November 24 3:19 P.M.
Need help operating this thing?
If you're sick of getting stuck in Xbox 360 games like Halo 3 and Fable II, take heart: Microsoft is working on a cure.
According to a patent unearthed by the document spelunkers at Siliconera, the Redmond gaming giant has been working on a comprehensive guide feature that would let gamers help one another out of sticky spots without having to leave the game.
Filed by Andre Vrignaud, Director of Games Platform Strategy at Microsoft, the patent outlines a deep, community-based online help system. During play, a gamer can pause and bring up a huge database of cheats, hints and walkthroughs, submitted by both users and game developers. That could include annotated screenshots, videos, and even audio commentary.
The program comes on the heels of Nintendo's 'Super Guide' service, which made its debut earlier this month in their hit New Super Mario Bros. Wii game. Unlike Microsoft's proposed hint system, the Super Guide lets stuck players hand the reins over to the game, which will then play itself through challenging segments.
As it's just a patent, there's currently no word regarding pricing or availability for Microsoft's guide system.
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Posted: 24 Nov 2009
