Greg Pidgeon
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
Swordfish
Games to Go
Blister Entertainment, a wholly owned subsidiary of KnowledgeWhere is definitely at the forefront of location-based entertainment and is creating a new category within the worldwide mobile entertainment industry. In fact, Blister has developed North America's first location-based game called Swordfish will soon be available to mobile subscribers in Canada.
Blister's games can be played while being both stationery or on the move. The games are designed to make gaming more active and interactive by putting the player into the game experience and allowing them to play while walking or riding in a vehicle. They can also play against other gamers in other cities or countries.
Swordfish™ is a location-based fishing game designed for Java enabled mobile phones that are GPS equipped. The game system is comprised of three main components: the client software that resides on the phone, KnowledgeWhere's Location Application Platform (LAP), and the mobile providers' location-based
system (LBS). Swordfish client software provides the gaming interface to the end-user. It is written in J2ME but can easily be converted to BREW.
Below is a few promotional screenshots taken from Swordfish...
Find information on Blister Entertainment and Swordfish on www.blisterent.com
The game is run through the Bell Canada network. Adrian Vella, Bell Canada’s associate director of location-based services said “We’ve seen a number of different models that are out there today,” said Vella. “The success that we’ve seen with wireless games is really showing that the marketplace wants more of them.”
An interesting review of Swordfish can be found on www.telecommagazine.com
Also interestingly enough KnowledgeWhere and Blister Entertainment had some of the same ideas as we did independently in our group studio activity involving my suggestion of GPS use. For example the representative said “We could plant our fish around a participating retailer and have that retailer sponsor the game or lend its brand to the game, then we could plant virtual items of either face value or real-world value, like coupons around participating retailers in these different locations,” and we suggested that our GPS game could include endorsements from independent retailers.
Blister Entertainment, a wholly owned subsidiary of KnowledgeWhere is definitely at the forefront of location-based entertainment and is creating a new category within the worldwide mobile entertainment industry. In fact, Blister has developed North America's first location-based game called Swordfish will soon be available to mobile subscribers in Canada.
Blister's games can be played while being both stationery or on the move. The games are designed to make gaming more active and interactive by putting the player into the game experience and allowing them to play while walking or riding in a vehicle. They can also play against other gamers in other cities or countries.
Swordfish™ is a location-based fishing game designed for Java enabled mobile phones that are GPS equipped. The game system is comprised of three main components: the client software that resides on the phone, KnowledgeWhere's Location Application Platform (LAP), and the mobile providers' location-based
system (LBS). Swordfish client software provides the gaming interface to the end-user. It is written in J2ME but can easily be converted to BREW.
Below is a few promotional screenshots taken from Swordfish...
Find information on Blister Entertainment and Swordfish on www.blisterent.com
The game is run through the Bell Canada network. Adrian Vella, Bell Canada’s associate director of location-based services said “We’ve seen a number of different models that are out there today,” said Vella. “The success that we’ve seen with wireless games is really showing that the marketplace wants more of them.”
An interesting review of Swordfish can be found on www.telecommagazine.com
Also interestingly enough KnowledgeWhere and Blister Entertainment had some of the same ideas as we did independently in our group studio activity involving my suggestion of GPS use. For example the representative said “We could plant our fish around a participating retailer and have that retailer sponsor the game or lend its brand to the game, then we could plant virtual items of either face value or real-world value, like coupons around participating retailers in these different locations,” and we suggested that our GPS game could include endorsements from independent retailers.
:: posted by Greg Pidgeon, 11:42 pm
