System and method for purchasing physical toys and corresponding virtual toys

摘要

System and methods for physical toy and virtual toy interactions are disclosed. According to aspects of the invention, a system for purchasing a physical toy and a corresponding virtual toy comprises a video game console, a physical toy, and a virtual toy corresponding to the physical toy. The virtual toy corresponding to the physical toy may be made available in a video game played on the video game console. The physical toy may be purchased by a user of the system from an external merchant. The virtual toy corresponding to the physical toy may be separately purchased by the user from a purchasing system within the video game. The physical toy may be registered with the gaming platform. If the user registers the physical toy with the gaming platform and the user previously purchased the virtual toy, the system refunds to the user the purchase price of virtual toy.

主权项

1. A computer implemented method useful in conjunction with a video game having virtual game characters corresponding to physical toys, comprising:
receiving a request to purchase utilizing a purchasing system within the video game, by a purchasing entity, use of a virtual game character for the video game; transmitting information of the virtual game character by the purchasing system to a first gaming platform, the information sufficient for use of the virtual game character in game play of the video game; providing, by a processor of the first gaming platform, for game play of the video game using the virtual game character, with the game play of the video game using the virtual game character resulting in updated information of the virtual game character reflecting a change in status of the virtual game character; receiving information by the purchasing system, indicating a purchase, by the purchasing entity, subsequent to receipt of the request to purchase use of the virtual game character and the transmission of information of the virtual game character to the first gaming platform and the provision for game play of the video game using the virtual game character, of a physical toy corresponding to the virtual game character, the received information including identification data stored on the physical toy and retrieved using radio frequency identification (RFID) interface circuitry of a peripheral device coupled to the first game platform; writing the updated information of the virtual game character by the peripheral device to a memory of the physical toy; and commanding by the purchasing system provision of a return value to the purchasing entity.