The hype team behind Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles has released a multi-platform metagame, named Terminator Ambush.
Play consists of two levels. On one hand you are the hunted. Use an iPhone to check in using your GPS location via their Ambush iPhone application. Which looks like this:
You get points for putting in more location, but then the other portion of the game comes into play. On the Terminator Ambush website, you are tracked by your check-ins on a non-descript virtual map. Hunters can use this data to try and determine your next check-in point and lay a trap. If they get you, you are terminated.
I’m not sure if it’s entirely working, as I used the iPhone app while running around town today. It shows my plots but my score has not been updated at all. The plot points were much shorter distance apart on the virtual map than I had thought, that with the large trap reticle, it should be easy to terminate people. What I mean is, I went in 10 mile sweep through Austin while running errands, and my path markings are just about contained in a one-inch square area.
Yes, it’s a little big-brothery that you are uploading your GPS data, but luckily it doesn’t show any real-world tie-in for people to actually track you or anything. But, meta-gaming like this is a fun idea, that I expect will become even more popular now, with all the iPhones and other GPS phones being released. There was a another game announced previously called Parallel Kingdom which has a more involved concept of building virtual buildings and such as a sort of GPS MMO.
