First DS location-based game

By Robert Purchese Published 5 June, 2007

Plundr for people on move.

New developer area/code has unveiled a DS title that uses your real world location as part of the game.

"Plundr" tracks where you are in the world using a Wi-Fi Positioning System, and places little islands on an interactive street map for you to travel to. The aim of the game is to increase your pirating prowess by visiting these hotspots to buy and sell a variety of goods, ransack merchant ships, and battle other players.

It was shown at the recent Where 2.0 conference in San Jose that rounds up all the location-project talent from around the world. New York-based area/code already has a list of credits to its name in this field, including ConQuest, PacManhattan, and Big Urban Game.

You can try out Plundr for yourself now on PC, although it's designed for laptop users on the move.

Unfortunately it isn't clear whether we'll see the game in Europe, with screenshots on the site suggesting Japanese and New York map sets. We'll let you know more when we do.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (13) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • AcidSnake #1 5 years ago

    ...Interesting...Though wi-fi over here is as feasible as bus drivers using 'the force' to open the doors...It's just nowhere near integrated...
    Would that mean I'd have to travel to the city just to have a decent level to play?

  • Narv #2 5 years ago

    If you look at the map on the plundr web site, for the uk it looks a bit crappy. I'm on the south coast of the UK and my nearest island is 30 miles away in portsmouth. For some reason I don't feel a big huge urge to driver there to play it...

  • kincaide #3 5 years ago

    You kidding? Portsmouth ROCKS!

  • kangarootoo #4 5 years ago

    "I'm on the south coast of the UK and my nearest island is 30 miles away in portsmouth"

    Hmmm. Thats not ideal. I was going to write something about is being good if it gets kids of their arses and makes it fun to walk around the place, but those sorts of ranges don't really make it that kind of game.

    A missed opportinity perhaps?

  • SBfistfun #5 5 years ago

    "You are being mugged"

    "press x to fight or y to run away like a girl"

    :> x

    "You die, your personnel entertainment device is stolen"

    "Press x to start again"

    :> reset

    stupid idea

  • Grobi #6 5 years ago

    I like this idea, could be fun in a park with a bunch of friends. I remember seeing something similar on the mobile game awards where you and a team had to form a triangle around opposing players in order to capture them by running around them and using a positioning system like this one.

  • MGG #7 5 years ago

    Gizmondo - Colours.

    Is the same team?

  • Saladin #8 5 years ago

    Are you sure that it involves the player physically travelling around the real location? After all, you can't guarantee wifi access across an entire city.

    Plus, if it involved players travelling to one location, all it would take would be one sensationalist Daily Mail expose to show how we're all perverts, looking to meet and abduct children, to grind their bones to make our nefarious gamer bread.

  • kangarootoo #9 5 years ago

    @SBfistfun

    Which bit is a stupid idea exactly? The issue you 'seem' to have is with someone taking a portable gaming system out of their house, rather than with this specific title.

  • Lutz #10 5 years ago

    ""Plundr" tracks where you are in the world using a Wi-Fi Positioning System, and places little islands on an interactive street map for you to travel to. The aim of the game is to increase your pirating prowess by visiting these hotspots to buy and sell a variety of goods, ransack merchant ships, and battle other players. "

    My perfect game! But it NEEEEEEDS Single player too!

  • jellyhead #11 5 years ago

    Yup, single player would rock. Failing that get a bunch of your friends to write down the "islands" near to you and wait for people to turn up so you can give them a proper pirate experience by robbing them and making off with their real world loot.
    Lovely.

  • zuljin #12 5 years ago

    I worked on a game that did this with GPS in London. Its hard enough to get an accurate reading to capture "islands" in central London, god only knows how bare this would be on WiFi...

  • Psi #13 5 years ago

    what if the game locations fell into the wrong hands? and the locations swapped for the home addresses of known child sex offenders? eh ? eh ?

    won't somebody think of the children!!! ban this sick filth!