Mogi Location-Based Mobile Gaming Hits Japan

Posted by simoniker on Thursday April 1, 2004 @08:20PM from the men-in-trenchcoats-at-the-park dept.

Thanks to TheFeature for its article discussing the popular Japanese mobile phone game Mogi, a title which "uses both the position of players in the landscape, and the landscape itself to generate play." The French developers of Mogi at Newt Games explain: "We used the map to give [virtual] creatures some interesting behavior. Some creatures only hunt at night. Some hang around close to parks", thus: "If a player wants to find that [in-game] creature, they'll have to travel near a park [playing Mogi on their mobile phone] in the evening hours." A keen Tokyo-based player of the game also explains why he enjoys it: "All the trips I make in the city are now randomized, as I will often divert a few hundred meters to go and collect an object around me."

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Re:I like it by Anonymous Coward · 2004-04-01 20:34 · Score: 5, Informative

Pokemon Crystal in Japan had a cellphone play feature. It was short-lived, but innovative at the time.

Nintendo now have kiosks where gamers can play wirelessly against each other.