Xbox One Tipped For TV Achievements With New Microsoft Patent

The recently-announced Xbox One is coming with new ways earn achievements playing your favorite games, but TV achievements might be coming as well. Microsoft applied for a patent that details a feature that would give users achievements for watching television. Yes, according to Microsoft, sitting on the couch with a dumb look on your face while watching a TV show is considered an "achievement."

The patent is titled "Awards and Achievements Across TV Ecosystem," and it essentially revolves around the idea of rewarding television viewers with achievements in a similar fashion that Microsoft rewards gamers for completing certain tasks in games, something like earning points for watching Wheel of Fortune, for instance. Another example would be achievements for watching an entire season of a TV series.

The patent doesn't mention the Xbox One nor any other of Microsoft's platforms, but it's safe to say that if it were to indeed come into fruition, we would most likely see it on the Xbox One, given Microsoft's strong stance on using the Xbox One has a television set-top box alongside its gaming capabilities.

In the patent application, Microsoft says that they want to change the way users watch television, since it's mostly just a "passive experience" with no interactivity. The company says that "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."

Microsoft hopes to target more people with the Xbox One by focusing more on other areas of entertainment, such as TV, movies, and a plethora of apps that don't deal with gaming. Of course, gaming will be a core function of the new console, but even with the Xbox 360, Microsoft has been wanting to dive deeper and deeper into more non-game features.

VIA: GamesIndustry.biz

SOURCE: USPTO