Video game steering system causing translation, rotation and curvilinear motion on the object

A video game system comprising:

• steering means operated by a player for creating steering signals for steering a movable game object, said movable game object including first and second propulsion units movable within a 360 degree range;
• shooting means operated by the player for creating actuating signals for shooting at a target;
• and
• game computing means responsive to said steering signals from said steering means and said actuating signals from said shooting means for computing the game in which the movable game object moves within a game space and can shoot at the target and for displaying the game on a display;
• said steering means including:
• a first steering unit adapted to be operated by a player's right hand to input a first propulsion vector for said first propulsion unit within the 360 degree range according to player operation;
• a second steering unit adapted to be operated by a player's left hand to input a second propulsion vector for said second propulsion unit within the 360 degree range according to player operation;
• and
• a steering information computing unit responsive to said first and second propulsion vectors for computing and outputting directions of propulsion and rotation information for the movable game object as steering signals,
• whereby the combination of right and left hand operation by the player steers said movable game object so that it will move along a curved line, rotate about a center point and translate in a forward direction, a backward direction, a lateral direction or an oblique direction within said game space depending upon relative displacement of the first and second steering units to aim at the target with the help of a sight.

A video game system comprising:

• steering means operated by a player for steering a movable game object, said movable game object including first and second propulsion units arranged symmetrically about the movable game object and movable within a 360 degree range;
• game computing means responsive to steering signals from said steering means for computing movement of the movable game object within a game space and for displaying the movement on a display;
• said steering means including:
• a first steering unit adapted to be operated by a player's right hand to input a first propulsion vector V.sub.B for said first propulsion unit within the 360 degree range according to player operation, the first steering unit being in the form of a first steering lever for the right hand;
• a second steering unit adapted to be operated by a player's left hand to input a second propulsion vector V.sub.A for said second propulsion unit within the 360 degree range according to player operation, the second steering unit being in the form of a second steering lever for the left hand;
• wherein each lever is pivotally supported for inclination from a given reference position to any direction and adapted to input a propulsion vector to the first or second propulsion unit according to the direction and amount of inclination;
• steering direction detector means for detecting and inputting X-axis and Y-axis coordinate components based on the direction and angle of inclination of each of said first and second steering levers from a reference point 0 when the X-axis and Y-axis represent the lateral and longitudinal directions, respectively, and for outputting first and second propulsion vectors for said first and second propulsion units, respectively, corresponding to detected X-axis and Y-axis coordinate components;
• a steering information computing unit responsive to said first and second propulsion vectors for computing and outputting propulsion and rotation information for the movable game object as steering signals, said steering information computing unit including a direction computing unit responsive to the first and second propulsion vectors for computing information about direction of propulsion of the movable game object and a rotation computing unit responsive to the first and second propulsion vectors for computing information about rotation of the movable game object, said steering information computing unit being operative to determine a center position of each of said propulsion units as the reference point 0, the lateral direction as the X-axis, and the longitudinal direction as the Y-axis and to set the directions of X-axis and Y-axis corresponding to the positive orientation in the respective steering levers as the directions of positive coordinate axes, said direction computing unit being operative to use propulsion vector velocity components V.sub.XB, V.sub.XA and V.sub.YB, VYA of the first and second propulsion vectors V.sub.B and V.sub.A acting on the respective propulsion units in the X-axis and Y-axis directions, to compute propulsion velocity components V.sub.XO, V.sub.YO of the movable game object in the X-axis and Y-axis directions which are in turn output as information of the direction of propulsion, according to the following equations:
• V.sub.XO =V.sub.XA +V.sub.XB V.sub.YO =V.sub.YA +V.sub.YB,
• said rotation computing unit being operative to use the absolute value, r, of the X-axis coordinate in each of the propulsion units and the first and second propulsion vectors to compute a rotation angular velocity V.sub.QO in the rotating movable game object which is in turn output as information of rotation, according to the following equation:
• V.sub.QO =r(V.sub.YA -V.sub.YB);
• whereby the combination of right and left hand operations by the player steers said movable game object so that it will move along a curved line, rotate about a center point and translate in a forward direction, a backward direction, a lateral direction or an oblique direction within said game space depending upon relative displacement of the first and second steering units.