point to an objective so you decide to use an arrow. A game company says “You’re using our method to identify objectives! Pay up!” and that one is a unique mechanic?
How long has humanity been using arrows to point to things? How can you patent it just because it’s a digital arrow?
From my experiences it goes more like this “In an ideal world, we’d behave this way. We’re not in an ideal world though and your competitors have no problem doing this so you should know what to do, in case the market determines it’s the best course.” with a knowing wink thrown in.
My Dell XPS 13 (Windows) will kill it’s battery if you look at it funny… Or don’t look at it at all.
One time, I fully shut down the laptop and put it in my carry-on.
When I took it out after my flight, my bag was suspiciously warm and the battery was fully dead. Power management on Linux might be a joke but Dell is certainly the Carlos Mencía of the comedy club. At least I know my enemy now though. I unplug the battery to turn it ‘off’.
You throwing babies away?