Nintendo patents "Massively Singleplayer Online Game"

Gamespot reports that the patent application, which was published last week, covers a singleplayer game in which the player's actions in the game world affect the world of another player, without the two needing to interact. It notes: "Those who want to play games that are more dynamic, not based on AI and not pre-scripted like multiplayer games, however, don't want to 'deal' with people, [and] appreciate the privacy it provides." One example given was a player stumbling across a pile of materials, and building a house; when another player reaches the same spot in his world, he finds only the finished house. The application, which was filed in 2010, also reveals that Nintendo's original plan for Wii U may have been quite different, suggesting the idea be implemented on "a home videogame system such as the Nintendo Wii 3D videogame system, a Nintendo DS or other 3D-capable interactive computer graphics display systems."

Source: Gamespot