OK – this is quite brilliant. San Francisco based Stage Two labs – under their new developer guise of Shadowforce LLC – has just released a new augmented reality game in the iTunes store called Gunman.
This is being touted as the worlds first augmented reality first person shooter – re-creating the familiar laser tag game on iPhone.
The game uses a variety of innovative elements:
- Detecting “hits” is achieved through a proprietary new color detection system
- Finding targets on the leaderboard is integrated with Foursquare for location lookup, and sharing of shots is integrated with Twitter & Twitpic.
- Local multiplayer gaming includes automatic peer discovery of other players.
- The hardware required is any iPhone with OS 3.1 and higher – so you don’t need a new fangled 3GS to start playing.
So the next big question is: who is up for a Melbourne Laneway laser skirmish?
Resources:
- iTunes – Link
- Download cost – AUD$3.99 – €2.39 – USD$2.99
- Website – PlayGunman.com
- Geek.com – Review
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More information from the press release..
Multi-Player, One on One, and “Pro” Modes:
- Gunman allows players to connect with up to 4 friends via WiFi for hardcore war games or with one friend for intense one-on-one shootouts.
- Each time a player hits an opponent, their opponent’s phone will buzz and they are rewarded with a scoped screenshot of their target.
- Players can play for rank on the Playgunman website, track all of their favorite hits, and tweet out their favorite shots
Realistic Experience:
- Pinpoint aiming with Gunman’s on-screen “pinch to zoom” scope
- Realistic gun audio and accelerometer enabled shake to reload
- Both hits and misses are tracked for any game, so players can see who won each round
- Mission briefings at the end of each round let players know hits, misses by each person in the game
Big Updates Coming:
- Team-based games such as capture the flag and domination
- Tons of new weapons including sniper rifles, shotguns, knives, and grenades
- Location based tracking of targets with foursquare integrated directly into the Gunman iPhone app
- Badges, medals, and experience points for completing challengesAnd many more that are too cool to tell you about right now
How to Play:
- Pull up Gunman on your iPhone and select from either One on One, Multi Player (Wi-Fi), or Pro Mode
- In One on One mode, select the color of your opponent’s shirt, in Multi Player, select the color of your shirt (Gunman uses color detection to record hits and misses)
- Select a time limit for your match, or go unlimited for non-stop shooting
- In Pro Mode, just point and shoot, all of your hits will be recorded in your iPhone’s camera roll
- Once a round is finished – either save your favorite shots to your phone or hit “Tweet” to send to your picture to your Twitter account
