Nintendo's Game Sanity patent

Nintendo actually patents “Sanity system for video game”.

Law Blog comments: "A game system whereby a game character’s sanity level is affected by different occurrences. Game play is affected (for example, by the character not responding to the player’s commands, by the character having hallucinations, etc.) as the character’s sanity level decreases. In-game effects include (and we're not making this up) 'enormous roar that emits from a tiny rodent (mouse or rat)' and 'faint maniacal laughter (that gets louder and louder as the character draws deeper into insanity)'."