Microsoft patents awarding achievements for watching TV
Watch enough Game of Thrones and get the Stark Raving Mad achievement, perhaps?
Microsoft has issued a patent that will award players - or should I say viewers - achievements for watching TV.
As reported by GamesIndustry International, Microsoft issued said patent last November. "Television viewing tends to be a passive experience for a viewer, without many opportunities for the viewer to engage or have interactive experiences with the presented content," stated the application. "To increase interactive viewing and encourage a user to watch one or more particular items of video content, awards and achievements may be tied to those items of video content."
"Additionally, by tying the awards and achievements to particular items of video or advertising content, viewers may be encouraged to increase their viewership of the content, thus increasing advertising opportunities."
While the details of how this will be implemented remain fuzzy, the patent hypothesised that achievements could be tied to watching an entire series or special events like the Super Bowl.
According to the GamesIndustry report, Microsoft envisioned a way to tie Kinect support into your TV viewing, meaning you could earn achievements for carrying out specific actions - like holding up a product - while watching a show or ad.
Perhaps our future viewing parties will look a little something like this:
