Quickly providing good matchups

Abstract

Multiplayer tournaments may be established, and then automatically executed by tournament server devices to help provide users with quality matchups against players of similar skill. Tournaments may be defined by an administrator, and then automatically instantiated any number of times to accommodate demand by players. Some tournaments may group players of similar rank in tournament rounds, and may also employ a window factor to prevent players from playing together too soon after playing together in a prior round. Some tournaments may use a leaderboard qualification process, allowing potential entrants to qualify for tournaments by accomplishing feats specified in qualification parameters.

1 . A game console tournament method, comprising the steps of: 
 receiving a log in request from a tournament administrator;    prompting said tournament administrator for entry of one or more tournament parameters, said parameters including schedule criteria for instantiating a plurality of instances of said tournament, wherein each instance: 
 a) communicates with a plurality of remote game consoles of tournament entrants to set up game session criteria for a plurality of rounds in said tournament;  
 b) receives game session results from a plurality of game consoles participating in a common multiplayer online game session; and  
 c) determines a tournament winner based on results of a plurality of game sessions.  
   
   
   
       2 . The game console tournament method of  claim 1 , wherein said log in request is received from a game console.  
   
   
       3 . The game console tournament method of  claim 1 , wherein said step of determining further comprises a step of comparing game session results received from a first console that participated in said game session with results received from a second console that participated in said game session.  
   
   
       4 . The game console tournament method of  claim 3 , wherein if said step of comparing identifies an inconsistency between said compared results, said method further comprises the step of conducting arbitration to resolve the inconsistency.  
   
   
       5 . The game console tournament method of  claim 4 , wherein said step of arbitration includes querying a leaderboard data structure, said leaderboard data structure receiving game session results from said plurality of game consoles via secure transmission.  
   
   
       6 . The game console tournament method of  claim 1 , wherein said schedule criteria results in an automatic instantiation of a second instance of said tournament upon the completion of a first instance of said tournament.  
   
   
       7 . The game console tournament method of  claim 1 , wherein said tournament parameters further include a window factor identifying a minimum time that must elapse before two tournament entrants may be grouped together for a second game session, after being together for the common multiplayer online game session.  
   
   
       8 . The game console tournament method of  claim 1 , wherein said tournament parameters further include a rank gap identifying a proximity in rank between players to be grouped for a game session in said tournament.  
   
   
       9 . The game console tournament method of  claim 1 , further comprising the step of accepting a new player registration for an instance of said tournament after at least one round of said tournament has completed, and including said new player in subsequent rounds of said tournament.  
   
   
       10 . The game console tournament method of  claim 9 , wherein said parameters include a new player factor, and said method includes the step of using said new player factor to adjust a score of said new player in one or more of said subsequent rounds of said tournament.  
   
   
       11 . The game console tournament method of  claim 10 , wherein said new player factor varies as the new player participates in more rounds of said tournament, and wherein said new player factor is no longer used for said new player after said new player has participated in a number of rounds beyond a minimum specified in said tournament parameters.  
   
   
       12 . The game console tournament method of  claim 1 , further comprising the step of downloading tournament settings data to an entrant's game console, and automatically configuring said game console to play a game session according to the tournament's parameters.  
   
   
       13 . The game console tournament method of  claim 1 , wherein said tournament parameters define a qualification period and one or more qualification criteria for said tournament, and said method further comprises the step of receiving a plurality of score reports from game consoles during said qualification period, and identifying which scores qualify for said tournament.  
   
   
       14 . The game console tournament method of  claim 13 , further comprising the step of automatically notifying previously-qualified entrants when their qualification status is altered due to subsequently-qualified entrants.  
   
   
       15 . The game console tournament method of  claim 14 , further comprising the step of offering said notified entrants an opportunity to retry a qualification attempt in response to said altered status.  
   
   
       16 . The game console tournament method of  claim 14 , further comprising the step of assigning a first plurality of qualifying scores to a first level instance of said tournament, and assigning a second plurality of qualifying scores to a second level instance of said tournament, said first plurality of scores having a higher rank than said second plurality of scores.  
   
   
       17 . The game console tournament method of  claim 1 , further comprising the step of storing said tournament parameters in a tournament settings file, said file including different game session parameters for a plurality of rounds in said tournament.  
   
   
       18 . A tournament method, comprising the steps of: 
 receiving tournament registrations from a plurality of game consoles for tournament entrants;    ranking said plurality of registered entrants;    sequentially grouping a subset of said ranked entrants for participation in a game session in a first round of said tournament;    reranking said entrants based on performance in said first round; and    sequentially grouping a subset of said reranked entrants in a game session in a second round of said tournament, wherein when determining whether to add an entrant to a group, a check is made to determine whether a window factor of time has elapsed since the entrant last played in a game session with any member of the group.    
   
   
       19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein said window factor identifies a number of game sessions.  
   
   
       20 . A leaderboard qualified tournament method, comprising the steps of: 
 posting a challenge definition for a game program, said challenge definition including a plurality of game session criteria to qualify for a tournament;    receiving game session results from a plurality of game consoles of players attempting to qualify for said tournament;    ranking said received game session results and informing players of their current rank;    sending in-game notifications to players when their previously-qualifying score becomes a non-qualifying score as a result of subsequent player scores, and allowing said notified players to retry to qualify; and    closing the qualification period and conducting said tournament using said qualified entrants.