U.S. Patent No. 8,668,561: Video games including real-life attributes and/or fantasy settings
Issued Mar. 11, 2014
Summary:
The ‘561 patent applies to fantasy sports and covers a networked system that creates a video game sports team based on at least part of a fantasy team roster. The system includes a server so the game team based on the fantasy roster can be used in online gaming or updated as the fantasy roster is updated. The real life actions of players on the fantasy team roster impact the play of the video game team during console play.
Abstract:
A video gaming console and related network interfaces with a server computer hosting an online fantasy sports game. The video game machine acquires a fantasy team roster of the fantasy sport game over a network that includes the Internet and the video game console is programmed to create a video game team using at least a portion of the fantasy team roster. The video game team created is playable on the video game console.
Illustrative Claim:
1. A method performed by a computer server for updating a video game team roster in a sports video game played on a video game console, the computer server configured to communicate with a plurality of video game machines via a network connection that includes the Internet, the method performed by the computer server comprising the following acts:
hosting an online fantasy sports game on the computer server configured to communicate with the plurality of video game machines via the network connection that includes the Internet, the online fantasy sports game including:
a plurality of fantasy sports teams that are each operated by a fantasy team owner in a fantasy sports league;
each fantasy sports team having a fantasy team roster comprised of fantasy team members, wherein the fantasy team members are associated with real-life athletes of collegiate and/or professional sports teams and the fantasy team members of each fantasy team are selected by the fantasy team owner of each fantasy team through a fantasy draft; and
wherein the online fantasy sports game provides a score for each fantasy sports team in the fantasy sports league, the score being calculated using statistics from a real-life performance of the real-life athletes associated with the member of each fantasy sports team; and
transmitting a fantasy team roster associated with a particular fantasy team to the video game console, wherein the video game console is programmed to create a video game team including a plurality of video game characters corresponding to at least a portion of the members of the fantasy team roster to be played in the sports video game on the video game console, wherein the video game characters of the video game team are associated with the same real-life athletes that are associated with the fantasy team members of the fantasy team roster transmitted, wherein the fantasy team owner is not one of the real-life athletes engaging in the real-life sporting events who are associated with the fantasy team members.
