Backseat Playground a Location-Based Car Game
Backseat Playground is a GPS-based game that takes your location into account during gameplay. It is currently a prototype that is designed for kids stuck in the car on long rides. The researchers site has a video of two children playing the game. Microsoft Research was on the original funders of the project. This is exactly what I was hoping for when I read about the Sony PSP GPS dongle (Radar post). New Scientist is reporting that they are currently testing the game in Stockholm and the UK. More from New Scientist:
The Backseat Playground consists of a GPS receiver, a handheld computer and headphones, all connected to a laptop in the trunk of the car.
The laptop uses the GPS data to maintain a three-dimensional model that keeps the car correctly positioned within the virtual world. A database of geographical information is used to match events in the game to suitable locations. Players interact using the handheld computer.
The game begins with a radio newsflash, relayed by the handheld computer, which places a passenger at the start of a murder mystery or a werewolf thriller. As the car travels along its route, the player receives further phone calls and walkie-talkie messages from characters in the game.
Cool! I hope that they are ready in time for Where 2.0 2007.
[Via Engadet who found it via The Raw Feed]
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[11.30.06 03:57 AM]
I was at the april presentation event in Cambridge and this project is really cool.
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Kelly [11.28.06 08:32 AM]
This would be great up until you take that long trip to visit the family and are driving across the great plain of Indiana and Illinois. It would take years to calm the children down when they have to sit in the old house in the middle of a farm field after taking part in a murder mystery set in the endless corn fields.