I like the way IGN dove into this story better. They got much more in-depth with what the patent actually said, and also put it in layman’s terms for Average Joes like ourselves. Some pretty interesting stuff, if they interpreted it correctly.

If all of this ends up being in the Wii, it will be amazing, sounds a lot like Xbox Live’s messaging system. In the IGN article, they also say the newer portions of the patent include a voice chatting feature, and compatibility with a certain handheld, and also “a device that emulates other gaming systems.” That means there will probably also be DS and Virtual Console support.

Imagine being on the road with your DS at a Wi-Fi hotspot, and be able to bring up your friends list and send your buddy who’s playing Metroid Prime 3 a message. That’s the way I interpret the Wii-DS, (or console to handheld), messaging mentioned. Also sounds like Nintendo is thinking of making a unified architecture in this patent, so it may also be similar to Xbox Live in that respect.

Last thing I have to say is, if Nintendo pulls this amazing feat off, ditches friends codes, and can keep it free, Xbox Live will have a run for it’s money. Who knows? Maybe they’ll even be able to beat out Xbox Live without doing all of that! Either way, I’m glad to hear that Nintendo is at least comtemplating this service, and I, for one, hope they implement it.

Here’s the link to the IGN article I was talking about.