Nintendo has done, and continues to do its online a little differently to the competition. Usernames? Pffft! That’s what awkward, lengthy, impossible to memorise friend codes are for! As a result, Nintendo’s online has largely felt like a solitary experience. Playing alone is something Nintendo holds sacred, if a new patent is to be believed.
Nintendo’s gone and patented the “Massively Single Player Online Game.â€
T^he idea, really, is to have a single-player game that has has online consequences, where the player’s actions will impact the characters and environments of other players’ single-player games. The patent application says its for "Those who want to play games that are more dynamic, not-based on Al and not-pre-scripted like multiplayer games, however, don’t want to ‘deal’ with other people, appreciate the privacy it provides."
This would offer those who’re too socially inept to even play World of Warcraft the chance to play a dynamic game. As an example, a player could happen upon building materials in the virtual world and build a house. As the world is perpetual, the next player to find that location would discover a built house, an not the building materials. Nintendo also says that one player could gossip to a non-player character in the world, who could then pass that gossip to other players.
I hate to break it to Nintendo, but it’s partially been done before. Reading through this I was instantly reminded of the online interaction in Demons Souls – which allowed players to leave messages for others playing within their own single-player games. Still, it could be used quite well with some Nintendo properties – particularly Animal Crossing.
Source : Gamespot UK
Last Updated: August 15, 2011
