Video games including real-life attributes and/or fantasy team settings

Abstract

A system and method for updating parameters of a video game is provided. As events occur in the real world that may influence a game attribute, a parameter is recorded on a server. A video game player may connect to the server and download the parameter. The parameter is stored by the video game and changes an attribute of the video game. Thus, for example, the new performance characteristics of the rising star may be recorded on the server as improved performance parameters. When these parameters are downloaded by the video game player, the video game incorporates the star-like qualities of the rising star.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A server method of updating an American football sports video game played on a plurality of video game machines according to a series of real-life American football regular season games, comprising:
 during the regular season games of the real-life American football league:
 transmitting an at least weekly series of regular season video game character performance parameter updates corresponding to a regular season game schedule of the American football league, each regular season video game character performance parameter update being based on real-life performances of real-life American football athletes in the most recent real-life regular season games. 
   
     
     
         2 . A server method of updating an American football sports video game played on a plurality of video game machines according to  claim 1 , wherein the series of updated video game player performance parameters include automatic updates without an update request received by the server from the user of the video game. 
     
     
         3 . A server method of updating an American football sports video game played on a plurality of video game machines according to  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the series of regular season video game character performance parameter updates occurs in a middle of the regular season of the real-life American football league schedule of regular season games. 
     
     
         4 . A server method of updating an American football sports video game played on a plurality of video game machines according to a series of real-life American football regular season games and according to a series of real-life American football playoff games, comprising:
 performing the method of  claim 1  during the regular season of the real-life American football league;   during a series of playoff games of the real-life American football league:
 transmitting a series of updated video game player performance parameters to a plurality of video game machines, each of the series of updated video game player performance parameters transmitted during the series of real-life playoff games being based on the most recent performance of the real-life athletes in the most recent real-life playoff season game; 
 each of the series of updated video game player performance parameters updating the corresponding video game character in the American football sport video game such that the video game character more accurately represents their corresponding real life athlete in the video game during the real-life American football league's real-life playoff season. 
   
     
     
         5 . A server method of updating an American football sports video game played on a plurality of video game machines according to  claim 1 , wherein the updated video game character performance parameters relate to video game quarterback characters representing real-life American football quarterback athletes and the video game updates include an updated completion rate for the video game quarterback characters corresponding to the real-life American football quarterback athletes' most current real-life completion rate. 
     
     
         6 . A video game machine including a storage medium configured to provide a sports video game in conjunction with the video game machine, the sports video game including video game teams of video game characters representing real life teams of real-life athletes in the video game, the video game being updated multiple times during a single real-life sports season, the single real-life sports season including regular season games and playoff games beginning with a first regular season game and ending with a final playoff game, the game medium being configured to cause the video game machine to perform a method comprising:
 the video game machine updating the sports video game with current video game character performance parameters for video game characters over the Internet during the single real-life sports season, including:
 after a first game of the regular season of the single real-life sport season, the video game machine receiving a first updated video game character performance parameter via a network including the Internet, wherein the first updated video game character performance parameter is based on a first real-life performance attribute of a particular real-life sports athlete in the first game of the regular season of the single real-life sport season; 
 updating the sports video game with the first updated video game character performance parameter, wherein the first updated video game character performance parameter changes a manner in which a particular individual video game character performs in the sports video game such that the particular individual video game character more closely simulates the real-life performance attribute of the particular athlete during the first game of the regular season in the sports video game; 
 after a second game of the regular season of the single real-life sport season, the video game machine receiving a second updated video game character performance parameter via a network including the Internet, wherein the second updated video game character performance parameter is based on a second real-life performance attribute of the particular real-life sports athlete in the second game of the regular season of the single real-life sport season; and 
 updating the sports video game with the second updated video game character performance parameter, wherein the second updated video game character performance parameter changes a manner in which the particular individual video game character performs in the sports video game such that the particular individual video game character more closely simulates the real-life performance attribute of the particular real-life athlete during the second game of the regular season in the sports video game. 
   
     
     
         7 . A video game machine including a storage medium configured to provide a sports video game in conjunction with the video game machine according to  claim 6 , wherein the sport is American football and the particular real-life athlete is a particular American football quarterback. 
     
     
         8 . A video game machine including a storage medium configured to provide a sports video game in conjunction with the video game machine according to  claim 7 , wherein the first updated video game character performance parameter represents a completion percentage of the particular American football quarterback in the first real-life regular season game of the single real-life sport season. 
     
     
         9 . A video game machine including a storage medium configured to provide a sports video game in conjunction with the video game machine according to  claim 8 , wherein the second updated video game character performance parameter represents a completion percentage of the particular American football quarterback in the second real-life regular season game of the single real-life sport season. 
     
     
         10 . A video game machine including a storage medium configured to provide a sports video game in conjunction with the video game machine according to  claim 6 , further comprising:
 after a first playoff game of the single real-life sport season, the video game machine receiving a third updated video game character performance parameter via a network including the Internet, wherein the third updated video game character performance parameter is based on a third real-life performance attribute of the particular real-life sports athlete in the first playoff game of the single real-life sport season; and   updating the sports video game with the third updated video game character performance parameter, wherein the third updated video game character performance parameter changes a manner in which the particular individual video game character performs in the sports video game such that the particular individual video game character more closely simulates the real-life performance attribute of the particular real-life athlete during the first playoff game in the sports video game.   
     
     
         11 . A video game machine including a storage medium configured to provide a sports video game in conjunction with the video game machine according to  claim 10 , further comprising:
 after a second playoff game of the single real-life sport season, the video game machine receiving a fourth updated video game character performance parameter via a network including the Internet, wherein the fourth updated video game character performance parameter is based on a fourth real-life performance attribute of the particular real-life sports athlete in the second playoff game of the single real-life sport season; and   updating the sports video game with the fourth updated video game character performance parameter, wherein the fourth updated video game character performance parameter changes a manner in which the particular individual video game character performs in the sports video game such that the particular individual video game character more closely simulates the real-life performance attribute of the particular real-life athlete during the second playoff game in the sports video game, wherein the real-life season begins in September and ends in February.   
     
     
         12 . A video game machine including a storage medium configured to provide a sports video game in conjunction with the video game machine according to  claim 11 , wherein the sport is American football and the particular real-life athlete is a particular American football quarterback, wherein:
 the first updated video game character performance parameter represents a completion percentage of the particular American football quarterback in the first real-life regular season game of the single real-life American football sport season;   the second updated video game character performance parameter represents a completion percentage of the particular American football quarterback in the second real-life regular season game of the single real-life sport season;   the third updated video game character performance parameter represents a completion percentage of the particular American football quarterback in the first playoff game of the single real-life American football sport season; and   the fourth updated video game character performance parameter represents a completion percentage of the particular American football quarterback in the second playoff game of the single real-life American football sport season.   
     
     
         13 . A video game machine including a storage medium configured to provide a sports video game in conjunction with the video game machine according to  claim 12 , wherein:
 the first updated video game character performance parameter is received by the video game machine after the first regular season game of the single real-life season occurs but before the second regular season game of the single real-life season occurs in real-life;   the second updated video game character performance parameter is received by the video game machine after the second regular season game of the single real-life season occurs but before the first playoff game of the single real-life season occurs in real-life;   the third updated video game character performance parameter is received by the video game machine after the first playoff game of the single real-life season occurs but before the second playoff game of the single real-life season occurs in real-life;   the fourth updated video game character performance parameter is received by the video game machine after the second playoff game of the single real-life season occurs.   
     
     
         14 . A method of updating an American football sports video game played on a video game machine according to real-life American football events of a real-life American football sport league, comprising:
 automatically receiving a series of updated video game character performance parameters from a server, the series of updated video game character performance parameters being based on weekly performances of real-life American football athletes during a regular season of a real-life American football season;   upon receiving each weekly update of video game character performance parameters based on the weekly real-life American football regular season games, automatically updating the player performance parameters of the American football sports video game in between each of the regular season games based on the most recent regular season American football game.   
     
     
         15 . A method according to  claim 14 , wherein the real-life American football season regular season games occur weekly during the regular season and the updates to the sports video game also occur weekly according to the schedule of the real-life American football season. 
     
     
         16 . A method according to  claim 15 , wherein the updates to the American football sports video game more accurately represent the most recent real-life weekly regular season performance of the real-life American football athletes in the video game as the regular season of the American football league progresses. 
     
     
         17 . A method according to  claim 14 , wherein the updates to the American football sports video game include updates to a wide receiver video game character representing a real-life wide receiver in the video game. 
     
     
         18 . A method according to  claim 14 , wherein the updates to the American football sports video game include updates to a running back video game character representing a real-life running back in the video game. 
     
     
         19 . A method according to  claim 14 , wherein the updates to the American football sports video game include updates to a quarterback video game character representing a real-life quarterback in the video game 
     
     
         20 . A method according to  claim 19 , wherein the updates to the quarterback video game character include a passing completion accuracy associated with the real-life quarterback that the video game character represents in the sports video game.