Did Microsoft Try to Get Involved in the Celebrity Game Show Business?

It may be hard to believe, but it looks like Microsoft (MSFT) may have tried to get into the celebrity game show business a few years ago. They were so serious about it that they even filed a patent on their idea, patent number 6,800,031 filed on April 15, 2002.

Here is the abstract:

"An interaction competition provides an entertaining enjoyable environment for a player to compete against a celebrity in a head-to-head trivia game. The questions may be associated with the celebrity rather than random general information or general trivia. The celebrity can participate via prerecorded audio media, prerecorded audio-visual media, or in a live real-time format. A goal of the competition is for a player to gain more points than the celebrity. Another goal of the competition is for the player to answer more questions correctly than the celebrity. At least one or more game episodes can be provided on computer-readable media. A game episode may be implemented with a product featuring a celebrity. The competition can be provided in many different gaming environments. The competition can be provided online via a web-based format; a television game show format; telephone call-in radio talk show format; or a cellular phone game format."

Author owns MSFT.