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Computer company HP has just revealed a new handheld gaming unit called the MScape. This unit uses GPS location-based technology to make the actual world a sort of game arena.

The Sci Fi Tech blog says that "the handheld's screen acts kind of like a lens through which the real world is rendered just like a video game." It sounds like preset GPS locations trigger (flag) graphics or gameplay when the player comes across them. 

It makes more sense coming from HP: "Mediascapes are mobile, location–based experiences that incorporate digital media with the sights, sounds, and textures of the world around you. A mediascape blends digital images, video, audio and interactions with the physical landscape. Games, guided walks and tours, and destinations are among the mediascapes created so far. Download a mediascape onto a portable device, and see how your landscape comes alive as you move through the environment."

This is still just a prototype, and no production details have been released.

How do you feel about going outside, running around, and looking "through" a handheld game unit  to see the world? Would this be something you'd be interested in?

[via Gamasutra -- thanks, Justin] 


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53 comments | showing # 1 to 50

KamikazeTutor's Avatar
KamikazeTutor at 09/27/2007 16:44
So... what about falling into a hole? Do I get a continue?

Like running around with something hitech in our hands is safe.
KamikazeTutor's Avatar
KamikazeTutor at 09/27/2007 16:45
Ah, and near the end of the clip you can gladly see my point, as the other kid was trying to steal is little gadget.
Dale North's Avatar
Dale North at 09/27/2007 16:47
like, can you continue if you walk into a street and die?
micropizzle's Avatar
micropizzle at 09/27/2007 16:49
Aw come on guys, its a cool idea.
Dale North's Avatar
Dale North at 09/27/2007 16:51
it is a cool idea
GuitarAtomik's Avatar
GuitarAtomik at 09/27/2007 16:54
It's pretty cool if it would actually work like that. I wonder how many kids are going to get hit by cars before they have to recall it though.
Velt's Avatar
Velt at 09/27/2007 16:57
Is a cool idea guys.

i can imagine games that are like a mmorpg only that "in the wild", you running with the device around your city and actually walking from a place to the other for rewards and stuff.

Is a very cool idea.
Shalashaska's Avatar
Shalashaska at 09/27/2007 16:58
Heh that thing is definatly cool. And comon guys, everytime a car is coming you get the relive an Indiana Jones moment!
AquaFox's Avatar
AquaFox at 09/27/2007 16:59
Hmm..
A - Buy HP Handheld
B - Go outside
C - Pwn.
D - Get a kiss from an angel.

I hope I didn't miss anything?
Adrian's Avatar
Adrian at 09/27/2007 17:00
yes. and doing that in johannesburg (south africa), won't just get you mugged.

It will sadly never take off, even if it is a pretty cool idea =\
Spartacus's Avatar
Spartacus at 09/27/2007 17:01
This is really cool. If it's not over $200, I can see myself buying this. ALTHOUGH I thought the lady in the dress thing was retarded. Also, this might only be fun if you lived in someplace like Chicago-that's one problem I see.

News from the future:
"HP's MSpace, the popular and revolutionary handheld game, has been recalled due to 413 deaths-all were people who ran into traffic looking for the third treasure chest."

Or an even better one:
"HP's MSpace has completed its mission of eradicating everyone who the head of HP has deemed "subhuman." He is renaming the world HPLand and is establishing a dictatorship of the world, which he will head. All hail HP!"
Falkonite's Avatar
Falkonite at 09/27/2007 17:01
This just in, small child dies in horrible Wood chipper accident. Eye witnesses to the gruesome event said he seemed to be chasing some manner of pixel sprite when barreling headlong into the blades. What? Oh I'm just being told now Jack Thompson has literally shit his pants in anticipation of the shit storm he plans to unleash... and now sports
mackisawesome's Avatar
mackisawesome at 09/27/2007 17:09
SERIOUSLY are you sure you guys didn't change the name of the site to "dale and collette-toid"?
Deus's Avatar
Deus at 09/27/2007 17:10
This might be used more for "guided walks and tours" than games. Which would suck, because it sounds pretty cool, even though it seems you have to live in an urban centre to use it at all.
grrza's Avatar
grrza at 09/27/2007 17:13
So does this mean that HP will be hiring models to make out with IRL when you beat the game? cause that would be kinda cool.
CrackaSlim's Avatar
CrackaSlim at 09/27/2007 17:13
HP's handheld sounds like a really fucking cool concept, but I really doubt that it will work in reality.
Rockvillian's Avatar
Rockvillian at 09/27/2007 17:15
Man, pick pocketers have a lot to look forward to.
DeusPayne's Avatar
DeusPayne at 09/27/2007 17:15
I don't see games coming from this. I can see lots of tools, and gadgets, and fun little programs. But a full blown game just seems to complicated. Now, if they can get companies to create an ARG to uses this as it's main method of 'gaming', that'd be pretty sweet... okay, I guess I changed my mind. That would be fucking awesome, but I still don't see it happening.
LostCrichton's Avatar
LostCrichton at 09/27/2007 17:19
Neat idea but I'll reserve judgment once the actual product and specs come out. Still smells like a Gizmondo clone to me.
BenHaskett's Avatar
BenHaskett at 09/27/2007 17:28
I have to admit that I had fun watching that kid run around like that, but I would absolutely hate that thing and never use it.

Have you ever seen that episode of The Simpsons where Homer decides he's going to get in shape? He straps on running shoes, puts a sweatband on his forehead, dons a white tank-top and darts from his house to the left. The screen blends to a tired Homer, who has collapsed onto the sidewalk from exhaustion... in front of ned Flanders' house.

That, only not so funny, would be me with a MediaScape; I'd smile and dart for the first objective, only to fall over wheezing eleven meters later.
SourGr8pes's Avatar
SourGr8pes at 09/27/2007 17:30
Cool idea in concept, but I don't want to be blindly chasing the treasure, only to look up and find my ass in the projects.
covah's Avatar
covah at 09/27/2007 17:31
fail
JonDarkwood's Avatar
JonDarkwood at 09/27/2007 17:37
This looks tremendously retarded.
BenHaskett's Avatar
BenHaskett at 09/27/2007 17:38
@ SourGr8pes:

Funniest fucking thing I've read all day.

One minute, you're sitting on your clean-cut lawn in the suburbs and the next, you're being held-up at gunpoint for your milk money and credit cards.

What would be even funnier is if GPS glitched out and kids started running off cliffs and building tops. It'd be like lemmings all over again.
vexed alex's Avatar
vexed alex at 09/27/2007 17:40
There's no way I'm paying money for some shit like that. It would of been cool when I was in 6th grade.

Games are something most of us do on our spare time when we're tired of standing up at work, or whatever. Unwind on the couch, maybe? This is just...no. It's nothing I'd do, anyways.
bluemeep's Avatar
bluemeep at 09/27/2007 17:48
Well, it *could* be dorkier. They could've gone for a headset.



Shit YES I want to be running down the street with this on!
Teta's Avatar
Teta at 09/27/2007 17:50
Really cool idea.
But i think really would take the shit out of the concept.
Cars, holes, shitty GPS, other people, robbers, poo on the floor, everything goes against the concept. You canīt walk thorugh life staring at a little screen, not even if it transmits whatīs outside, cause our field of vision is higher, and real life is actually dangerous.
JonDarkwood's Avatar
JonDarkwood at 09/27/2007 17:51
Besides, the real world is shit no matter what you're rendering it through.
WDot's Avatar
WDot at 09/27/2007 17:52
That looks awesome--If it spawns a lot of ARGs that use it. If the game is like the one in the commercial, where you run around a themed city and press buttons and appropriate points, that sounds rather lame. But if this handheld was your access to some voicemails from an in-game character/actor and you had to search around for clues, that would be awesome.
corneliuscack's Avatar
corneliuscack at 09/27/2007 18:01
@bluemeep

I want that...NAO!


lol or someone can make a virtual boy mod. jack bros ftw.
Necros's Avatar
Necros at 09/27/2007 18:10
These kids can't tell fantasy from reality! Quick, someone call Jackie-boy!

The concept looks really cool, and as WDot says, it's tailor-made for ARGs, which I'd totally play. However, it seems kind of ambitious, and I don't know if technology is at a point where realizing the full scope of this project is possible. If they pull it off, it will be awesome, but it has to be done right.
AgentMOO's Avatar
AgentMOO at 09/27/2007 18:42
Dude, you could like play GTA with real gangs in compton!
DGX Goggles's Avatar
DGX Goggles at 09/27/2007 18:45
FPS Doug. That is all.
brainderailment's Avatar
brainderailment at 09/27/2007 18:59
Cool idea, but I'd rather play at home or whereever I'm going. I can't afford to chase down nav points. If I have something better to do, I will do it, not run around the town like an ass looking at a little phone looking thing.
DarkViper's Avatar
DarkViper at 09/27/2007 19:01
you mean like the Gizmondo?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gizmondo
http://www.ubergizmo.com/photos/widescreen_gizmondo.jpg

except this one was made by members of the Mafia and with little advertising, haha.

This ones by HP and may fare a little better
Rosseh's Avatar
Rosseh at 09/27/2007 19:33
It's kind of cool. Although as a handheld it sucks. I'd like to have my hands free instead of holding this thing up to everything all the time.
realyst's Avatar
realyst at 09/27/2007 19:35
The tech behind it sounds real cool. But should probably be played in a field somewhere. As many people have already stated, even in the commercial it looked like he was running into traffic just to get that castle thingy where the hooker met him.
SlavedHeart's Avatar
SlavedHeart at 09/27/2007 19:39
Only if it ALSO works like the current generation of In-car gps's will I buy this extraneous piece of electronic pogy bait.

If I can use it to find my way around Vegas, NYC, wherever, and still use it to geocache or just go backpacking, along with whatever games they decide to create, then I'm freaking in...
SourGr8pes's Avatar
SourGr8pes at 09/27/2007 19:46
@Luzer

Yeah, I live by Chicago, where a few blocks can mean a radical change in the neighborhood like any major city, so that actually CAN happen! One of the richest neighborhoods is only blocks away from the worst housing projects in the city (and also home to the movie Candyman)
entropyman's Avatar
entropyman at 09/27/2007 21:09
it would be cool if you could use it in a second life-type environment where you could see other people as their avatars- kind of a "they live" type thing
Trevor McGee's Avatar
Trevor McGee at 09/27/2007 21:34
Ah, perfect, promises of poon for completing levels.

First level, you get a peck on the cheek.

Second level, you get tongue.

Third level, you get to cop a feel.

Fourth level, you get dry humped.

Fifth level, you get a hand job.

Sixth level, you get blown.

Eight level, you get full blown sex.

Ninth level, well, no man's even had the energy to go for that level afterwards.
deiga-the-semivaliant's Avatar
deiga-the-semivaliant at 09/27/2007 22:12
It almost seems too cool to be real. I'll remain skeptical until I see some tech demos or something.

I mean... shit. That would be pretty damn sweet.
Tetris Hermit's Avatar
Tetris Hermit at 09/28/2007 01:02
I really feel like I'm playing virtual ski-ball!
tom90deg's Avatar
tom90deg at 09/28/2007 07:03
The main problem with this, I'd think is getting enough of a user base. I mean, lets take NY for example. If 10% of the population had one, then that may be some really neat stuff. You walk down the street, and get an e-mail or whatnot that says "Person A has the code, follow him" and you have to follow him, while person A has to get to a point without being tracked. You'd always have the people of when do we play and when do we stop playing, but it has potential. Like SlavedHeart said, if you can also use it like a normal car GPS, I'm freaking in.
wardrox's Avatar
wardrox at 09/28/2007 07:33
Combining this with a head mounted display and lazer guns and you have a winner.
Holyetheline's Avatar
Holyetheline at 09/28/2007 09:09
I wonder if that screen has a light so you can play with it at night.
StratoFabio's Avatar
StratoFabio at 09/28/2007 09:24
Actually this is something I dreamt of all the time when I was a Pokémon-addicted little kid. In my thoughts it was a helmet that you wear and then you could see the world as it is, but littered with Pokémon behind every tree, fence, building and corned. And, of course, you could throw Poké-balls to capture them. And if you see another person wearing the thing, you would both me recognizes in the visor as trainers and you could start battling and stuff.

Man, would that be FUN in a videogame event of something. Like PAX. =)
amalgamut00's Avatar
amalgamut00 at 09/28/2007 09:43
Why would I go outside to play a video game? I need the AC when I play games, keeps me cool plus it also keeps my beverages cool as well.
balth's Avatar
balth at 09/28/2007 14:36
Wait...

What is this "Outside" you speak of?

I am unfamiliar with it.

That is all.
Variable Gear's Avatar
Variable Gear at 09/28/2007 14:41
What happens when you get run the fuck over trying to do this?

Where will HP be then?
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