According to Webpronews a recently approved patent for Nintendo could lead to lawsuits against other game console manufacturers. The patent was originally filed in 2000 and is for a videogame instant messaging system. The patent covers a chat system that involves a remotely stored buddy list, allows for multiple statuses, and could broadcast information about gaming activities. It would also display alerts when new e-mail is received, enable the transmission of player preferences, and allow for communication through either voice or text messages.

Two aging products, the Nintendo64 and the Game Boy Color, are mentioned in the patent, but there is speculation that the system could be implemented in the upcoming Wii. It may also serve as a bartering chip against software giant Microsoft. It looks as though Microsoft's Xbox Live system may infringe upon Nintendo's new patent.

If so, Nintendo could try to reach a cross-licensing deal that would allow it to delve into areas covered by some of Microsoft's patents. Sony is another potential target if Nintendo tries to pursue the matter. It's possible that nothing will come of this. It's also possible that we'll see a voice chat-enabled Wii, and a huge court battle between Nintendo and Microsoft. Of course, there are a few likelihoods that fall between those potential outcomes.

If anyone does cause a dispute out of this it would be very weird for Microsoft as being a member of Xbox Live since it first came out I know that the messaging system that Microsoft has in place is one of the best things the Xbox and the 360 has going for it and I couldn't imagine Xbox Live without it. Hopefully all the online gaming systems will have their own "Xbox Live" and be just as great. Go ahead and give us your thoughts about these rumors by commenting after the jump.

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U.K. Soccer champ Shaun Wright-Phillips will soon be taking time off the field to test his "virtual" skills against XBox Live members next week when he joins the XBox® Team for a Game With Fame session on its top soccer title, 2006 FIFA World Cup™ .  To get their shot at SW, XBox Live members should sign on and add Game With Fame Gamertags to their friends list. After that, go to XBox Live this coming Tuesday, 20 June between 5 and 7 pm GMT to see if you've been invited.

Microsoft touts its XBox 360 as "the most powerful video game and entertainment system, delivering the best games, the next generation of the premier Xbox Live online gaming service, and unique digital entertainment experiences."  The online  gaming service, XBox Live®, was launched in North America, Europe and Japan last year, with Columbia, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Korea added just this year.

The PGR 3 tournament that started on XBOX live in April has now come down to the finals which are being held in Bologna Italy. After weeks of rounds that eliminated the rest of the competition, the 12 best PGR 3 players in the World are going to face off in an all out battle to see who is really the best of all!

The competition will take place all this week and the results will be chronicled on the PGR 3 section of XBOX.com. Right now the final 12 players are in Italy touring the countryside and preparing themselves for the upcoming competition.

While the 12 competitors are currently being friendly to each other while cavorting around Bologna Italy before the tournament, you can be sure that once the competition starts, friendship and kindness will take a back seat to competitiveness and the ruthless, racing action will begin. The start of this competition will signal the start of an all out bid to prove who is the best PGR 3 racer of all.

The guys over at TeamXbox managed to get their hands on Galaga, which has made its way to the Microsoft test servers already and will soon be making its way to homes everywhere. The gameplay is basically the same at the arcade, except this time you'll spend a one time fee of 400 microsoft points instead of an endless amount of quarters. As you might have expected, the game comes complete with 12 achievements worth 200 points and Leaderboards so you can compare yourself to your friends and the world's greatest players.

Achievements can be earned by making it to certain stages in the game, clearing out every enemy in a challenge stage, or by finding special foes. To help make your journey a little easier, you'll have the option to start from any stage that you've played in the game after you get a game over, so you won't have to waste your time on the initial levels if you don't want to. You can use either the analog stick or the D-pad to move, 'A' for single shot fire, and 'B' for rapid fire in case your finger gets tired. If you need to get your Galaga fix and can't make your way to the arcade, then this XBLA title seems like it'll do the trick once released.

Before much was known of the Xbox 360, the Wii and the PS3, it was generally assumed that porting across the three platforms would be much easier than on previous consoles because they would most likely be pretty similar in terms of features and performance. How times have changed.

Last generation it was still relatively easy to handle multi platform ports with all three consoles having roughly the same basic capabilities at least in terms of features, with only the Xbox's "Live" online networking system really separating it from the Gamecube and PS2. Developers generally aimed for the lowest common denominator (the PS2) and worked from there, this time things look to be a little different.

Find out just what will make porting the next generation a challenge, after the jump!

Xbox Development Team member Daryl Welsh (IndieGames) must have gotten so many questions about Xbox 360's personal gamer pictures that he decided to answer them all in his recent blog entry.

To those who are still in the dark, the personal gamer picture is a new feature with the Xbox 360 Spring Update. You don't need the Xbox Live Vision camera to get this nifty picture. In fact, you can get a new image now. It's that easy. Personal gamer pictures will only be seen by people on your friends list (such a lucky bunch!). The not-so-special ones see your public picture.

The Xbox Live Vision camera can be used to take your own photo, which again, only the chosen ones will be able to see. Slated for a Fall 2006 release, the camera is being tested by the Xbox Team. So there's a chance you'd see personal pictures of Xbox Team members. Seems they're having a fun time with the new feature.

Well, this is a treat for you Xbox fanboys/girls. We've come across a leaked picture that shows some of the content soon to be available to you Live users on the Marketplace. This has some exciting releases as you can see.

Some content is already available such as the PGR3 Cadillac Pack and the PDZ maps, but some of this is worth the wait. The Street Fighter 2 release in particular, which is worth 400 points, looks set to be one hot download once released. This should be available in June instead of July as was previously mentioned. More Large PDZ maps will be available for 500 points.

Microsoft stated previously that future packs for PGR3 will be available, including 5 cars, 2 game modes, and that it will cost 500 points. The game modes include Cat and Mouse and Proximity Based Racing. Kameo has its own release called the hardcore package, which is worth 500 points and will be released in July. Harder versions of single player and co-op modes will be included as well as new leaderboards, skins and a new gaming type for co-op.

Cloning Clyde, a new arcade game, is slated for July, and has an unbelievable price of 800 points, so it better be good. However this is nothing compared to the 1200 points for Lumines due August/September. Frogger is due same time for 400 points. Roboblitz and Pac-Man are due at 800 and 400 points respectively. All in all, these are set at some rewarding, but very expensive releases.

Major Nelson again graces us with insightful information that can be found on his blog. This time around though, its slightly different. Instead of just displaying the top Xbox 360 games, now he is releasing the top ten Xbox 360 games and top ten original Xbox games. Here is the run down.

Xbox 360 Top Live Games
1 Call of Duty 2
2 Ghost Recon 3
3 Oblivion
4 BFMC
5 PGR3
6 Final Fantasy XI
7 Rockstar Table Tennis
8 EA SPORTS™ Fight Night Round 3
9 Perfect Dark Zero
10 Hitman: Blood Money Demo

Original Xbox Top Live Games
1 Halo 2
2 Battlefield 2: MC
3 Counter-Strike
4 Splinter Cell Chaos
5 Pro Evolution Soccer 5
6 Rainbow Six 3 BA
7 Madden NFL 2006
8 Star Wars: Battlefront 2
9 Forza Motorsport
10 Ghost Recon 2: SS

He goes on to say that the #1 overall game was reining champion Halo 2, which is then followed by all 10 Xbox 360 games, then followed by the rest of the original Xbox games.