This topic was begun on this board and others at the end of last year but seemed to trail off. In light of several recent announcements and the work I’ve seen on a number of projects recently, I thought it was time to give it another go around. What do you think of the possibilities for Location Based Games (LBG) now and in the future? If you are not familiar with LBG, it describes a type of game play where the users’ locations in and movements in the real world affect/move the game character and/or environment. These games may or may not use a wireless connection for networked play. The location technology may come from cell-tower only (more accurate in metro regions and much less accurate in rural areas), GPS, triangulation or other. Is it technically feasible? Yes. On the cellular side, we have all seen a push for e911 in the U.S. and a similar push starting in EU. Verizon and Sprint have started including GPS on all phones sold in the U.S., and the other U.S. carriers will be able to locate all phones on their networks via triangulation by year-end. On the non-connected side, we see LBG beginning with devices from Garmin and Trimble and through add-on devices for the GBA from Redsky Mobile. Will gamers want to play LBG? Is this a new genre of gaming or simply an extension of previous ones? What is missing in the puzzle? Those are the questions I raise for the group… ------------------------------------------ To start the discussion, a list of few of the currently available games is included below: Mogi-hunt: cell-phone and web-based treasure hunt game http://www.in-duce.net/archives/mogi_item_hunt.php Undercover: virtual paintball in the real-world http://www.playundercover.com/index.jsp Gunslingers: virtual paintball in the real-world http://guns.mikoishi.com/gunsSingTel/index.html BotFighters: virtual mech battles in the real-world http://www.itsalive.com/page.asp?id=1075 Virtua Maze: http://www.garmin.com/products/geko301/screen.html Geocaching: GPS based treasure hunt and hide-and-seek game http://www.geocaching.com The first four are currently on cell-phones but could be done without a cell connection on a GBA, DS, PSP, etc.. ----------------------- Kurt Uhlir NAVTEQ W2Forum ProfileLinkedIn

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Will it happen?

Definitely. It'll be huge, I think.

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What is missing in the puzzle?

The sorts of overlay displays that make it more like "augmented reality" and less like running around and occasionally squinting at your cell phone.

I'll be interested to read your links, but that's my opinion so far.

No, conventional GPS isn't good enough for AR. You'd need a magnetic system or a sonic positioner, and those are local-area limited. So for AR, you're limited to a room where you have a SPS system set up. While that's wonderful for some sort of AR laser-tag (live action Unreal Tournament or something), it means the traditional concept of location-based gaming is out.

GPS gives your location to within several meters though. So the point is that you can have virtual online "artifacts" on a map - a place that a player must go to. Or regions. This could be useful for things that are more vague in terms of locations - going to address X, or being within region Y. For example, a worldwide game of Scorched Earth would be cool - kind of a simulated, person-to-person game of global-thermonuclear-war.

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Will gamers want to play LBG?

I think you would probably get college kids to play, but anybody that has a hectic schedule wouldn't unless where they need to go actually fits into the game some how.

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Is this a new genre of gaming or simply an extension of previous ones?

Hand held games where if you get close enough, the "monsters" go into battle mode and you have to fight. Don't know the name of it but saw comercials for it a couple of years ago.

Here's a related series at the Education Arcade

I was also just reading an article in Computer Games magazine by these guys. Apparently, LBGs are big in Sweden. One of the most popular has something to do with fighting robots.

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Original post by reana1 Here's a related series at the Education Arcade I was also just reading an article in Computer Games magazine by these guys. Apparently, LBGs are big in Sweden. One of the most popular has something to do with fighting robots.

I haven't heard of the Education Arcade before, but they are right regarding some of the most publicized LBG. The one people have heard the most about is called BotFighters (linked to in the first post). It is a very simple version of LBG, but has been sold to carriers in Sweden, Russian and the UK.

Take a look at the game Gunslingers (also linked to above) and see what the next generation of Bot Fighters looks like.

These virtual paintball-type/FPS games are very easy to understand, but I could see the trivia and trading games being more popular with the general population.