http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...d-auxiliary-mini-games-during-loading-screens
About freaking time. What a terrible patent for Namco to hold. This is great for games with super long loading times. Instead of standing around in empty space in Assassin's Creed while it loads, you could play some sort of mini-game either invented for the game or possibly one of Ubisoft's older titles.How many hours in your life have you sat watching loading screens? Two? Twenty? Two hundred? Enough, right? Wouldn't it have been nicer to be entertained with a mini-game while you wait?
There's a reason you weren't: Namco. In 1995, Namco filed a patent protecting its use ofauxiliary mini-games while a main game was loading. Ridge Racer on PlayStation One entertained players with a Galaxian mini-game, if you remember. It was a good idea; the only problem was no one besides Namco could use it.
Those mini-games in FIFA aren't the same thing, which is how EA sidesteps the patent. Auxiliary mini-games are classified as games that are separate or different to the main game that's loading, whereas in FIFA the mini-games are smaller chunks of the whole.
Thee good news, and the reason I'm writing about all of this, is that the patent has now expired. It lasted 20 years and was filed 27th November 1995 (thanks PC Gamer). A Loading Screen Game Jam has been organised in celebration.