Slashdot Mirror
Google Maps Meets Carmen Sandiego
Craig Miller writes "What better way to end the weekend than by playing a game of Brewster Jennings Protects America? This new game is a Google Maps mashup with the classic 'Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego' style of game. Run around the world trying to stop a terrorist from carrying an attack. Pretty amusing game and it shows what you can do with the Google Maps API and a little imagination." Despite the jingoistic title and concept it's a lot of fun, and quite challenging on hard.
Wow, this is amazing. Shows what innovation and imagination can prduce.
Yet they haven't managed to slip a terrorist into Microsoft with a dirty bomb..tsk tsk...When will these silly corporate companies learn to kill the bad man..
Carmen Mannitoba?
It doesn't sound like it includes the history that Carmen Sandiego included in its games. I always valued those games due to there ability to include teaching the player some history. Will this game simply play off of September 9/11 events/fears or will it include teaching the player some history as well?
is a 'Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego' style of game?
Do not try to read the dupe, thats impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth
What truth?
There is no dupe
now that its slashdotted its rather difficult to play
I have dialup you insenstive clod!
Yet another example of perfect marketing by Google:
1.make a more-than-average type of product, and establish it on the market.
2.Make everyone use it.
2.1Do that by quality
2.2 by offering the best possible solution for someone who just wants to USE it
2.3 by being the one who lets other people use it (by offering an API)
TADA
3. World Dominance
I don't hate Google, but isn't it a bit a strange thing that "fair use" methods like "letting others use your product for both's advantage" leads to some kind of strange quasi-monopolism?
is that something the Open-Source-Community has to worry about?
Don't let the facts bite you. Get bitten here instead.
This would be so much cooler with real time satellite feeds and orbital laser command at your control
just curious... :)
Arash Partow's Philosophy: Be a person who knows what they don't know, and not a person who doesn't know.
Jingoistic? So the desire to protect America is extremely nationalistic?
Either that, or Zonk has no idea what the word means.
...Brewster Jennings couldn't stop the incoming terrorist attack on his server...
Ok so NASA World Wind gets high resolution terrain mapped Moon data, lots of people submit the article to /. all get rejected, someone makes a game for google and /. say "WOW OMFG how cool we mustwrite an article"
Is that Bostons roads are REALLY messed up.
OgleEarth points to three games involving GoogleEarth, Earth Contest, GoogleEarthing and GEwar. Taken from http://industry.slashgisrs.org/article.pl?sid=05/1 0/07/134251
Animoog.org
Despite the jingoistic title...
Why does Zonk hate America?
Zonk: Stop, stop, stop hating America.
Zonk either needs a healthy dose of remedial English or is revealing his/her sick and probably hopelessly incurable anti-American sentiments. "... Protects America" doesn't even begin to rise to the level of jingoism.
OTOH we can be reasonably sure that something truly jingoist, like "... Protects Sacred Islam Against the Repulsive Onslaughts of Filthy, Decadent Western Infidels for the Total Destruction of all Unbelievers and the Greater Glory of Allah" would have elicited no such politically correct label from Zonk.
It's so difficult to find good help these days.
extreme chauvinism or nationalism marked especially by a belligerent foreign policy (source m-w.com)
I don't really think of this as Jingoism. Fighting terrorists to prevent them from killing people in your country (particularly after they've done things like, say that they want to kill people in your country, is pretty natural.
Jingoism might be things like shooting illegal immigrants trying to run across the border from Mexico, such as the Minutemen are accused of doing. Notice the difference.
Update (Oct 30, 2005): Oh crap, here comes the Slashdotting.. The server probably won't be able to take the beating so if the game doesn't work now bookmark us and return in a few days time. Sorry! - Craig
This is from BrewsterJennings.com.
Run around the world trying to stop a terrorist from carrying an attack. Expect a full-fledged investigation from the Patriot Act police soon.
I think he knows what it means. I just think that he is an unpatriotic pinko commie bastard that doesn't deserve to enjoy the protections that he does by living here.
Frankly, I think he needs a two week Gitmo vacation to cure his antagonistic nature.
Such games never really taught history. Yes, they taught you dates and names, but nothing serious. They never were able to delve into the complex socio-political situations that caused or arose from historic events. They never taught how to discern tainted or biased historic information from legitimate reports.
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
Google helped me found her.. She's in Cairo, Egypt.
would you submit your site to slashdot when you already know you can't handle a slashdotting? Seriously, he submitted the article then writes on his site "here comes the slashdotting, come back later".
Just my $0.02
If you want to find out where she is hiding herself right now, just ask Google: Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?
Man is a slave because freedom is difficult, whereas slavery is easy.
I do like the game, but like all games it's a bit silly and makes you wonder what if the real world worked like that.
CIA operative: All right Rashid! We know Ali has the detonators so where did he go?
Rashid: He said he wanted to visit the Windy City! Maybe he's going to going to Dallas.
or
CIA operative #1: So, Akbar went to a city famous for gambling.
CIA operative #2: We're heading to Las Vegas.
Two days later a nuclear weapon is detonated in Atlantic City.
Well, holy fuck, it's a game, not a goddamned graduate level course at Yale!
You kids are adorable! It think it is the cutest thing; the way you kids are innocent/ignorant to the ways of the world, you are so certain you will change the world, you think that a protest or sit in will change the course of a nation, the way you think that your opinion's have any significance. It's almost sad when you out grow your childish notions and get a grasp of reality. But, until a few years after you've graduated university, you are just adorable! Come over here and let me hug you, you cutie!
Sure looks to me like the Bush Administration knows what the definition is and you and Zonk don't. Nothing perverted or twisted here, except by yourself.
When you eliminate threats, whether provoked or not, you are protecting yourself. Nothing about being provoked or sovereign stands in the way of protection.
You don't have a leg to stand on. Go back to school, boy.
Please stop RTFA Im trying to play the bloody game!
You mean this?
So the American military was just walking down the boulevard one day, window gazing, and then all of a sudden the meander into a full-fledged war with Iraq? Of course they deliberately attacked Iraq!
America has never expressed a desire to eliminate an entire way of life or people.
We hear on a daily basis how America would like to eradicate various extremists. Like it or not, they are people, and they have chosen a particular way of life. Yet you're all into destroying them. Frankly, I'm appalled by all such behaviour, be it from an American or an Arab.
And thank you for the ad hominem attack. That seals the victory for me!
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
Except as any intelligent person knows, Iraq was not a threat to America. That was well-known before hand, and proven completely true afterwards.
There was no threat to be eliminated, and as such it was not an act of protection.
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
Brewster Jennings and co. is a "real" company. The CIA agent Valerie Plame, whose cover was blown for political reasons, "worked" for Brewster Jennings.
Can we play where in the world are the Bush White House ethics? (Hint, look up Halliburton.)
Dumbass mods. MOD parent up as funny for funny "Team America, World Police" reference!
I had many a naughty fantasy about Carmen Sandiego in my youth.
http://www.flashback-aw.net/games.php?GameID=9
Fantasy Football
ass.
i c%20
/. for this, but you are a prick.
"jingoistic"
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=jingoist
Seriously, go to hell. Its a funny twist on a painfully realistic problem the world faces. Terrorism doesn't exist because of "belligerent foreign policy" it exists because of fanatical extremists, at present almost entirely fanatical Muslims. They are religious zealots. And the societies affected by the terrorists are victims... not victims of "chauvinistic patriotism".
The more I think about it, the bigger an ass I think you are for that comment. I'm sure I'll be flamed to shit on
It's lick my butt, not ass. Get it right. BUTT.
Perhaps I was uniformed. But can't you argue like an adult rather than a message board troll? Also, what makes you so sure that there were not Americans 50 years ago who did advocate "killing all the communists". America is a country of what, 650million people? Amoung that number there would be people who thought executing Communist party officals would be the only way to ensure the security of their way of life, particularly doing McCarthy's Red Scare in the 50's.
Islam is practiced by 1.3billion people world wide. Don't you think they are allowed their share of extremists also?
My end to the weekend was taking my 5 year-old son and his 5 year-old 'girlfriend' (the 'girl next door') to a farm park to see the animals, play on the inflatable bouncy castles, ride on the boats and generally get some fresh air. Welcome to the real world.
AT&ROFLMAO
Lets get all the CIA/FBI hooked to this and they might get a bit better at their jobs. BTW, I have failed in saving 3 major cities in my attempts at this game. My apologies to the residents.
In case you're wondering what the name Brewster Jennings refers to, it's the CIA shell company that was exposed along with Valerie Plame's identity.
My favorite part of this game was looking up the word "jingoistic".
So says ToeNipples
The story so far: You are an undercover CIA agent claiming to work for the fictitious "Brewster Jennings & Associates" company. You were just awoken at three in the morning by a phone call from The Chief telling you to report to your office immediately. From what he told you it looks like a terrorist is set to attack today and you are the country's last and only hope. Click "Start New Game". It's time to save America.
Turns out, your husband has just exposed the president as a fraud and the president's office has just exposed you as a CIA fraud.
Sucks to be you.
But can't you argue like an adult rather than a message board troll?
Many times trying to rationalize with a child or a childish mentality is pointless. I suspect that this is the case here but, I will offer a single attempt.
what makes you so sure that there were not Americans 50 years ago who did advocate "killing all the communists"
I was there 50 years ago and there most certainly were many people that felt that all communists should be killed. There are such people even today. However the very vast majority of Americans do not share their views. For most Americans, killing another for any reason at all is both abhorrent and immoral. But, much more importantly, the majority of Americans and their laws prevent the extremists from acting out on their desires. It is illegal to blow people up and it is strongly discouraged by everyone. This is something that the 1.3 billion Islamists, that you cite, have failed to do or even try to do. Instead they encourage or at best turn a blind eye to Islamic extremists rhetoric and actions. You will never see people dancing in the streets of America after the bombing of a people regardless of whether they are communist, islamic or anything else. But, there were hundreds of thousands dancing in the streets of Baghdad and Ramala on September 11, 2001!
Returning to the communists, did you know that there is a communist party in the United States? It is small and no one pays them very much attention but, they are there and they would not be there if America was the way that you try to portray it.
America is a country of what, 650million people?
The population of the United States is just approaching 300 million. But, they do look a little large than life.
*cough* minor correction... US population would be closer to 295,734,134 people, not 650 million.
(info taken from CIA World Factbook. Thanks Google!)
Thank god this has Slashdot's attention, maybe now someone can tell me where Charles Manson is imprisoned?
It's the first step in one of the sequences, and I could not find it. I tried 4 different major California prisons, each of which had been indicated by some research (via Google, natch).
On a related note, how does hinting work? I turn it on but I see no effect.
One simple rule for its versus it's
That's right - somethis is missing! A terrorist has stolen the White House! Your job is to track the theif to his hideout, arrest him, and recover the loot! A white man was seen leaving the scene of the crime...
--LWM
My parents practice Islam in Britain, and can assure you that they most definitly do not condone the actions of Extremist Terrorists in America an, ideed, Britan. As I stated, there are 1.3 billion practicing Muslims, Muslims in India, Europe, The America's... only a very, very small percentage of them support the attacks against the USA, and only the minority turn a blind eye to these events, so they may live in safety in their countries. Do not assume that "Islamists" (As you say) means only the inhabbitants of several small countries in the Middle East, in the same way you would not assume that "Christian" means inhabbitants of Isreal and perhaps Italy.
And yet you seem to take the small minority of muslims who advocate killing all westerners as a representative sample of a large group.
Nice double standard.
Also, it's considered polite in debates not to call your opponents childish, even if they are. If you think they are uninformed, provide links to inform them. If you think they're interpreting the data wrong, explain your interpretation. If they're just being stubborn bastards after that, don't respond.
This new game is a Google Maps mashup with the classic 'Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego' style of game.
What is wrong with something like:
"It is a 'Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego' style game that implements google maps."
Although I hate the word 'podcast', for example, it at least fills a void where a new term was needed. 'Mashup' is a stupid buzzword that essentially means 'combination of', we already have plenty of more informative ways to express this idea (see above).
Sometimes, SlashDot articles read as though the posters are actually embarassed to be American.
very small percentage of them support the attacks against the USA, and only the minority turn a blind eye to these events, so they may live in safety in their countries.
Interesting. So where is the outrage from the 1.3 billion that are against it? Where is Osama Bin Laden? Surely he would not be able to find safe haven anywhere in the world if SO MANY Muslims were against his cause and his methods? I hear "extremists and fundamentalists" screaming their rhetoric against America but from the 1.3 billion others I hear... Listen, I hear... Listen, I hear silence!
But, wait just a moment I don't hear silence. I hear them denouncing the United States for "aggressions against islam" and "aggressions against Arabs". They have little or nothing to say against the Islamic extremists and fundamentalists but, they are quick to speak against the United States.
My parents practice Islam in Britain, and can assure you that they most definitly do not condone...
I can't tell you how happy I am to hear this. But sadly, it is the Islamic community in Britain that is very much in the minority and the bombing occurs there too.
What was the general sentiment on the streets of Baghdad, Ramala, Riyadh, Mecca, Tehran, Islamabad and Damascus on September 11, 2001 or July 7, 2005? I didn't hear any protests. I didn't hear 1.3 billion people rise up against a wicked few. All I heard from these place is Allah be praise. Your house may have been different but, your house does not represent the majority of those supposed 1.3 billion. I further wager that you have since heard your father say something like; it would not have happened if Tony Blair didn't support...
Huh. Interesting.
*My* parents practice science in America, and have little use for ancient fairy tales.
Although, ironicaly, at this point in time, they can probably compare note with your parents on feeling of isolationism in an environment increasingly hostile to their belif system.
Wearing a flag is jingoistic. Or maybe this storeis. Unless it's a hippy wearing a flag. Then people assume it's anti-jingo, whatever that is. Okay, he might not be a hippy, just a slob. Whatever.
I18N == Intergalacticization
This is an awesome game! Me likes.
http://www.brewsterjennings.com/hs.php?m=300000000 0000000000000000000000090000000&s=25&level=e&len=l &scenario=1
:)
level = e, h, m
for easy, hard, medium
len = l, m, q
for Long, Medium, Quick
Scenario = 1 for nuclear attack
scenario = 10 for biological attack....
Aside from that, have a blast putting your slashdotness in the score
Of course, one should not deem themselves experts on a subject because they've played a game. Nobody is suggesting this. Did anyone ever suggest that? Nobody ever has, for all I know, and if they did, I'd be all up in their ass instead of yours. I've never heard anyone call himself or herself an expert in anything related to a game, besides being an expert at playing the game, and that's a fair metric if it's based in reality. Playing chess professionally doesn't make one an expert military strategist, and playing professional golf doesn't make one a good landscaper. Why should playing game designed for 6th graders make one an expert historian?
The game is designed to stimulate interest in and open the mind to the subjects of geography and history (and astronomy, English, math in later games) by presenting a cursory and entertaining overview of each. For any kid remotely interested in the topics, it's a step in the right direction, isn't it? By that virtue, I'd say the games did just as they were designed to do, and in fantastic style.
It is assumed that this is all the game was supposed to do, and assuming or suggesting otherwise is idiocy at best and ad hominem at worst. Unless, of course, you appreciate the in-game experience as training exercise just in case you somehow happen to get a job as a detective chasing a long legged brunette hottie in a red trench coat and broad brimmed hat, whom also likes to leave obvious clues--then you've really got a leg up on the competition, haven't you?! It's not a failing of the game designers, and it's not a failing of primary education in the western world to not present the subject in way you feel is appropriate. If anything, the people who keep track of teenage suicides should be thankful you're not in charge!
I guess it's all relative, right? Still, I bet some of those kids on the PBS contest show could've wiped the floor with you, pretty much all of the US, and many history majors, just for the fun of it and, of course, that prized trip around the country/world.
Constitutional rights may be respected, repealed, or modified; but they must never be ignored.
Full article
Please explain to me how the outing of Plame did not blow out a significant portion of the CIA's assets in Africa! [...] That the outing of Plame was harmful to the US's best interests is a statement of fucking fact my friend, and is of such importance that everyone in the USA should be hearing it.
You understand these two are not the same thing, right? The CIA and the United States are different entities; just because something is bad (or good) for some subset of a group, doesn't mean it's bad (or, respectively, good) for the entire group.
Since you seem to dislike the Bush administration, do you think that whatever's bad for the Bush administration is bad for the United States? No? Then why would anybody assume that whatever's bad for the CIA is bad for the United States?
I didn't moderate this, but I agree with the moderation, and I'm definitely no supporter of the Bush administration. (FWIW, I'm in favor of smaller, more transparent, and more accountable government, and I see government screwups as a catalyst to these ends.)
As for flamebait being an outrageous claim and a shouting match: you made the initial claim, and also started shouting (including profanity). So it looks like you met your own definition, there. Cheers.
First rate trolling, sir. Congratulations.
Or, in the off case you're serious, I'd like to point out that we *can't* win a war by eradicating everyone who sees America as an irresponsible and arrogant world citizen. I'm not saying the solution is to go hug them, but you can't treat life like a game of Counter-Strike.
Telltale Games: Bone, Sam and Max
... but all I got was this error message!
Read my blog.
I guess Google's satellite view isn't high-res enough yet.
Waldo made an appearance in my Computer Engineering class last Friday.
Then, your parents are poor Muslims. The Qur'an commands that Muslims are not to take Jews or Christians for friends, to subjugate other nations, and force them to either pay tribute or convert. This is not trolling-- it is fact. Read the Qur'an, then come back and mod me down if I am wrong.
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
The game seems fun and all, but I found it impossible to play, specifically with the counter in place. That is, I think that when you take into account factors such as the speed of google maps, the area of the map which you could click on, the rate of zoom, etc, it is very, very close to the 10 minutes allotted. This is of course, ignoring the human controllable factors such as the time it takes to read the clues or make up your mind onto where to click next. I've tried twice, playing with nearly dead-on "top-level" clicking, reasonable zoom levels (to not get lost out in the middle of nowhere), and yet I still can't win. But I do have to wait a lot for Google's maps too load.
Robert Bindler
A Computer Science student's views on technology.
Council of American-Islamic Relations condemns 9/11 in national full-page newspaper ad the next day.
Ayatollah Muhammad Husain Fadlallah of Lebanon condemns Osama Bin Laden.
Grand Imam of Al-Azhar seminary, Shaikh Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi, condemns Osamah Bin Laden (Plus official text)
Prominent Pakistani Cleric Tahir ul Qadri condemns Bin Laden.
Television preacher Yusuf Al-Qaradawi condemns Al Qaeda
Spanish Muslim Clerical authorities Issue Fatwa against Osamah Bin Laden. There are on the order of 250,000 Muslims in Spain.
High Mufti of Russian Muslims calls for Extradition of Bin Laden. Russian Muslims are 15% of the population there, so this is not a pro forma thing.
List of Muslim condemnations of Terrorist attacks. Also Scholars of Islam and the tragedy of 9/11 attacks
Expressions of grief and sympathy in the Arab world after 9/11. (Includes candlelight vigils in Tehran, anti-terrorism protests in Bangladesh)
Iraqi blogger Riverbend recalls the sympathy she felt on 9/11
You didn't hear any protests because it simply wasn't covered in American news. International news did pick up on these events. How about the people in Arab countries who donated blood after 9/11 because Qaradawi suggested it? What about the flower bouquets people sent in sympathy to the American embassy in Kuwait, so many that they ringed the fence?
That's not what is says. Show me the actual verses. You're just spouting what the detractors say.
[5:82] "...And you will find that the closest people in friendship to the believers are those who say, "We are Christian."
Nothing about subjugating other nations. And I don't think I've ever heard any Muslim call it tribute, anyone who lives in an actual Islamic state has to pay taxes, Muslims pay their charity tax (zakat) and non-Muslims have to pay similar for citizenship.
A Jingoist is an ultra-nationalist. Savage, rabid and ignorant. His spinal cord is not actually connected to his brain, rather to the CNN newsfeed which comes directly from the Presidents anus. He is incapable of thinking for himself and is handed all his ideas by media and state.
A NeoCon is a particularly virulent type of trash. They are conservative extremists who insist on forcing their beliefs on the wider community while simultaneously wiping their ass with every commandment their god gave to Moses. NeoCons, Muslim Extremists and any others who murder while hiding behind their "god's" petticoats are cowardly scum who should be loaded into a spaceship and shot deep into the centre of the sun so the rest of us can live in peace.
I'm still looking for Waldo.
Warning: Could be fatal if taken seriously
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynne_Thigpen
I can't find the location of the clue "mickey, donald and the rest of the gang" I've looked at Disneyland and Disney World, but I can't find it.
Because there aren't many clues, this one keeps popping up and keeping me from finishing
No doubt. I'm going to use this opportunity to pimp my blog entry on the subject - I'll leave it as an exercise to the reader to determine whether this action is ironic or not.
concrete5: a cms made for marketing, but strong enough for geeks.
What I learned from this game:
Aside from the little thing about buring in hellfire a few verses later.
But that's how religious texts are supposed to be written i guess.
Pathman, Free (as in GPL) 3D Pac Man
if you search google for where in the world is carmen sandiego it tells you she's in cairo, egypt.
if i'm not immortal, what's the point of living?
...te?
But did you bother to check EuroDisney or Disney HongKong?
-Now, to unleash screaming temporal doom!
The peace loving nature of your Muslim upbringing shining through again, no doubt. Nice!
This POS wouldn't stand a chance of being picked up by a real games publisher. The totally inadequate control mechanism, the pathetically inadequate time-limits, the lack of the slightest concept of gameplay or balanced difficulty levels, all make it a worthless waste of time. Games should be fun, exciting and entertaining. This one is unusable and dull. It really shows that it was designed by an amateur with no experience of games design.
0 out of 10.
The Google Maps API is so open and easy to develop, this has caused stuff like this to develop. You have to hand it to Google for creating such an easy to use tool like that, I expect to see some great innovative sites based around different ways to use this API. Congratulations to everyone involved.
Business Voyeur
Yeah, its why Muslims feel sorry for them, which is a big difference from "subjugating" them as the earlier post suggested.
epcot center
Kennedy indeed escalated the war in Vietnam, which probably also met the definition of invasive.
You couldn't be more wrong.
He was publicly slaughtered by your own people because:
(a) he attempted to initiate a complete withdrawal from Vietnam
(b) he refused to send US soldier to invade Cuba at the Bay Of Pigs
Attention moderators, you are a pack of ass sucking date pounders. The silencing of dissenting views has well and truly taken hold in Slashdot. I can finally see the kind of brainless drones that must be modding. If you are a US citizen, you should be ashamed of the brutality of your own government.