Who hasn't looked at the PS3 Home system and thought to themselves, "You know, the only thing missing here is Bourne Identity-esque intrigue and a gripping, all-pervasive sense of paranoia"? Nobody, that's who. Especially not forumite Adamska, who conceptualized this week's fake game (Photoshopped above by our own Topher Cantler): Venery Chase.
Venery Chase uses the PS3's Home system not just as a social networking device, but as a massive, realistic, subtle MMO. There's no levelling up or gold farming or even that much combat within Venery Chase; it's just about being intelligent and doing what you have to do travel the world unnoticed. You gain points by living longer -- this is a game which favors intelligent subtlety over your ability to gank people.
Hit the jump for Adamska's idea, and don't be afraid to hit the official thread if you'd like to present your own fake game pitch.
Sez Adamska:
Venery Chase
Playstation 3
Rating: M (cause all games on the net are filled with idiots)
Players: *how the hell do you do the infinity sign?* A lot!
All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages
Keeping up with painstakingly detailed simulated games, the new Home System will implement an underlying game scenario. For each person who joins the Home interactive community, they may also choose to participate in the story that everyone's talking about.
In the scenario, you begin the story as your avatar, in a simulated city of your choice (If you live in Seattle or Manchester, it's all your choice.) The point of the game is to travel the world without being noticed, similar to The Bourne Identity, but a lot less espionage.
Your avatar must adapt to their environment in order to blend in. If you're in a new city, where everyone knows Mandarin, well you're going to have to pick up Mandarin. If your avatar pisses someone off you can dispose of them and steal their identity. If a group of avatars are after you and you manage to find their base, well then perform a little sabotage and you can rid yourself of them. (You can blend in with a crowd and disappear or you can booby-trap someone's home or assassinate them, along with many other means of progressing in your journey.)
The scenario calls for all of this acting and simulation. If you need money to get to another state, well learn how to play the guitar or steal from someone. If you need a plane ticket, learn how to fly or beat up a pilot and take your own life into your hands.
While the game all takes place on the Rhymes with Bony Network, certain players who have longer lifespans will climb up in notoriety and other players will be more vigil to hunt them down. How many days can you go without being caught? What if you only play at certain hours of the night and try to cheat the system? Well rest assured, there will be somebody after you.
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Frankly, I feel that an MMO of this scale and style might be enough to get me to finally buckle down and buy a PS3 (and a working router). But what do you think?
Contest:
10:00 AM on 10.05.2007
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But this fake game has less espionage.
Sure I'd power it on!
Eh. I'll getcha next week.