The line between gaming and reality became slightly more blurred today, as new developer area/code announced their location-based DS game, Plundr.
Already available for laptops, the pirate-themed game uses a Wi-Fi positioning system to work out the player’s real world location and then maps game locations to the surrounding area.
It’s then up to the player to become their very own ultra-high definition avatar and travel around the map, trading at shops, pillaging ships, battling enemies, and making their best efforts not to become pavement pizza as a result of crossing the road with eyes glued to a screen. Real world Fenix Down is not included as part of the package.
Presumably there’s also the potential for team-ups, trading and skirmishes with any other players you might run into along the way, and so far, it’s all sounding like rather silly fun.
If the game takes off, it’ll obviously be a great way to bait unwitting gamers out into the harsh, unforgiving gaze of our natural enemy, the sun. On top of that, games like this can work wonders in terms of bringing people together through the social aspects of gaming, something that’s really coming to the forefront in a number of great ways this generation. And sounding like essentially a real world MMO, if things ever get to World Of Warcraft levels, the inevitable pirate cosplay is going to make a trip to the shops a whole lot more interesting …
Check out area/code’s site for details on some of their other “Big Games” projects.
[Via Eurogamer]
