Mogi Location-Based Mobile Gaming Hits Japan 164
Thanks to TheFeature for its article discussing the popular Japanese mobile phone game Mogi, a title which "uses both the position of players in the landscape, and the landscape itself to generate play." The French developers of Mogi at Newt Games explain: "We used the map to give [virtual] creatures some interesting behavior. Some creatures only hunt at night. Some hang around close to parks", thus: "If a player wants to find that [in-game] creature, they'll have to travel near a park [playing Mogi on their mobile phone] in the evening hours." A keen Tokyo-based player of the game also explains why he enjoys it: "All the trips I make in the city are now randomized, as I will often divert a few hundred meters to go and collect an object around me."
It won't spread. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:It won't spread. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:It won't spread. (Score:5, Funny)
Have you ever driven in Naples, Italy?
Re:It won't spread. (Score:2)
I think it'd work.. and be safe. (Score:2)
Re:It won't spread. (Score:4, Insightful)
I can see easily that this game should be huge to advertisers. Imagine being able to direct people to your soba shop...
Re:It won't spread. (Score:5, Funny)
Solution: Steal a game phone. Follow directions to locations where you can steal more phones.
Re:It won't spread. (Score:2)
Tokyo... (Score:2)
Pokemon.... (Score:5, Funny)
A mugger's dream? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:A mugger's dream? (Score:5, Funny)
---
Sigs are for nerds...
Re:A mugger's dream? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:A mugger's dream? (Score:2)
Re:A mugger's dream? (Score:2)
Re:A mugger's dream? (Score:2)
logical extention (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:logical extention (Score:1)
There is a GPS module available for the gameboy advance as far as I'm aware...
So i dont see any reason why it couldnt be done directly on pokemon games on them.
I like it (Score:5, Interesting)
Anyone want to take a bet that this won't appear in the Pokemon series of games? Nintendo are not adverse to hardware add-ons. Not that they all succeed but that's another topic.
It gets kids out of the house, even interacting like geo-caching; I can see the press being positive over this, given the right spin. You'd have to avoid getting kids going to the park at night though, perhaps have the game force you to enter your birth date at the start.
Easy to get around but gives a legal/press get out clause.
Re:I like it (Score:5, Informative)
Nintendo now have kiosks where gamers can play wirelessly against each other.
Re:I like it (Score:1)
Re:I like it (Score:2)
So there's no crime in Japan at all?
right...
Re:I like it (Score:2)
Re:I like it (Score:2)
Re:I like it (Score:2)
Stealing a phone? What the hell can you do with a stolen phone in Japan? The owner calls in the phone as stolen, it gets shut off, and you now have a stolen paperweight.
I'm going to have to assume phones work a little differently overseas, because from what I can tell, stealing a phone would only be useful for getting about 1 hour of free calls, and there are much easier and less risky ways to do that.
Re:I like it (Score:2)
Re:I like it (Score:2)
Re:I like it (Score:2)
Re:I like it (Score:2)
Could be good for geeks... (Score:5, Funny)
sssh!! time to run and patent this brilliant money-making idea!!
Re:Could be good for geeks... (Score:5, Funny)
For some reason I read that as a "monkey-making" idea. It also seemed correct
Pretty Woman (Score:4, Funny)
Maybe they could pay hot chicks to be waiting in a club, and the only way you can get experience . . . is to talk her into giving you a . . . Just think, for a . . . fee you could get interaction with a hot chi...
I don't mean to put a total damper on your pre-IPO frenzy, yet I cannot help but mention that prior art exists in the form of nothing less than the world's oldest profession. And a pimp's got a better business plan, too, because the chicks don't even have to be all that hot, and the "interaction" is way better than just silly game chit-chat.
Re:Pretty Woman (Score:2)
This is E-Pimp.. or iPimp (if we get apple on board)...I'll make millions..
Oh wait it's not 1998 anymore... damn. No more VCs with more money than brains.
Re:Could be good for geeks... (not their wallets) (Score:3, Insightful)
I appreciate the humor of the suggestion, but the marketting concept is also too obvious to overlook. Monsters/experience points/encounters in specific stores/bars/etc. There are too many modes of abusing this concept either for legal profit, or for illegal. Imagine getting hundreds of people to show up at a marketting show where in a sence they have paid for the advertisement because they are paying for the cell phone use.
Re:Could be good for geeks... (not their wallets) (Score:3, Funny)
Less obvious is someone else placing an object: To get Isansti Cup: Enter Bank Lobby - say "At Entian His Isansti Cup!" and tell the nearest teller to give it to you.
Re:Could be good for geeks... (not their wallets) (Score:2)
Read it out loud folks.
Re:Could be... (Score:2)
Maybe they could pay hot chicks to be waiting in a club, and the only way you can get experience points is to talk her into giving you a secret code!
Yeah, let's all wait for that.Re:Could be good for geeks... (Score:2, Informative)
That game already exists. It was called "Leisure Suit Larry...."
Re:Could be good for geeks... (Score:2)
Reality gaming! (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Reality gaming! (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Reality gaming! (Score:2)
Re:Reality gaming! (Score:1, Offtopic)
Re:Reality gaming! (Score:5, Funny)
I don't know about the real-life version being boring - I imagine it'd be quite entertaining to watch hordes of people walking into things and falling over because they were trying to play a game and walk down a street simultaneously (a bad move when many probably haven't yet mastered walking and chewing gum at the same time).
Plenty of scope there for passing away the time Nelson (from the Simpsons) style: Ha-ha!
Or, you could get interactive and try to break their minds by dressing up as characters from the game and confronting them in real life. Now that would be fun! :-)
Re:Reality gaming! (Score:2)
You forgot to mention balancing a laptop on one fore-arm while trying to play with the other hand...
Damn (Score:3, Funny)
Those dealers for not standing still
Re:Damn (Score:2, Funny)
you could have an ebay ranking type system incase of narcs.
Lawsuit pending? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: Mogi Location-Based Mobile Gaming Hits Japan (Score:3, Funny)
So the harder the game gets, the lesser your chances of reaching anywhere on time?
Advertising (Score:5, Interesting)
Great way to get to know a city, though you'd really need to feel secure.
Could also be applied as a Virtual guide for a tourist trail. E.g. Walk around the countryside, get guided to the local stately pile or see if you can spot the rare lesser-spotted trilby in the bird sanctuary...
Reminds me of this story [slashdot.org]
Re:Advertising (Score:2)
No thanks.
In America, you might be used to having adverts rammed down your throats wherever and whatever you do, but as someone who lives in a country where advertising is a little less "in your face" the last thing I want is a game peppered with commercials.
Re:Advertising (Score:1)
Then again in midtown NYC it would be hard to find a spot from which you couldn't see a Starbucks.
At least the kids will have to leave the house (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:At least the kids will have to leave the house (Score:2, Informative)
1) getting a drivers license requires over a month of schooling and about $2000.
2) unless you're off in the farmlands, there is no side street parking
3) traffic is brutul and the streets incredibly narrow
So, the trains are cheaper, faster, and more convenient and so g
Nothing new ... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Nothing new ... (Score:1)
That might well be botfighters botfighters.com. The technology for these things is generally still a bit in development, for example its difficult to get location information from many network providers, due to the security issues of it.
Re:Nothing new ... (Score:2)
Not even possible in the US. :( (Score:5, Insightful)
Sucks because this would be pretty damn cool.
There's a somewhat larger playing field over here in the US as well.
It is fully possible in the US. (Score:2, Informative)
That is not a correct statement. Most of the newer Nextel phone models, and some of the older ones, have built in GPS recievers. That would give you more accuracy than needed for this application. This data is available to the applications inside the phone, as you can get mapping software and fleet tracking software for them.
Now if you rule out Nextel as they don't follow the GSM standard or even TDMA/CDMA "standards," then I believe
Dangerous (Score:5, Funny)
Further... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Further... (Score:1, Troll)
This won't be a problem in real life. In real life -- no offense to your friend, who I'm sure is quite pulchritudinous -- the vast majority of "girls" who "spend much of [their] time doing online fantasy RPing", and as elf-maidens, no less, are, in fact boys.
That minor
Re:Further... (Score:2)
ok, seriously... (Score:2)
Re:ok, seriously... (Score:5, Funny)
Kanagawa? (Score:1)
Potential for advertisers? (Score:2, Redundant)
how does it work? (Score:4, Interesting)
this may be just a ploy to get people to accept tracking technologies. I have been waiting for them to come up with a reason why tracking us was a "good thing", but I didn't figure the rationale would be a game. I suppose, soon standard phones will come with gps receivers, and as to who your position is transmitted to -- well, you'll just have to trust the firmware does what the booklet says it does.
Re:how does it work? (Score:5, Informative)
I did some work on a similar type of game last year, and our main concern was whether we actually wanted people to physically meet each other, so we had virtual object layers superimposed on the city, where each player saw their own personalized layer: two people could be racing towards an object, but each saw the object in a different location.
Re:how does it work? (Score:2)
Community support (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Community support (Score:4, Insightful)
Pete, using the dark side
Re:Community support (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Community support (Score:1)
Re:Community support (Score:1)
OMG NERD RUSH WTF?!?! KeKeKe!
Re:Community support (Score:3, Funny)
Hey, if they're video phones and you got photos from several angles, you could put organize them one after another and get the criminal to rotate like in the Matrix!
I'd like to see that wanted video in the local post office.
Don't forget consumer demand... (Score:3, Insightful)
And if any of you are in Japan (Score:4, Interesting)
And there currently is 1-month free trial running!
OK that's shameless promotion, I work for Newt Games
Sad Reflection On Society (Score:4, Insightful)
Parks are some of the most beauitful areas of our world, and particularly in the city. They are not only beautiful during the day but also at night when everything looks different, wildlife acts differently etc.
It's so sad that so many people believe parks should not be visited at night... and how many believe it is the game makers responsiblity to keep people away from parks at night - surely it's the responsibility of no-one except (potential) criminals who may be there, and the police + management organisations whos job it is to keep those areas safe.
Instead of moaning or crowing about potential law suits for location based games, try lobbying your representatives to raise taxes and spend it on more police presence.
Re:Sad Reflection On Society (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Sad Reflection On Society (Score:2)
You see the commercial value in this? (Score:4, Insightful)
Criminal Hacks (Score:2)
Steer an innocent guy to the wrong place at the wrong time -- he takes the fall for a bank robbery.
Maybe use the innocent guy as an unwitting drug mule?
-kgj
I'd like to see (Score:2)
Blimey! (Score:2, Insightful)
Damn Virtual Trespassers (Score:2)
How dare they put virtual objects on my Geolocation. A man's home is his Intellectual Property.
Re:Take an object, leave an object (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Take an object, leave an object (Score:1)
Re:Take an object, leave an object (Score:4, Informative)
This game is nothing like geocaching.
Re:Take an object, leave an object (Score:2, Interesting)
you have to show up at a certain location in order to collect an "item" which is basically proof that you were at that location (maybe at a particular time).
kinda silly if you ask me (as is geocaching but I won't get into that).
Re:Take an object, leave an object (Score:5, Insightful)
From post:
Even if you don't read the article, at least read the post.
Re:Take an object, leave an object (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Take an object, leave an object (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Take an object, leave an object (Score:1)
PS. You've destroyed my childhood dreams of owning a giant windup sock.
Re:Take an object, leave an object (Score:3, Funny)
That's how we get our pay cheques these days.
This is cool (Score:3, Funny)
Just imagine you have just lost a fight against someone, then you notice the guy next to you is playing the same game you realise that he is the one who's just kicked you arse. An
Re:Bimyou (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Bimyou (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Bimyou (Score:1)
Unfortunately, yes.
Now the words, "LIGHTNING BOLT! LIGHTNING BOLT!" are forever seared into my brain.
Re:Bimyou (Score:2)