Nintendo Awarded Patent for Instant Messaging

Posted by ryuzaki0 on Friday June 9, 2006 @06:36AM from the seems-a-little-vague dept.

Zwzo writes "Nintendo has been awarded a patent for a video game messaging service that utilizes a buddy list and can display information about game activities and user status." From the article: "Initially filed in 2000, a year before the release of Microsoft's Xbox and two years before the official launch of Microsoft's Xbox Live Internet service, Nintendo's patent is relatively broad and could potentially lead to litigation against other major players in the game console market. Although the text of the patent itself refers to the Nintendo64 and Game Boy Color by name, some have speculated that this patent could portend an instant messaging system for the Wii."

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but by amazon10x · 2006-06-09 06:40 · Score: 2, Interesting

But the question is: Did they file this patent so they could sue the pants off Microsoft et al. Or, did they file the patent just for protection against a suit?
Re:Keyboard? or VOIP Wiimote? by KingBraden · 2006-06-09 07:41 · Score: 2, Interesting

The Xbox360 has 2 USB ports, can you just hook a keyboard up to it?
I am being serious, I just want to know.