"Avatar Individualized By Physical Characteristic," is what Microsoft is claiming. "Linking the avatar to a physical characteristic of a user provides leverage to provide incentives or constraints that can encourage good behavior (e.g., healthy behaviors, virtuous behaviors, etc.)," says the patent.

So therefore, if you're fat, your avatar will be fat - or vice versa. And so Microsoft proposes that your avatar's conditioning would be reflected in its capabilities within a game, or unlocking a budgeted amount of time to play, or just making the little guy look all buff and hawt.

As a parental control, its use is quite clear. For the individual gamer, it sounds to me like an opt-in thing, whereby if you've been feeling bad about all the Hot Pockets and three-hour gaming sessions, you turn on this feature. Sort of like fridge locks, noise reminders and other (in my opinion, abusive) gadgets from the dieting craze.

How is it going to know what the real you looks like? The patent offers that Microsoft would get the info through a "third-party health data collection repository," I guess to which the player belongs and links to his or her Xbox Live account. Or, says the filing "a real-time physiological sensor (e.g., blood pressure, heart rate, blood glucose, peak flow, pedometer, etc.)" Yay! Sounds like more peripherals.

1Up, which spotted the filing, points out that Nintendo's already explored this to some extent in Wii Fit, where your Mii gets porky if the game decides you're overweight. In this case, Microsoft wants to link some sort of tangible benefit to a healthy, balanced lifestyle.

Those are honorable intentions, but given the butthurt that went up when Wii Fit started calling kids fat, I can't see this ending well. Just last night I screwed around with my avatar - which I always set to large size because, hey, I have a beer gut - and was appalled when I tried on the Vault 101 suit, which is not slimming at all. (My avatar normally wears an untucked golf shirt.) And that's with the existing body type templates. Before they do this Xbox Live should implement a "suck your gut in" button, like, click and hold the right thumbstick or something.

Microsoft Patents "Avatar Individualized By Physical Characteristic" System [1Up via HBG]

It's essentially a soft (rubber? foam?) football with holes in it, that you stick the Wii Remote and Wii Nunchuk into. For football games. Then you slide your hand under the ball's handle and...make throwing actions. Or...hand-off actions. Or...maybe snapping the ball (wouldn't a rugby ball have at least been more versatile?).

And that's it! Now it's time to look at the silly pictures, say something snide about Nintendo then try and imagine the guy at the office who thought this was not only a good idea, but so good that it had to be patented.

Nintendo Developing A Squishy Football Controller [Siliconera]

I direct you to figure 17: "Ha Ha Ha." This is part of the metadata set going into the PS3, through a microphone and the PlayStation Eye camera. The patent application says it would identify body gestures, facial expressions and the like to deduce the emotion of the players. It's apparently got high-five recognition heuristics, too.

Laughter and boo-yah aren't the only states of emotion it'll be able to recognize. It's also attuned to sadness, anger, joy, interest and yes, boredom. That one can be detected by the number of hours your PS3 sits deactivated.

Also, note how the diagram filed goes out of its way to show the TV's a Sony Bravia.

SCEA Experimenting With "Laugh Detecting", Emotional Tracking Software [Siliconera via Joystiq]

It's a small, inflatable cushion with a dock for the Wii Remote. So that when you rock/bounce the horse, the controller is able to register the movement. You are then supposed to hold the nunchuk as you would a horse's reins. If it were a horse. We'd imagine it could just a easily simulate the riding of a donkey, camel, llama, alpaca or Asian elephant.

Or if those animals aren't your style, maybe you'd be more interested in riding some of the examples Nintendo themselves provide in the actual patent, like bulls, burros, dolphins, whales, dragons, griffons, unicorns and giant eagles.

Griffons? Awesome.

Nintendo's Patented Horseback Riding Wii Controller [Siliconera]

It's a year that could witness plummeting sales with Rock Band on the sidelines, Sony's continued struggle to reinvent itself and Nintento working again to innovate with an eye toward new gamers.

It may be Nintendo’s greatest stumbling block.

How do you appeal to novice gamers first dipping their toe into the interactive world of video gaming without turning off the hardcore gamers who are the backbone of most game sales?

A recently uncovered patent filed by Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto may not be the solution to the problem, but it’s certainly a step in the right direction.

In it Miyamoto, the famed developer behind Mario, Donkey Kong and The Legend of Zelda, describes a sort of cruise control for video games, a system that would allow neophyte gamers to switch back and forth between watching and playing a video game. Think of it as having a buddy around who can play the hardest bits of the game for you, but hands over the controls when things get fun.

The concept would also introduce video play-throughs of a game which a player could bring up as a pop-up window when they get stuck.

“I think this is brilliant,” said Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter. “This just shows that Nintendo is an adult company that is very sophisticated about who buys their software.”

“I think part of what we are seeing here is Nintendo’s cultural propensity to try interesting things,” said Ben Schachter, video game analyst with UBS Investment Bank

The accidental unveiling of the patent comes at a time when game companies are feeling increasing pressure to innovate in order to avoid the bad news cropping up in the industry lately.

A number of development studios closed up shop over the past few months and earlier this week rumors hit that Sony may cut entire divisions to make themselves more competitive in a number of markets, including video games.

Sony Computer Entertainment seems to be playing the long game in this latest generation of consoles.

“They’re certainly not dying,” Pachter said. “I think they made a strategic decision back in 2004 to over engineer a box and create something they decided in their paternalistic way was better for all of us.

“ I think they’re going to be proven right, in five years we’re all going to want that.”

Schachter agrees, though he says that this past holiday season should be a “Harvard case study on how not to drive your brand.”

In the short term Schachter thinks that Sony has to cut the price of their console and convince game developers that they’re not this generation’s Gamecube.

The video game industry as a whole may soon face similar issues. While sales seem to be holding up, Schachter thinks that a coming drop in music-game sales may change that.

During the Consumer Electronics Show this week Harmonix said they wouldn’t be releasing Rock Band 3 this year, instead focusing their efforts on their upcoming Beatles music game.

That means gamers will need to buy two or three games to make up for not purchasing a new Rock Band, Schachter said. And I think he’s right. Most gamers don’t walk into a store looking to spend a certain amount of money, they come looking for fun, price is often secondary.

But what about that Beatles game?

Too niche, says Schacter, to see the same level of success as Rock Band.

The patent, filed by Nintendo Creative Director Shigeru Miyamoto on June 30, 2008, outlines a gaming system more akin to DVD playback, where the game can either be played normally, or watched in the form of an end-to-end video of gameplay, during which players can jump back in at any time by simply pushing a button.

Seeing as an idea like this could easily shift the way games are created, we talked to four of today's top developers, representing games such as Fallout 3, Prince of Persia, Braid, and Maw, to get their take on Nintendo's idea.

Ben Mattes, Producer of Ubisoft's Prince of Persia
"I read through it quickly, but I'm not sure I fully understand it yet. It makes sense to me in a purely linear game, but as soon as we get sand-box, or even remotely open ended, the number of variables would seem to invalidate the potential of this system.

"ie: I'm in Fallout3 and have focused energy on sneak and unarmed combat. If I'm in a particular point in the game I can't pass, and I use this system, what 'recording' could the game know to use? It can't possibly have developer walkthroughs of all possible configurations of a character and strategies to pass through each in-game challenge. More likely as not, it would have one 'right' way to pass through a particular challenge...

"That said, as I think our work on POP probably helps demonstrate, we're all for the idea of finding ways to help non-core gamers experience (and finish) the type of games that have traditionally only been available to a select 'few' (relatively speaking, of course). If everyone out there who owns a Wii were to play and love RE5, you can bet that the budget Capcom would have available for RE6 would allow them to create something even more spectacular."

Todd Howard, Game Director, Bethesda
"Most people stop playing a certain game because they get frustrated or confused by what the game wants them to do. It becomes work and frustration, as opposed to ‘playtime.’ This idea clearly tries to alleviate that. It’s much like passing the controller to someone who knows the game really well, so you can move ahead or simply enjoy the story. It’s the classic ‘challenge or entertain’ issue that designers often deal with. I think there’s a lot of ways around that, and remained confused by what people are actually allowed to patent these days."

Jonathan Blow, Creator, Braid
"Based just on reading your posting... I don't know. I mean, it's an okay idea for a developer to have a way to show you through various parts of the game I guess, to show you side-quests you missed or whatever. I'd like to see someone try that. But as a general paradigm for playing games there are a lot of problems.

"The defining characteristic of a game is that you play it. If, in order for games to be accessible to a wider audience, we need to make it so that most people can skip over the playing it part, then what that really means is that our medium sucks. If you have to elide the basic property of your medium to make experiences in that medium desirable, then the medium itself is questionable at a very deep level.

"The proper solution is to start producing games that don't have this kind of problem — not to create the problem, then band-aid over it and hope people still have a good experience.

"The way you phrase it — "moving developers away from the notion of beginning, middle and end" — sounds cool, I would like to see more of that. But that is something that has to be a core component of the game's design. Just because you have random access to a linear experience doesn't make the experience nonlinear. You can skip to any part of a DVD movie that you want, but that doesn't mean the movie has gone away from the notion of beginning, middle, and end, you know?

"Unless you are drawing this conclusion from something I missed or that is in the original patent application, which I haven't read..."

Michael Wilford, CEO Twisted Pixel Games
"Kind Code is an interesting idea that is squarely aimed at reaching non-gamers. In fact, we often debate internally about ways to make gaming as culturally relevant as film or literature. Perhaps it's just a matter of time, or perhaps there are some systemic flaws in the way games are made and presented. Something like Kind Code, if done right, could be a way to reach anyone with your content without requiring them to be accomplished video game players.

However, if Kind Code is intended as a general solution that adds Digest Mode to all games, that might be like putting training wheels on all bicycles, including Lance Armstrong's. As long as the functionality can be tightly integrated into the right places in the right games, it could be the way to truly open gaming up to everyone. I'm sure we could find ways to use it in our character-driven games and make more people enjoy and laugh at our stuff than otherwise possible."

There you have it. Four very different opinions from four different developers. While Ben Mattes questions the viability of such a system in today's more complicated games, Bethesda's Todd Howard sees this as one way of attacking a common development question. Braid creator Jonathan Blow feels it's a crutch for a problem we should be more actively trying to solve, and Maw's Michael Wilford sees some potential in the idea, but only if used in moderation.

Me? It's hard to say. I just spent one very busy fall gaming season playing through titles I both loved and hated, and having something like this in effect would have made it so much easier to do my job as a reviewer, but how much is too much? If I decide to let the game play while I have lunch, am I cheating in my role as a game reviewer, becoming more of a cross between a player and a watcher?

I probably agree the most with what Jonathan Blow said. There has to be an easier way to make games more approachable than taking away the game portion.

The patent application is chock full of images showing a controller with a sphere on the end that would contain a retro-reflective area, it's own light source, and would change color to assist in capturing image data. Furthermore, the patent shows two of said controllers connecting not only side-so-side, but end to end, creating a sort of giant bow-and-arrow looking device. Hit the jump for more images from the patent application.

Certainly looks like an innovative way to add motion sensing to your console without having to worry about comparisons to Nintendo's existing technology, doesn't it?

Sony's Ultrasonic Motion Controller Patent App [US Patent Office via NeoGAF]

While this doesn't signal decision on merit, it does mean that it's worth a judge's time to take a close look at it. If the Wii is found to violate Section 337 of the Tariff Act, the Wii can be withdrawn from sale in the U.S.

We contacted Nintendo for comment last night. Their rather straight-forward response just arrived:

"As expected, the International Trade Commission signaled its intention to investigate the importation of Nintendo’s Wii and Wii Remote based upon a complaint filed by Hillcrest Laboratories Inc. Nintendo has not yet had an opportunity to respond to the complaint and the commission has not made any determination on the merits of the case," a spokesman told us. "Rather, this preliminary step in the process is based solely on the allegations of patent infringement contained in the complaint filed by Hillcrest.

"After a judge is assigned to preside over the investigation, Nintendo will have the opportunity to present its case. Nintendo respects the intellectual property rights of other companies, and believes that none of its products infringes the Hillcrest Laboratories patents. Nintendo intends to vigorously defend this action."

While it may look like a snazzy Wavebird-style controller shell, what we think we're seeing is merely the original patent for the Wii Classic Controller. That device thankfully dropped the need for multiple controller shells — others in the style of SNES and NES pads are also in the patent — and kept the Wii Remote tethered to the controller by a cord, not slotted in as seen above.

Feel free to poke around the patent, linked below, for drawings of Wii controller patents that you can color and make your own!

Game Controller Device [USPTO - thanks, Jim!]

Nintendo facing new Wii patent suit [Gamespot]

Talk about a day late and a dollar short, New York-based company Paltalk has filed suit against Microsoft for allegedly infringing on two of their patents in the creation of Xbox Live.

According to Ars Technica, which actually read through the complaint, there's little to no detail about how exactly Microsoft is infringing on Paltalk, though the company does point to two patents, 523 and 686, both of which involve server-group messaging.

As Ars Technica so very rightfully points out, even if Msoft lost the suit, they're not going to can Live. Instead the company would probably just pony up the cash. Brian Crecente

Microsoft sued over Xbox Live [Ars Technica]

Now, let's have NewScientist's Barry Fox, original source for said Gamespot news blurb, slow that down for us, with a little layman commentary for bonus points.

Sony's Tokyo labs are working on a clever way to get bulky electronic devices into small pockets. Their plan is to create handheld computers, phones and portable games consoles that fold up for carrying and then become rigid for use. The company's patent adds that the transition from soft to hard takes just milliseconds. It suggests that the same technique could even be used in a video game controller to make it jolt or change shape in response to on-screen action.

Cool. But why'd you have to get rid of the Dual Shock rumble feature, you cheapskates? Michael McWhertor

High-tech Sony patent has gaming potential [Gamespot]

The US Patent Office link tends to like to die out, so we're not sure if it'll work for you, but you can see it in the screenshot above, and yes, Wii is indeed registered to Nintendo of America.

Of course, even as a publicity stunt, Nintendo would be likely to trademark Wii, right? Right?

Wii Trademark [US Patent Office] (Thanks to everyone who sent this in!)

Check out more details ('cause reading patents is FUN!) below.

Edit: After reading the patent application myself, it looks like there are some old dates associate with this application, namely the filing date (July 19, 2005) and the foreign application date (Jul 29, 2004). So, while not new, it may provide some insight into what may be coming down the line.

New Nintendo DS Hidden Secret? [DS Advanced]