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.

Comments

World Dominance for Google by Open API

[Transcendor]

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.

Re:World Dominance for Google by Open API

[th0mas.sixbit.org]

2.1 is definitely a non-functional requirement, I'm going to dock you points for putting it in your use case...

Re:World Dominance for Google by Open API

[Seumas]

Where does CCH Pounder fit into all of this?

(Obscure...?)

Whoa

[isaf]

This would be so much cooler with real time satellite feeds and orbital laser command at your control

Jingoistic?

[Toasty981]

Jingoistic? So the desire to protect America is extremely nationalistic?

Either that, or Zonk has no idea what the word means.

Re:Jingoistic?

[Toasty981]

Separate discussion, but fair enough.

I didn't get to see it before the server went down, but it almost reads like you're chasing down a guy like bin Laden...i.e. someone that definitely qualifies as wanting to cause harm.

Of course, I think I'm taking this way too far at this point!

(As far as the separate discussion goes, with regards to Iran, I found this link on AndrewSullivan.com. Interesting stuff...Iran scares me more than Iraq for sure, especially given the recent comments about Isreal. Scary stuff.)

Re:Jingoistic?

[Wyatt Earp]

Because the Clinton or Kennedy Administrations never ever did anything unprovoked or invasionary.

Yea, it's all Bush doing this illegal and unprovoked stuff.

As for Iraq not posing a threat to the United States, thats not what Clinton, Gore and the majority of the United States House and Senate thought from 1990 to 2002.

Re:Jingoistic?

[_Sprocket_]

...the unprovoked invasion of sovereign nations which posed no threat to America.

With the recent sabre-rattling directed at Iran and Syria, the definition of "protect" might become even more perverted and twisted.

I'm curious - what do you think was going on with Iraq for the last 15+ years? And what do you think Syria and Iran has been doing during that same time?

I'm no fan of the Bush Administration and am not keen to defend it's actions. However, I also find it a little odd that you use language that makes other players sound like innocent victoms of a bully superpower.

Re:Jingoistic?

[blibbler]

What was going on in Iraq for the last 15 years did not threaten the US in the slightest. There was no connection between Iraq and the four hijacked planes on 11th of September 2001. Osama Bin Laden reportedly hated Sadam because he maintained a relatively secular country. Even if the arguments of weapons of mass destruction were true, they wouldn't pose any threat to the US, or any other western country. Beyond that, Iraq's armed forces were relatively underpowered compared to many of the regional countries due to years of sanctions.
I don't think that anyone would argue that Sadam was a nice character, but he was far from the worst leader, even in the region. Additionally there are many other countries that are in far worse shape, and treat their people a lot worse than Iraq that have not received any attention from the US

In summary, I don't think anyone would argue that Sadam was innocent, but there is no doubt that the US was a bully superpower.

Re:Jingoistic?

[quantax]

Actually, the issue is not whether Iraq was a threat; of course it was a threat so long as Saddam was the head of the state. The question is whether he was an immanent threat. We now know he was not and there are questions about the portrayal of him as such.

Re:Jingoistic?

[JahToasted]

I'm curious - what do you think was going on with Iraq for the last 15+ years? And what do you think Syria and Iran has been doing during that same time?

Well the US support the Shah of Iran who was a corrupt dictator. The people of Iran revolted. So the US started supporting Saddam Hussein, another corrupt dictator, fight a brutal war against Iran. The US sold chemical weapons to Saddam Hussein and told him where to drop them. Since he wasn't really going anywhere in his bloody war against Iran Saddam made peace with Iran. So the US stopped supporting Saddam. Then Saddam invaded Kuwait, which the US used to get a foothold in Saudi Arabia. The US wisely didn't invade Iraq in the first Gulf War because the pentagon knew the casualties would be too high.

Later, with absolutely no mandate from the UN or NATO, very few allies (with the exception of the UK), and no occupation plan, the US invaded Iraq.

US plays dirty and it comes back to bite them in the ass. This seems to keep happening over and over again. You'd think you guys would learn a lesson...

Re:Jingoistic?

[Psykosys]

Because the Clinton or Kennedy Administrations never ever did anything unprovoked or invasionary.

Clinton did do "invasionary" things, just on a much smaller scale. Kennedy indeed escalated the war in Vietnam, which probably also met the definition of invasive. But neither he nor Clinton repeatedly lied to justify their own war/invasion.

As for Iraq not posing a threat to the United States, thats not what Clinton, Gore and the majority of the United States House and Senate thought from 1990 to 2002.

And you'll notice that they didn't declare a second Gulf War during that time; further, that virtual disarmament was confirmed during this period and that it became inceasingly clear as time progressed that there were no weapons.

Re:Jingoistic?

[aug24]

One major point is that, as far as I know, North Korea has not violated terms of their cease fire agreement

I think you misspelt "has nukes and no oil" ;-)

Justin.

I guess...

[Nolkyan]

...Brewster Jennings couldn't stop the incoming terrorist attack on his server...

FFS

[Anonymous Coward]

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"

The only thing I found

[13bPower]

Is that Bostons roads are REALLY messed up.

Google Earth games too

[Lord Satri]

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

Jingoism

[NitsujTPU]

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.

Re:Jingoism

[minus_273]

"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."

WTF I know slashdot has a leftist slant, but can you provide any links? how many illegals have been shot? any facts to back up that accusation?

The Perils of being slashdotted

[calvin1981]

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.

Terrorist attack? Oh, great...

[MicroPat]

Run around the world trying to stop a terrorist from carrying an attack. Expect a full-fledged investigation from the Patriot Act police soon.

They did a poor job at teaching history.

[CyricZ]

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.

Re:They did a poor job at teaching history.

[nosredna]

To be fair, neither did history class in high school.

Re:They did a poor job at teaching history.

[utexaspunk]

IIRC, it was mostly a geography game, and we played it when we were in 4-5th grade. Getting 4th and 5th graders to know the locations of various countries, cities, and landmarks on a map is all they were striving for, and that they succeeded at that goal is quite an accomplishment in itself. It also succeeds at teaching kids how to use reference materials. The games came with almanacs and desk encyclopedias so that the player could look up the answers. I think that is quite often the case that knowing how to find an answer is a more important skill than knowing anything else. As information continues to become more and more readily accessible, what's the big deal if it's not all stored locally in the user's brain?

Re:They did a poor job at teaching history.

[Jardine]

IIRC, it was mostly a geography game, and we played it when we were in 4-5th grade. Getting 4th and 5th graders to know the locations of various countries, cities, and landmarks on a map is all they were striving for, and that they succeeded at that goal is quite an accomplishment in itself.

I remember playing it in 9th grade...in French. That just added a whole new level of difficulty to the game.

Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?

[x0dus]

Google helped me found her.. She's in Cairo, Egypt.

Re:What in the world

[Celsius 233]

May I refer you to Wikipedia?

Re:What in the world

[Mikkeles]

It was an early series of educational computer games for youngsters in which they had to figure out (with the help of an included encyclopaedia) clues in order to locate master criminal Carmen Sandiago.
Google ref

Why in the hell

[dknj]

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

Re:Jingoist title?

[senatorpjt]

Then again, perhaps if anyone knew where the name "Brewster Jennings" came from, it might put things in a different perspective.

For Cheaters

[scienceguy55]

To get a rediculous amount of time left, type the following into yor address bar

javascript:void(min=99999999);

. To submit as the high score, type:

javascript:void(hi_score(true));

.

Tip

[daniil]

If you want to find out where she is hiding herself right now, just ask Google: Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?

Re:Does anyone remember Punky Brewster ?

[pooly7]

Ho yeah ! It was even shown on french TV... What's the link with Carmen Sandiego ?

Are we missing something?

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, holy fuck, it's a game, not a goddamned graduate level course at Yale!

For those who are wondering ..

[calvin1981]

Brewster Jennings and co. is a "real" company. The CIA agent Valerie Plame, whose cover was blown for political reasons, "worked" for Brewster Jennings.

What I really loved.

[ToeNipples]

My favorite part of this game was looking up the word "jingoistic".

The White House

[lilmouse]

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

Re:What in the world

[Traegorn]

I don't know whether to feel too old or too young for this comment.

Re:Great

[ElleyKitten]

It would be better if they gave instructions. Seriously, can you tell me how to play this thing?

OT

[DeafByBeheading]

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.

Re:Your ad hominem attack gives me the victory!

[qeveren]

Well, if you folks would simply stop overthrowing democratically elected governments and replacing them with psychotic tin-pot dictators for your own economic advantage, you wouldn't need to keep going back and overthrowing them every few years, now would you?

Yes yes, survival of the fittest. Ever notice how it's always the bully that espouses this philosophy?

Re:Great

[Trejkaz]

Well, once you find out the place you need to go to, you're up for a lot of zooming and dragging to pinpoint it. It would be much better (more like a quiz and less like a pixel hunting exercise) if they had a text field so that you could put the location you want in and it zoomed straight to it.

Re:Your ad hominem attack gives me the victory!

[sp0rk173]

Ah, you have much to learn about anarchy. It's not all about slashing and burning. That's what makes democracies.

Re:i figure i should post first

[Mahou]

if you search google for where in the world is carmen sandiego it tells you she's in cairo, egypt.