Don’t be alarmed by those Canadians who seem to be wrestling with their cell phones. They’re probably just fishing.
More accurately, they’re likely playing “Swordfish,” a new game that allows players to locate their quarry, drop a virtual line and reel in the big one. Unlike most mobile games though, “Swordfish” requires more than just a handset-it calls for a little exercise.
Players initiate the game by “scanning” the area with global positioning system-enabled phones, which delivers their coordinates to the game. Then they’re shown navigation screens on their handsets that display schools of fish within 100 meters. After walking within range, a trophy hunter drops a virtual line, waits for a bite and tries to fight to land the prey.
“It’s like real fishing-the game turns the phone into a fishing rod,” said Stephen Nykolyn, vice president of marketing for Blister Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Canadian company KnowledgeWhere that developed the game. “When you hook one, the phone will vibrate. We built artificial intelligence into these virtual fish, and they’ll fight with the line when they’re hooked.”
Smaller fish fight less than bigger ones, Nykolyn explained, and all the traditional angling techniques apply.
“If you let them run too far, the hook may slip out of their mouth and they’ll escape,” he said. “If you reel them in too fast, you run the risk of having the line snap” and nothing but a fish story to show for it.
“Swordfish” is one recent example of location-based gaming, which some say is the next big thing in wireless entertainment. While the type of play can vary greatly from game to game, the titles all have one thing in common: They integrate a mobile device with the element of physical geography. Instead of playing “inside” their phones, gamers use handsets to play in the physical world-even if they’re just catching virtual fish.
Location-based games have been around for a few years, but only recently have they begun to gain any traction. “Swordfish” spent three consecutive months among the top 10 of Bell Mobility’s download offerings, Nykolyn said.
While the location-based gaming segment may still be niche, it’s worldwide. In Tokyo, gamers play a variation on a classic scavenger hunt called “Mogi.” About 20,000 Muscovites compete in a combination action/role-playing game titled “BotFighters.” And in several U.S. cities last year, students formed teams and sought treasure they “captured” with camera phones as they vied for $5,000 scholarships.
A Manhattan-based game encouraged New Yorkers to submit camera-phone photos of themselves doing something outrageous at specific intersections. Gamers voted on the pictures and competitors were “awarded” those locations. In San Francisco, teams take orders via their handsets encouraging them to locate obscure landmarks or persuade strangers to wear ridiculous outfits.
“My belief is that when these platforms have unique capabilities, you have to have a different class of application before you say, `This is unique and different,’ ” said James Robarts, president of GloVentures, a Redmond, Wash.-based developer of location-based games. “Cell phones without location are really crappy GameBoys; they just suck as a game platform. But you add location, and now you have something truly unique. If you can do that, you’ve created a new industry.”
Robarts, a former Microsoft executive, began field testing his first games in 2000 during a one-week road rally in Mexico. “We became absolutely convinced the ubiquitous mass-computer device called the cell phone is an incredible new entertainment platform,” he said.
GloVentures is preparing to release “RayGun,” a GPS-based game that puts gamers in the shoes of ghost hunters. Using a phone as a “spectral” weapon, gamers attack ghosts by moving toward them as their handsets emit an “energy cone.” The further a player goes in a single direction without turning, the bigger the cone gets, and the more range the “weapon” has.
Because gamers are generally staring at their handsets as they’re pursuing the apparitions, “RayGun” requires at least as much open space as a baseball infield. And the title has the earmarks of a first-generation game: Because GPS technology can’t determine which direction a player is facing, gamers must constantly move instead of simply rotating to face a ghost. Also, there’s a brief lag time as the system updates the “energy cone.”
Still, modern GPS technology is an improvement on cellular triangulation, which can be far less accurate in determining locations and can have longer latency periods.
“The key thing is that high-resolution GPS allows me to use smaller play areas,” Robarts said. “This stuff happens very quickly-games can be very fast-paced and short in duration. That means casual and limited-time players can play this.”
Not that you necessarily want to get in a couple of games of “RayGun” on your way to the office.
“It starts to combine classic video entertainment with a sport,” Robarts added. “Actually, for me, it’s a workout.”
GloVentures hopes to launch the title with Nextel Communications Inc. in the next several weeks.
While location-based games have been slow to attract a mass following, developers see the growing proliferation of GPS-enabled handsets as key in attracting gamers. And with the Federal Communications Commission mandate that 90 percent of handsets used on some networks be location-capable by year’s end, insiders see the United States as fertile ground for the concept.
`”We’re largely focusing on the U.S. market,” Nykolyn said, adding that he hopes to make “Swordfish” available on U.S. carrier networks by April. “We’re focusing on location-based games and entertainment products that take advantage of handsets that will be ubiquitous in the next couple of years in both Canada and the U.S.”
“RayGun” will work on Nextel’s i710 and i730 handsets and is expected to be available in the next few months. While carriers will set the price for “RayGun,” Robarts said gamers likely will pay a one-time fee for unlimited play. That business model contrasts with “Swordfish,” where Bell Mobility charges about a dime every time a player performs a scan.
But location-based games offer potential that most mobile entertainment applications can’t, Nykolyn said. The ability to get people to go where you want them to go opens the door for all sorts of marketing opportunities.
“The location technology, especially when married with entertainment, has what we call `the cowboy effect,”‘ said Nykolyn. “Like cowboys herd cattle, with location technology and the right incentives, we can herd people to the right location.
“We’re looking at it from marketing and cross-promotional perspectives. We’re taking this beyond gaming.”
