Slashgeo

OgleEarth points to three games involving GoogleEarth, Earth Contest, GoogleEarthing and GEwar.

The Sydney Morning Herald has an article about location based games. From the article: "Thanks to portable GPS units, mobile phones, public wi-fi hotspots and the internet, gamers worldwide are now roaming cities in the guise of their gaming personas, which can range from spies and assassins to poker players, detectives, ghosts and even characters from the wild west."

Ogle Earth and GIS user blog both point to the press release regarding Earth Contest, a Google Earth-based game. From the PR: " Using Google Earth’s new satellite imagery-based mapping product, we've created the world's biggest interactive game. [...] Key features of Earth Contest include: · Free, fun, educational and challenging game · Ultimate online challenge to beat the GameMaster · Clues and interaction with other players from around the globe · Online basic tutorial and clues via podcasts and blogs · Fast and dynamic game play with hours of online fun · Over 100,000 possible locations to find clues and solve puzzles · Team play available and encouraged to advance in the game [...]"

The Earth Contest Game (launch coverage), one of many Google Earth games, claim in a press release to attract more than 60, 000 people worldwide. From the PR: " EarthContest.com reported today that its online game has drawn over 60,000 new users from over 16 countries within only two weeks after its initial launch. [...] The response has been overwhelming and we are now busy at creating the Big Game with even more mystery and some big prizes." The Ogle Earth blog discuss the announcement.

GeoPlace host an article linking game platforms and geospatial technologies. From the article: "It's obvious that geospatial technologies can contribute greatly to achieving more realistic environments, with ancillary benefits for society if these worlds model reality rather than imaginary environments. [...] The needs of game developers are starting to closely match the needs of geospatial technology practitioners. The key is to gain from the other's experience, rather than continuing on a parallel development path."

Very Spatial links to a BBC article about MetroQuest, an urban planning software not too far from the popular SimCity game. From the article: "The software works by allowing the user to alter certain aspects of their city, such as poplulation location, urban density, and transport - much as the original game did. Users can then see the effect of their decisions 40 years down the line, both on a satellite-view map and in a graphical display. One of the places to put it to practical use has been Manchester, in the north of England. Map Quest worked in partnership with Manchester University's Urban Planning Department to study the whole of the north-west, looking at alternative scenarios for the region. " MetroQuest's website.

Slashdot discuss a Google Maps RTS game (the game site is slashdotted right now). Their summary: "Play the first Google Maps RTS! Online players (2-25) randomly receive a set of countries with troop hitpoints based on real world population data. To play: attack neutral and enemy countries in an effort to try to take over the world. You have a 20% chance of receiving more troops when you overtake an enemy country. More features to come! (currently in public beta status)." From the comments, we find those this other Google Maps CyberNations game and a list of games using Google Maps.

Very Spatial have a nice summary of Sony's Global Mapping System and the upcoming PS3 game console. They also link to a NaviGadget entry with PSP GPS screenshots. From VS's entry: "And, by integrating its mapping functionality with its very popular gaming and other entertainment features (imagine playing DDR using real-world data, for example), Sony’s networked platforms will allow even more users to seamlessly integrate geospatial information into their dail experiences in ways that we probably can’t imagine."

All Points Blog links to a National Geographic article on location-based mobile games. From the article: "In Plundr, players move within a city as their computers track their movements. They trade goods or build up their arsenals to prepare for battles with other "pirates" cruising the city streets. The roving role-playing game is an example of what have been dubbed mobile social games—games that use global positioning systems (GPS) and other location-based technologies to track players' movements within a fictional world layered on top of the real world. [...] A variety of mobile social games have been developed for cell phones or personal digital assistants (PDAs), although only a handful so far have achieved wide popularity. "This is really a nascent field, especially in the [United] States," Slavin said. "

GeoBloggers provides many links discussing the new Backseat Playground game in development, targeted at car passengers with a GPS and a laptop. From the site: "The purpose of the project is to design and implement a game prototype that enables kids/big kids travelling in the back seat of cars to enjoy a rich gaming experience where narrative episodes and embedded gameplay combine with the experience of traveling through the road network. The game and game story will be designed to be meaningful even when the tempo and order of the journey changes." We learn from High Earth Orbit that this project is sponsored by Microsoft and the Ordinance Survey.

The GeoCarta blog discuss The Shroud, a new location-based game. From this article: "The Shroud may be the first high-profile location-aware game to come to market in the United States. The offering will get the benefit of marketing muscle from Sony BMG Music Entertainment, which is acting as co-publisher, and Sprogis claims the title will get deck space—a key for any wireless game. What’s more, The Shroud is a tiered offering: consumers with less-sophisticated phones or only a casual interest can pick up the game and ward off monsters alone, while gamers looking for a more immersive experience can experiment with the multiplayer and location-aware features." From the FAQ: "Q. What do I need to play The Shroud? A. All you need is a cell phone. Check out supported device list on this site." If you have a GPS, it opens the door to much more game features. See below for additional geospatial games.

Slashdot runs a story about a student arrested for making a videogame map of school. Their summary: "A student at the Houston-area Clements High School was arrested, sent to an "Alternative Education Center" and banned from graduation after school officials found he created a video game map of his school. School district police arrested the teen and searched his home where they confiscated a hammer as a 'potential weapon'. ' "They decided he was a terroristic threat," said one source close to the district's investigation.' With an upcoming May 12 school board election, this issue has quickly become political, with school board members involved in the appeal accusing each other of pandering to the Chinese community in an attempt to gain votes."

Slashdot discuss a new redistricting game which allow you to see the effects to districts on election results. Their summary: ""This is a cool redistricting game that was launched out of the capitol building in Washington DC last week. It was created by the USC Game Innovation Lab and has been getting lots of press. It's about time someone took on a tough issue like redistricting reform using the power of the internet." It's crazy that gerrymandering is actually good fodder for a video game."

A recent post at Digital Urban highlights their work using geospatial technologies for mapping virtual worlds like 2nd Life and Ultima VII. In this example, image tiles are extracted from Ultima VII using Exult and visualized on Virtual Earth. From the post: "The rise of simple to use geographic information systems such as Google Maps and Microsoft's Virtual Earth are making it increasingly easy to map any information which is geographically organised. As such maps do not have to link to the real world, virtual and game space can also be mapped and displayed using the same set of tools."

Slashdot has a discussion currently about the hidden Google Earth flight simulator option. Their summary: "Blogger Marco has recently discovered that the newest version of Google Earth includes a flight simulator. Though simple in comparison to full-blown simulators, Google Earth's is fun and addictive. To get started, press Ctrl+Alt+A for the initial dialog (on OS X, Command+Option+A). Then choose your plane (F16 or SR22) and initial airport. Joysticks are supported; it has even been reported that force feedback works. The game's controls are sensitive so it takes some getting used to. Here are all the available controls. For a quick overview, check out this YouTube video."

Jenny over at The Shifted Librarian discovered Stateris: "Proving that even testing your knowledge of the placement of U.S. states can be a fun game, Marylaine Block’s Neat New Stuff points us to Stateris-USA....You can also test your knowledge of Africa, Europe, France, the Netherlands, and the UK...There are some fun links in the lefthand navigation, too, that create maps with a message of your choosing using smoke signals, crop circles, and the “Hollywood” sign."

From the Statetris website: "Statetris is an interesting game mixing aspects of the popular game 'Tetris' and geography. Instead of positioning the typical Tetris blocks, you position states/countries at their proper location. Fun, challenging and educational!"

Slashdot runs a story about Google testing a new virtual world tied to Google Maps and Google Earth named "My World". Their summary: "Rumors of Google's plans to create a virtual world that rivals that of Second Life have popped up once again over the weekend. The company could now be collaborating with Arizona State University to test the 3D social network, which may be tied into Google's current applications of Google Earth and Google Maps."

Ogle Earth has a video and summary up about a new game involving you running around your city with a cell phone based GPS device. It actually looks like something that might catch on. Here is an excerpt from his blog : "Awesome: NavBall by Dutch developers The Saint is a GPS-based game for mobile phones that pits two teams of 11 players against each other in a 45-minute quest around urban environments to "kick" a "ball" into opposing "goals" by lining up as best as possible behind said ball in the intended direction. Sounds and looks very tiring:-) Just take a look at the video:". Head on over there for the full detail and video.

Chris Spagnuolo's GeoScrum blog has a very nice game for the GIS professional on it. It written completely in flash and is very fun to play. It involves being given a random location on the earth, and few seconds to click that location on the map. Give it a go and post your scores here so the rest of the GeoCommunity can make fun of your low scores :). Update: 04/10 13:59 GMT by S : This game was mentioned before on Slashgeo previously. I also copied some other previous geo-games below. And since many shared their score, here's mine: 527,701 pts, Level: 12, Trav. IQ: 127 (I admit this score was not done on my first try, but I haven't played often ;-). Update #2: Thanks to Marc K. for the submission of the same story prior the publishing of this one (yours has been pending too long in our system - thanks for your efforts).