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Highbrow Homebrew: Metro Wardrive
Written by Ilya Galperin on Wednesday, February 27, 2008
...Continued From Page 1 Given the proof of concept, what prospects exist for the concept's realization? Wardriving may very well be a passing fad like Pogs (and I still have my favorite Popeye slammer), with a mere following among a handful of programming students and tech heads. And despite its technology being freely available to any portable device with wireless function including your PSP and cell phone, Wardriving will not be an easy sell. But that won't ultimately determine whether the genre is to catch on with plane, train, and automobile passengers. Rather, it's the question of wireless signals' general reliability. Hotspot-based AI doesn't fit well into a world filled with mapped-out scenarios or planned in-game events. Instead, a Wardrive game's design requires the central mechanic to be based around some kind of interaction between player and their wireless environment. Trying to successfully program anything other than a simple shooter doesn't sound like any easy task.
Fortunately, there are some encouraging signs for Wardriving given recent trends from a combination of sources from both in and outside the gaming industry. By promoting projects which integrate the DS wifi connection to local environments, Nintendo has been signaling that wifi-based interactivity is plausible for the handheld medium. This is demonstrated by Nintendo's agreements with art centers to incorporate the DS into physical tours. By tracking position via hotspots, the "gaming device" pings back information about the user's immediate area. On the homebrew front programmers are continually experimenting with different Wardriving-like techniques, including feeding hotspot data back in music form (see: sniff_jazzbox by the people behind Metro Wardrive).
The whole world is your play field
Moreover, the use of Wardriving technology is not restricted to portable gaming as we know it. Broader application, like the Nintendo model, can have a profound impact on spheres of gaming that go largely ignored by video game consumers. The ability to have instant knowledge about your local wireless area can be a massive boon to viral gaming. Marketers who promote interactive games that rely on solving physical puzzles with hints transmitted through the internet would undoubtedly jump at the idea of using handheld tracking systems to enhance the experience.
A matter of time will tell what happens to handheld Wardriving and and-or's input may well be completely forgotten. The magic bullet prototype confidently proving that hotspot-based video games are totally plausible is also unlikely to come along anytime soon. This is why it's important for those of us who do happen to come across impressive proof of concepts like Metro Wardrive to show support for innovation where it's otherwise largely lacking. Then, maybe one day, my dream of a Wardriving version of Rez for the DS will become a reality.
