Google To Host Gaming Via YouTube?

Microsoft and Square Enix aren't the only ones making news with patent applications this week. Given YouTube's impact on entertainment, it's only fitting that Google may want to send the site down the same path as televisions and PC's into the world of gaming, and that's exactly what an application the company filed in February outlines.

The patent, titled "Web-Based System for Generation of Interactive Games Based on Digital Videos," calls for “the collaborative generation of interactive features for digital videos, and in particular to interactive video annotations enabling control of video playback locations and creation of interactive games,” according to BNET.

Some YouTube users have already been stitching separate videos together with clickable pop-up options to create "Choose Your Own Adventure"-style narratives, but Google looks like they want to take interactive experiences to another level entirely, judging from their choice of words.

"A video may have associated with it one or more annotations, which modify the appearance and/or behavior of a video as it was originally submitted to an online video hosting site," the description states. "Some examples of annotations are graphical text box annotations, which display text at certain locations and certain times of the video, and pause annotations, which halt playback of the video at a specified time within the video."

Depending on how these plans are brought to life, there may be huge opportunities for independent developers to circulate interactive demos or enhance trailers. If the interface is easy enough to handle, such innovations could have quite an impact.

What do you think Google will use its new patent for? Do you like the idea of integrating games with YouTube? Share your assessments in the comment section below.

Tags Google, YouTube