Microsoft Patents Join-Leave in Split-Screen Multiplayer Games 5450dc58168778micr


Nothing like flipping through the US patent office's online text and image database and discovering someone's tried to lock up the way we play squad-based, split-screen shooters. Tried and succeeded, it seems, since such a patent was filed on behalf of Microsoft by James R. J. York on December 2, 2002 and apparently granted on July 14, 2009.

In abstract, the patent--dubbed "Dynamic join/exit of players during play of console-based video game"--pertains to a "squad-based shooter" that "allows players to dynamically join and leave the game, while that game is in progress, without the players having to save and restart the game."

More: http://pcworld.com/article/168778/