Prior Art Request for US 20140038722 A1 "Universal virtual entity transformation"

Question

https://www.google.com/patents/US20140038722

1. A method of transforming a virtual entity from a first game to be useable in a second game comprising the steps of:

   a. Obtaining a set of created correlations between characteristics defining the virtual entity in the first game with characteristics available in the second game to define a virtual entity;

   b. applying the correlations to the characteristics defining the virtual entity in the first game to create a set correlated characteristics;

   c. creating a new virtual entity in the second game with the correlated characteristics

   d. the created correlations and applying the correlations to create the new virtual entity being independent of a player selection or input, and

   e. storing the created correlations in a non-transitory memory.

This appears to apply to video games in a series that allow you to import saves from previous games. Mass Effect 2 (2010) is a recent example. Quest for Glory 2 (1990) was one of the first games to allow this. Are these valid examples of prior art for this patent? Are there any earlier examples?

Answer 1

Ultima 5 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultima_V:_Warriors_of_Destiny) allowed the import of characters from Ultima 4. This was mentioned in a review http://spoonyexperiment.com/game-reviews/ultima-5-warriors-of-destiny/ around the 7:14 mark. The game was made in 1988.

Answer 2

I would think that Pokemon is another example of prior art, yes? It's possible to take a pokemon from Pokemon FireRed all the way through to Pokemon X.

I remember Baldur's Gate II allowed you to import your character from Baldur's Gate I, too. It even works on the modernized Enhanced Editions.

Answer 3

What about all the character converters that have already been published?

Pathfinder

Shadowrun

Some homebrew converter