Pac-Manhattan is a large-scale street game that uses the New York City to reinvent video game sensation Pac-Man. “This version of Pac-man is being developed in NYU's Interactive Telecommunications graduate program, in order to explore what happens when games are removed from their "little world" of tabletops, televisions and computers and placed in the larger "real world" of street corners, and cities. “[i]
A player dressed as Pac-man will run around the Washington square park area of Manhattan while attempting to collect all of the virtual "dots" that run the length of the streets. Four players dressed as the ghosts Inky, Blinky, Pinky and Clyde will attempt to catch Pac-man before all of the dots are collected.
Using cell-phone contact, Wi-Fi internet connections, and custom software designed by the Pac-Manhattan team, Pac-man and the ghosts will be tracked from a central location and their progress will be broadcast over the internet for viewers from around the world.
Rules of the game
“4 players are designated as Ghosts, 4 player are designated as Ghost Generals, 1 player is designated as Pac-Man, 1 player is designated as Pac-Man's General.
Ghost Generals and Pac-Man's General fire up the control panel and select the corresponding character names from the list. The Ghosts and Pac-Man proceed to their starting locations. When all players are at their starting stations the Ghost and Pac-Man Generals move their icons to the starting point on the game board. “1
The Playing Area
“The Pac-Manhattan grid covers a 6 x 4 block area surrounding Washington Square Park. Intersections are designated by a letter and number starting in the top left corner and continuing left to right Power pellets are located at the intersections A1; E1; A6; E7 (i.e. the corners of the board) If they are active their intersection is colored yellow, when consumed their intersection turns white. Washington Square Park is off limits to all players. “[ii]
The Players
“Pac-Man and Ghosts: At the start of the game, Pac-Man runs along the streets, staying outdoors, within the designated playing area at all times. The ghosts may begin to chase Pac-Man. Pac-Man continues to run the board until all of the dots are "eaten" or one of the ghosts eats Pac-Man.
Upon arriving at a street corner, Pac-Man and the Ghosts must report their new location to their respective Generals.
When Pac-Man arrives at an intersection with an available Power pellet he automatically consumes it. If being chased, Pac-Man must touch the pole at the corner to activate the power pellet. Upon consuming a power pellet Pac-Man is "invincible" for two minutes and may eat the ghosts. If a Ghost is eaten, the ghost must return to the starting point before being able to chase Pac-Man again.”[iii]
Compare and Contrast
In the same way as our game this recreates a computer game, and turns into a alive game in streets. The game becomes alive and more sensible; with this the adventure of its concept can be experienced. In our proposed game we try to bring a game into real life. We also have used public space as our paying area. This brings inn other people into the life of the game, and makes it more than an interaction between one self and computer game.
The position of the players is tracked at all times. Unlike the proposed game there is a way of having control over the game and the players. There is one killer in the game, although other players do not have the same position like the proposed game. The adventure of chasing teammate is the same; this game can be seen as an inspiration. But there are many elements to this game and the playing area is much vaster.
THE HAT GAME
The Hat Game is a very simple street game. It could be admired for its simplicity. The objectives of the game is to find: someone, somewhere in Austin who is wearing a bowler hat and to track him or her down and then say: "Excuse me, I do believe you have my hat!" You then become the hat wearer and the person who manages to keep the hat for the longest period wins a prize.” [iv] To keep track; inside the hat is a concealed GPS device and the position of the person wearing the hat is plotted in real time on a Google Map. Other people who spot the hat can help to update its location by Twittering. The hat could be tracked down on Google at anytime. But the game has its own specific time frame. “Funded by the Arts Council, the pair have inspired a wild chase through the streets of Austin in search of a GPS-enabled bowler hat.”[v]
Compare and Contrast
This is 21st century tag game. The person who obtains the hat takes a picture of himself, puts it on the website, showing that he has got the hat.[vi] The game uses the new GPS technology to create a new version of games like hid and sick and tag. Our proposed game in some ways is similar and completely different I others. But The Hat Game was an inspiration in creating a sense of adventure and suspense, as the killer is unknown and could be anyone. When you kill a player by taking their ribbon you are still not sure if you have caught the killer or are helping him or her. In the Hat Game you are not sure if the person you are approaching with a hat is really a player. There is that sense of taking a chance and gambling the result. [vii] Also the game makes you realize how small and tangible our world is today with use of technology.
CRUEL 2 B KIND
At the beginning of the game, you are assigned three secret “weapons”. These weapons seem like random acts of kindness. For example; welcome to the city, “what a beautiful morning” and so on. You will be given no information about your targets. No names, no photos, nothing but the guarantee that they will remain within the outdoor game boundaries during the designated playing time. Anyone you encounter could be your target. The only way to find out is to attack them with your secret “weapon”. The players in the game keeps growing, as targets are successfully assassinated, the dead players join forces with their killers to continue stalking the surviving players. The game begins with all assassins working as individual teams of one assassin, two assassins, three assassins, or more. You can choose how many assassins to include in your original team. You and any teammates must stay together at all times. When you attack a target, you must participate in the attack together.[viii]
Compare and Contrast
Like the Hat Game “Cruel 2 B Kind” is very simple game, and it has a sense of secrecy. Like our proposed game, you never know ehn you could be approached by the killer. Unlike the Hat Game this game some boundaries in term of playing area.[ix]
[v] http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2009/mar/14/sxswi-iglab-pervasive-game-hat-game-game
[vii]http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45566000/jpg/_45566573_jex_312187_de271.jpg&imgrefurl=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7943382.stm&usg=__Th4TkcKLHWAfZvpKNm4VfPuUg=&h=288&w=512&sz=33&hl=en&start=1&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=LFKI3xpH9X9KtM:&tbnh=74&tbnw=131&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dthe%2Bhat%2Bgame,%2Bstreet%2Bgame%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Den%26tbs%3Disch:1
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