Adaptive live commentary in hosted game

Abstract

A live commentary experience is provided to a plurality of users participating in a multiplayer game hosted by a gaming service. A live output stream comprising live commentary on the game play is providing by a human being from the gaming service. A gaming device determines which of three types of commentary—pre-recorded game commentary, periodic commentary and live commentary from a human being—to provide to the user for a live commentary experience.

1 . A method for providing a live commentary experience in a video game executing on a client device coupled to a network, comprising:
 receiving game state information from the game that the game is in a state requiring commentary on the game;   determining whether a stream of live commentary generated by a human viewing data about the game is available via the network;   determining whether to provide the stream of live commentary or a source of pre-recorded commentary to provide a commentary to the user responsive to the game state information.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the source of pre-recorded commentary comprises one of temporally recent periodic content or pre-recorded game event commentary. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2  wherein the temporally recent periodic content comprises recorded comments reflecting real-world events relevant to actions in the game which have occurred within a time period prior to execution of the game. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2  further including retrieving a temporally recent periodic content file at intervals defined by a game service provider. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the stream of live commentary is generated by a gaming service provider receiving game state information for a plurality of users all concurrently executing the video game. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the step of (c) comprises determining whether the game state information requires a live comment type, a temporally relevant content type or a pre-recorded content type, and further includes determining whether network bandwidth is available to retrieve the stream. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the stream of live commentary includes at least a first set of comments provided by a gaming service provider relevant to the game and a second source of comments provided by a third party, and the method further includes determining whether to provide the second set of comments to the user. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1  wherein a first group of users and a second group of users are commonly executing the video game in a common gaming experience, and the stream of live commentary includes a first set of comments directed to a first group of users and a second set of comments directed to a second group of users, and the method further includes the step of determining membership of the user in the first group or the second group and accessing a set of comments based on said step of determining membership. 
     
     
         9 . A method for providing a simulated live commentary gaming experience in a multiplayer gaming environment, comprising:
 receiving a periodic commentary data file;   receiving a live commentary data stream, the live commentary stream including comments generated by a human being interacting with a multiplayer game in progress;   responsive to a call from an executing game application to determine whether to provide a comment from the periodic commentary data file, selecting a comment from the pre-recorded commentary file, the live commentary data stream or a pre-recorded game content file, and outputting the file to a user.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9  wherein the temporally recent periodic content comprises recorded comments reflecting real-world events relevant to actions in the game which have occurred within a time period prior to execution of the game. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10  wherein the stream of live commentary is generated by a gaming service provider receiving game state information for a plurality of users all concurrently executing the video game. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11  wherein the step of selecting comprises determining whether the game state information requires a live comment type, a temporally relevant content type or a pre-recorded content type, and further includes determining whether network bandwidth is available to retrieve the stream. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12  wherein the stream of live commentary includes at least a first set of comments provided by a gaming service provider relevant to the game and a second source of comments provided by a third party, and the method further includes determining whether to provide the second set of comments to the user. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 12  wherein a first group of users and a second group of users are commonly executing the video game in a common gaming experience, and the stream of live commentary includes a first set of comments directed to a first group of users and a second set of comments directed to a second group of users, and the method further includes the step of determining membership of the user in the first group or the second group and accessing a set of comments based on said step of determining membership. 
     
     
         15 . A method for providing live commentary in a gaming experience, comprising:
 receiving game status information for a plurality of users participating in a multiplayer game environment, the multiplayer game environment ensuring all users are participating in the same game;   generating a live commentary data stream, the live commentary stream including comments provided by a live host comprising human being interacting with a multiplayer game in progress;   recording at least one periodic commentary file including temporal commentary for the multiplayer game;   streaming the live commentary data stream to a network, said plurality of users being coupled to said network;   outputting the periodic commentary file to the network.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15  further including the step of aggregating game status information according to one of a plurality of statistical categories and providing said aggregated game status to the live host. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15  wherein the temporally recent periodic content comprises recorded comments reflecting real-world events relevant to actions in the game which have occurred within a time period prior to execution of the game, and wherein the method further includes the step of outputting the periodic content file at intervals defined by a game service provider. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 15  wherein the game status information is received from a console service hosting the game environment. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 15  wherein the stream of live commentary includes at least a first set of comments provided by a gaming service provider relevant to the multiplayer game and a second source of comments provided by a third party. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 15  wherein a first group of users and a second group of users are participating in the multiplayer game, and the stream of live commentary includes a first set of comments directed to the first group of users and a second set of comments directed to the second group of users.