GPS gaming

Very interesting project being developed by Tom Hume, Locomatrix is a GPS game that forces players out into the real world. Whereas before gaming was limited to pushing buttons on a controller – games such as, ARG’s and Geo-caching are extending the game world beyond a screen and into a real world environment. From the site:

Gaming is heading in a new direction. Where once photorealistic 3D worlds were the future of gaming, the Wii phenomenon heralds something new: a world where gamers get out into the real world.

Locomatrix is a new digital game publisher with a mission to bring gaming back to the outdoors. The brainchild of Brighton entrepreneur Richard Vahrman, Locomatrix have partnered with Future Platforms to bring this vision to life.

This is no blue-sky dream: the first working prototype using mass market technology was built and tested at the end of 2006, and we're now working on a full production version.
The game is built in Mobile Java and can therefore reach most handsets on the market today
It uses standard matchbox-size GPS units, available from several mobile accessory retailers

The game communicates with the GPS unit over Bluetooth - again available on most mobile handsets on the market. A "game designer" allows players to create their own games
The prototype is a multi-player game.

Gathering in a field with a mobile phone and a GPS unit each, players hop into the game and then start wandering around the real-world playing field, picking up letters and bringing them back to a home-cell. As the team progresses, they see their letters come together to spell a word.