Xbox Living

Nintendojo reported something interesting today. Apparently, last week Nintendo was issued a U.S. patent for a familiar concept:

“A messaging service for video game systems with buddy list that displays game being played.”

That’s what Xbox Live does… isn’t it? Ok, don’t panic. What else is in the patent?

• A messaging service that allows console gamers to contact each other, even if in the middle of a game.
• Voice and text chat between connected players during a game.

Ok, creepy. The patent was finally issued last week, though, so it doesn’t mean anything does it? I mean, when did they file?

Oh, 2000?

That’s interesting. Wait… the original Xbox was released when? 2001. Yep, they’re screwed.

(Well, maybe not. The patent isn’t very specific, and with Microsoft’s resources it would probably be pretty easy to escape any claim that Nintendo owns the rights to the Xbox Live service. Still, hilarious to picture the Xbox clan paying royalties to Nintendo.)