PAC-LAN is a mixed reality game, which plays homage to the Namco classic Pacman, which utilises mobile phones equipped with in-built RFID readers. The game is played by 5 players around a suitable pedestrian area with their positions indicated on a graphical representation on their phone screen. Players use their mobile phone to interact with physical game pills (in the form of yellow plastic discs equipped with RFID tags and attached to lampposts) and opposing players (who have tags attached to their costumes). Whilst this is not the first game to play homage to Pacman the user experience shows that this technology is simple, easy to use, and allows the game to be played at very high speed over a large area with minimal setup. It is also the first that allows spectators to follow the action through an application running on any suitable Java enabled mobile phone. As current predictions estimate that half of mobile phones will be equipped with RFID capabilities by 2009 this project demonstrates anenormous potential for entertainment applications.
展开▼
