Windows Phone Thoughts: "Collaborative Gaming" Using Pocket PCs

"Pac-Man Must Die! is a collaborative game created using our OpenTrek platform for two or more players. The game is a "reversal" of the classic arcade-game Pac-Man, which had the main character (Pac-Man) chased by ghosts of different colors. Here, each player instead controls a ghost and must collect "dots", while at the same time avoiding being captured by yellow Pac-Man monsters. To win the game, the player must collect all the dots matching the color of her own ghost. However, some of the dots are located on the displays of other players’ devices! The player can enter another person’s handheld display by using “doors” at the edges of the map. Each door has a unique color, matching the color of another player’s ghost. When a player has entered the display of another computer she has to look at the other user’s display to control her ghost...To see how people would respond to and use Collaborative Games, we installed the game Pac-Man Must Die on six HP IPAQ Pocket PCs with Wireless LAN PC-Cards."



This is great for a number of different reasons: not only is the above-linked game a compelling variation on PacMan, these researchers are using the Pocket PC as a flexible development platform for the purpose. They're also working towards releasing their platform (along with the game); you can get more information here. As several gaming devices are now coming out with WiFi and Bluetooth, I think this is just the tip of the iceberg in multiplayer portable gaming -- and I hope to see Pocket PCs stay on the cutting-edge. :D