Patent ID: 8353773

Claim:
A server for a game system in which a plurality of game apparatuses communicate across a network, wherein each game apparatus stores its own self-identifying ID information and registered friend ID information, comprising: a first storage area containing a list of game apparatuses connected to the network, the list including game apparatus identifying information and registered friends identifying information associated to each game apparatus connected to the network, wherein the registered friends identifying information of each game apparatus comprises an ID value associated to each friend registered to the game apparatus; and wherein the server is configured to permit a first and a second game apparatus to play a game with one another over the network only after checking information stored in the list and verifying that the list contains both (a) registered friend identifying information associated to the first game apparatus that includes an ID value identifying the second game apparatus as a registered friend of the first game apparatus and (b) registered friend identifying information associated to the second game apparatus that includes an ID value identifying the first game apparatus as a registered friend of the second game apparatus.