Across-match analytics in peer-to-peer gaming tournaments

1. A method comprising:

receiving first game state data captured from a first gaming application executing on a first client and characterizing in-game information of a first match of a peer-to-peer digital gaming tournament, the first game state data captured prior to completion of the first match, the first game state data further characterizing a value of one or more in-game data objects at two or more points of time during the first match, the one or more in-game data objects internal to the first gaming application, originally generated by the first gaming application, and used by the first gaming application for execution of the first match;

receiving second game state data captured from a second gaming application executing on a second client and characterizing in-game information of a second match of the peer-to-peer digital gaming tournament, the first match and the second match being separate and disparate gaming instances, the first match having a first plurality of game states, the second match having a second plurality of game states, the first plurality of game states differing from the second plurality of game states, the second game state data further characterizing a value of the one or more in-game data objects at the two or more points of time during the second match;

comparing the first game state data and the second game state data using a predefined comparison rule by computing a measure of a performance of a first player in the first match with a measure of a performance of a second player in the second match; and

providing the comparison;

wherein at least one of the receiving, comparing, and providing is performed by at least one data processor forming part of at least one computing system.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the predefined comparison rule defines the measure of the performance of the first player and the measure of the performance of the second player.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a first video capture from the first client of a display of the first match;

receiving a second video capture from the second client of a display of the second match;

selecting, based on the comparison, a portion of the first video capture or a portion of the second video capture; and

streaming at least one of the portion of the first video capture and the portion of the second video capture to at least one viewing client.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

comparing the first game state data and the second game state data periodically and at multiple time points.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the first match and the second match begin at different times, the method further comprising:

registering in time the first game state data to the second game state data, wherein time is referenced to a game time, an absolute time, or an tournament time.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the first client receives game data from a third party game server, the game data for implementing the first match.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the first match and the second match are separate instances of the digital video game.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the digital video game is an asynchronous game.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the digital video game is a single player asynchronous game.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the first match and the second match are played concurrently.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the predefined comparison rule is previously defined by a user.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the comparing includes identifying at least one period of time during the first match or the second match in which an event occurs.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the receiving of the first game state data occurs during the first match.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the receiving of the first game state data occurs periodically during the first match.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the first game state data includes: instantaneous score, change in score over a predefined period of time, character position, character health.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the first match and the second match are initiated with a common random number seed to provide common starting conditions.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein the first client and the second client are separate computing systems in communication with a third party game server and an analytics server via a network, the third party game server separate from the analytics server, at least one of the receiving, comparing, and providing is performed by the analytics server.

18. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory machine-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more programmable processors, cause the one or more programmable processors to perform operations comprising:

receiving first game state data captured from a first gaming application executing on a first client and characterizing in-game information of a first match of a peer-to-peer digital gaming tournament, the first game state data captured prior to completion of the first match, the first game state data further characterizing a value of one or more in-game data objects at two or more points of time during the first match, the one or more in-game data objects internal to the first gaming application originally generated by the first gaming application, and used by the first gaming application for execution of the first match;

receiving second game state data captured from a second gaming application executing on a second client and characterizing in-game information of a second match of the peer-to-peer digital gaming tournament, the first match and the second match being separate and disparate gaming instances, the first match having a first plurality of game states, the second match having a second plurality of game states, the first plurality of game states differing from the second plurality of game states, the second game state data further characterizing a value of the one or more in-game data objects at the two or more points of time during the second match;

comparing the first game state data and the second game state data using a predefined comparison rule by computing a measure of a performance of a first player in the first match with a measure of a performance of a second player in the second match; and

providing the comparison.

19. A system comprising a machine-readable medium storing instructions and one or more programmable processors configured to perform operations comprising:

receiving first game state data captured from a first gaming application executing on a first client and characterizing in-game information of a first match of a peer-to-peer digital gaming tournament, the first game state data captured prior to completion of the first match, the first game state data further characterizing a value of one or more in-game data objects at two or more points of time during the first match, the one or more in-game data objects internal to the first gaming application, originally generated by the first gaming application, and used by the first gaming application for execution of the first match;

receiving second game state data captured from a second gaming application executing on a second client and characterizing in-game information of a second match of the peer-to-peer digital gaming tournament, the first match and the second match being separate and disparate gaming instances, the first match having a first plurality of game states, the second match having a second plurality of game states, the first plurality of game states differing from the second plurality of game states, the second game state data further characterizing a value of the one or more in-game data objects at the two or more points of time during the second match;

comparing the first game state data and the second game state data using a predefined comparison rule by computing a measure of a performance of a first player in the first match with a measure of a performance of a second player in the second match; and

providing the comparison.

20. The method of claim 3 , wherein the first client includes a first peer-tournament module that captures the first game state data from the first gaming application and transmits the captured game state data to an analytics server, the second client includes a second peer-tournament module that captures the second game state data from the second gaming application and transmits the captured game state data to the analytics server.

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the first peer-tournament module captures the first video capture by at least: capturing first user interface screen shots at a predetermined rate, capturing first open graphics library layers, or capturing first data through a first pixel buffer; and forming the first video capture;

wherein the second peer-tournament module captures the second video capture by at least: capturing second user interface screen shots at the predetermined rate, capturing second open graphics library layers, or capturing second data through a second pixel buffer; and forming the second video capture.