WEBVTT - TechStuff Takes the Ingress 0:00:00.520 --> 0:00:03.120 Brought to you by the two thousand twelve Toyota Camera. 0:00:05.880 --> 0:00:08.879 Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from how 0:00:08.920 --> 0:00:17.600 stuff What dot com. Hello everyone, and welcome to tech stuff. 0:00:17.600 --> 0:00:19.520 My name is Chris Poett, and I am an editor 0:00:19.520 --> 0:00:21.639 at how Stuff works dot com. Sitting across from me 0:00:21.800 --> 0:00:24.320 as usual as the person who augments all of our 0:00:24.360 --> 0:00:28.880 reality Senior writer Jonathan Strickland. Hey, they're nicely done. So 0:00:29.120 --> 0:00:31.720 yeah they we want to talk about an alternate reality 0:00:31.800 --> 0:00:36.040 game and a r G that uses augmented reality as well. 0:00:36.400 --> 0:00:39.840 It comes to us courtesy of a little company called 0:00:39.960 --> 0:00:43.760 Google and the like. Yeah. They they've made a name 0:00:43.840 --> 0:00:47.680 for themselves in a few things. But yeah, they've created 0:00:47.720 --> 0:00:53.360 this game through a division called Neantic Labs, um and 0:00:53.440 --> 0:00:58.160 it's called Ingress, and it's interesting alternate reality game. But 0:00:58.240 --> 0:01:00.360 before we really get into the game itself, maybe we 0:01:00.360 --> 0:01:04.160 should talk and refresh our listeners memories about what an 0:01:04.200 --> 0:01:07.520 alternate reality game is. Now, we've done an episode about 0:01:07.560 --> 0:01:10.440 alternate reality games, but that was back in two thousand 0:01:10.520 --> 0:01:16.080 nine when we were both so young and idealistic. Sorry, 0:01:16.440 --> 0:01:21.240 um yeah, yeah, so yeah, the differences and augmented and 0:01:21.400 --> 0:01:26.800 alternate realities are in some ways kind of slight, especially now, 0:01:27.000 --> 0:01:30.920 especially now. Um. An alternate reality is is one that 0:01:31.080 --> 0:01:35.840 is I would argue, very similar to ours, um, but 0:01:36.000 --> 0:01:40.479 there are significant differences. Um. You know, you might have 0:01:40.760 --> 0:01:43.559 I think of that sort of in the in my head. 0:01:43.640 --> 0:01:48.840 This is sort of goes to the genre of alternate histories. UM. 0:01:49.320 --> 0:01:52.040 For example, The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick, 0:01:52.120 --> 0:01:55.360 in which the Axis won World War Two? What would 0:01:55.360 --> 0:01:58.600 the world be like? Um? You know, the countries are 0:01:58.680 --> 0:02:02.280 still there, the the nationalities that that were familiar with, 0:02:02.520 --> 0:02:06.040 but things have changed substantially. That that's that's how I 0:02:06.120 --> 0:02:08.920 kind of get into that idea or the mindset that 0:02:08.960 --> 0:02:11.520 it sort of takes, because it could be something as 0:02:11.560 --> 0:02:13.640 simple as um. You know, there are a lot of 0:02:13.639 --> 0:02:16.359 what ifs there. You know, what if a different person 0:02:16.440 --> 0:02:21.240 had won the election, or what if a person hadn't 0:02:21.280 --> 0:02:25.560 been uh uh, had had gone to one university instead 0:02:25.560 --> 0:02:28.679 of another, what if? What if Lincoln had not been assassinated? 0:02:28.840 --> 0:02:30.240 What if? Yeah, there are a lot of what if 0:02:30.320 --> 0:02:32.919 type things. Alternate reality games in general, what they do 0:02:33.000 --> 0:02:36.919 is they use the they used the stuff around us 0:02:36.960 --> 0:02:40.320 in the real world as part of a game that 0:02:40.520 --> 0:02:43.520 is fictional. So you've got a fictional story taking place 0:02:43.560 --> 0:02:47.000 within the context of the real world. Now, in some cases, 0:02:47.480 --> 0:02:51.720 the fictional story assumes that the players themselves are part 0:02:51.800 --> 0:02:54.760 of this fictional world. So you're playing a part, you're 0:02:54.800 --> 0:02:58.840 not really you because UM. One of the two to 0:02:59.000 --> 0:03:00.440 the games I always think of out when I think 0:03:00.440 --> 0:03:02.639 of alternate reality games are two of the big, big 0:03:02.680 --> 0:03:06.800 early examples. One was called The Beast, and that was 0:03:07.080 --> 0:03:12.919 the game that was partly a marketing um push for 0:03:13.000 --> 0:03:18.720 the movie AI Artificial Intelligence, uh, the Spielberg Kubrick film 0:03:18.760 --> 0:03:21.200 that that came out several years ago. Well, there was 0:03:21.639 --> 0:03:24.000 this this game that came out with it called The 0:03:24.040 --> 0:03:29.200 Beast that had a storyline that was uh tangential to 0:03:29.280 --> 0:03:31.720 the story that takes place in AI. Some of the 0:03:31.800 --> 0:03:35.320 characters play a part a little bit within the realm 0:03:35.360 --> 0:03:39.480 of the game, and players were solving mysteries and trying 0:03:39.520 --> 0:03:43.000 to help fictional characters achieve goals within the context of 0:03:43.000 --> 0:03:45.040 the game. And they were all doing it in real 0:03:45.080 --> 0:03:48.840 time with real assets. So you might get a phone 0:03:48.880 --> 0:03:50.880 call in the middle of the night from a character 0:03:51.040 --> 0:03:52.920 in this game, or you might get a facts or 0:03:52.920 --> 0:03:55.600 an email or a file of some sort, and you 0:03:55.640 --> 0:03:57.840 were supposed to act on it in a real way 0:03:57.960 --> 0:04:01.640 to push the game forward. The other one that I 0:04:01.680 --> 0:04:04.840 always think about is called I Love Bees, which was 0:04:04.920 --> 0:04:07.760 part of the Halo universe, and it was again another 0:04:07.880 --> 0:04:10.360 marketing attempt to push Halo, but it it took a 0:04:10.440 --> 0:04:13.480 life of its own and became a game that people 0:04:13.520 --> 0:04:17.000 who had never intended to ever play any Halo game 0:04:17.120 --> 0:04:21.760 became and you know, absolutely fascinated with this game. And 0:04:21.760 --> 0:04:25.320 again lots of different puzzles and uh things that you 0:04:25.360 --> 0:04:28.120 need to achieve. Often we will see these sort of 0:04:28.240 --> 0:04:31.400 games come up as part of a marketing campaign. A 0:04:31.440 --> 0:04:34.320 lot of movies have done this. I remember when The 0:04:34.400 --> 0:04:36.760 Dark Knight came out, there was one that was related 0:04:36.760 --> 0:04:39.440 to The Joker, and I remember getting very very upset 0:04:39.920 --> 0:04:43.160 because I I uncovered one of the clues and discovered 0:04:43.200 --> 0:04:46.320 exactly where I would need to go within Atlanta to 0:04:46.400 --> 0:04:49.120 get it. But I found out about forty minutes too late, 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:50.560 and by the time I would have been able to 0:04:50.600 --> 0:04:53.520 get to the location, it had already been discovered. And 0:04:53.600 --> 0:04:58.160 I didn't get my Joker custom bowling ball because it 0:04:58.200 --> 0:05:01.120 was at a bowling alley. I was, oh, man, can 0:05:01.160 --> 0:05:04.719 you imagine a custom Joker bowling ball. Okay, that's pretty neat. 0:05:04.800 --> 0:05:08.039 That's pretty cool. So this is this is along those lines, 0:05:08.120 --> 0:05:13.640 but it also adds in the augmented reality angle, where uh, 0:05:13.760 --> 0:05:16.800 a large part of the participation with this game is 0:05:16.839 --> 0:05:21.400 going to depend upon people using devices, primarily smartphones. It's 0:05:21.440 --> 0:05:25.360 really meant for smartphones to interact with their environment in 0:05:25.440 --> 0:05:30.080 order to uh to push the game forward. Yeah, we've 0:05:30.080 --> 0:05:35.360 we've talked about both alternate reality games and UM augmented 0:05:35.400 --> 0:05:41.120 reality software in the past. UM Augmented reality is sort 0:05:41.160 --> 0:05:43.120 of like the heads up display that you would see 0:05:43.640 --> 0:05:47.000 in a fighter jet. UM. It's a layer of information 0:05:47.279 --> 0:05:49.960 that that a device will provide for you. It could 0:05:49.960 --> 0:05:53.760 be a tablet or UM, you know, a smartphone something 0:05:53.839 --> 0:05:56.640 like that, generally that you would carry with you. And 0:05:56.680 --> 0:05:59.760 so if you were looking through a an augmented reality 0:05:59.760 --> 0:06:01.520 divice I says, you walk down the street, you might 0:06:01.560 --> 0:06:06.880 see information about uh the businesses on the street around you, 0:06:07.080 --> 0:06:09.320 or for example, you might see a special going on 0:06:09.400 --> 0:06:13.200 at a cafe or um, you might find out where 0:06:13.279 --> 0:06:17.080 the cleanest bathroom is on the street. Don't laugh, there 0:06:17.120 --> 0:06:20.360 are people who who provide this information. UM, I am 0:06:20.400 --> 0:06:24.120 not laughing. I'm downloading apps. Yeah, I was gonna say, um, 0:06:24.279 --> 0:06:29.280 And as a matter of fact, uh Neontic Labs has 0:06:29.440 --> 0:06:33.440 has already come out with a sort of augmented reality 0:06:33.640 --> 0:06:37.799 app UM that I have on my on my Android 0:06:37.839 --> 0:06:41.640 phone called field trip UM. Now on this particular in 0:06:41.640 --> 0:06:44.520 this particular case, you are not looking at the screen 0:06:44.640 --> 0:06:48.159 on the smartphone to see what the camera sees beyond 0:06:48.320 --> 0:06:52.479 having a layer of information superimposed on that, which is 0:06:52.520 --> 0:06:55.600 a good way to walk into obstacles that are not 0:06:55.839 --> 0:06:59.440 covered in your screen. By the way, avoid that UM 0:07:00.200 --> 0:07:04.440 actually pops up little cards I've seen them called as 0:07:04.480 --> 0:07:06.520 as you will happen to be near by something. It 0:07:06.640 --> 0:07:11.320 uses the GPS UM in your smartphone or I assume 0:07:11.400 --> 0:07:15.040 tablet uh Android tablet. That again, field trip is one 0:07:15.040 --> 0:07:18.840 of those those apps that's it's optimized for smartphones. Yeah, 0:07:18.880 --> 0:07:20.680 it tells you right there on the app like it's 0:07:20.760 --> 0:07:23.480 it's intended for smartphones that will run on tablets, but 0:07:23.480 --> 0:07:26.600 it's intended for smartphones well generally, because it's it's using 0:07:26.800 --> 0:07:30.560 the GPS and your communications network to identify where you 0:07:30.560 --> 0:07:33.240 are and give you information about stuff, and you can 0:07:33.280 --> 0:07:36.840 control how much of that information you see. You might 0:07:36.840 --> 0:07:39.520 watch what type of information. Yeah, there there are lots 0:07:39.520 --> 0:07:43.920 and lots of sources, um, different restaurant review sites, um, 0:07:43.920 --> 0:07:48.520 places of interest, historical points of interest, those kinds of things. 0:07:48.560 --> 0:07:50.440 That's what I have turned on on mine. So it's 0:07:50.480 --> 0:07:52.960 it's kind of fun too to be driving around in 0:07:53.000 --> 0:07:55.960 Atlanta and have a little alert come up and say, hey, 0:07:56.000 --> 0:07:58.320 you're near uh you know, of course here in Atlanta, 0:07:58.360 --> 0:08:02.200 we've had so of war battles. Sure, and they'll tell 0:08:02.240 --> 0:08:04.840 you points of interest just down the road. Here is 0:08:04.880 --> 0:08:09.920 where so and so, uh you know ran, you know 0:08:10.000 --> 0:08:12.320 in in conflict and they set up camp just down 0:08:12.400 --> 0:08:15.200 the street. It's interesting, It's no, it's really cool that 0:08:15.280 --> 0:08:18.680 it gives you that that extra information about the world 0:08:18.920 --> 0:08:21.040 you are in. And I love that idea. I mean, 0:08:21.080 --> 0:08:23.080 I've and this is one of those things that you 0:08:23.080 --> 0:08:26.240 can kind of see playing a larger role with Google 0:08:26.320 --> 0:08:29.720 other Google projects, mainly Project Glass. Yes, the idea of 0:08:29.760 --> 0:08:33.040 wandering around your world and getting information about your world 0:08:33.480 --> 0:08:36.520 that you would you know that that that's accessible, but 0:08:36.679 --> 0:08:38.560 you would have to look for it otherwise. But now 0:08:38.600 --> 0:08:40.600 it's just coming up. So if you are interested in 0:08:40.600 --> 0:08:45.360 things like history and you are visiting a city or 0:08:45.360 --> 0:08:47.840 even just walking around your own city, you may end 0:08:47.920 --> 0:08:50.640 up learning things about your the place you're in that 0:08:50.720 --> 0:08:53.520 you never would have known before. And uh, and it 0:08:53.520 --> 0:08:56.960 it really does try to bridge that gap between the 0:08:56.960 --> 0:08:59.240 digital world and the physical world, which is something I've 0:08:59.280 --> 0:09:03.840 always been interested in. And as augmented reality applications become 0:09:03.880 --> 0:09:06.760 more prevalent, it's becoming it's becoming a real I mean, 0:09:06.840 --> 0:09:09.560 this is something that we can do right now. UM, 0:09:09.600 --> 0:09:12.040 go ahead, I'm sorry, I just wanted to mention exactly 0:09:12.040 --> 0:09:15.040 what project glasses um, you know, because we didn't really 0:09:15.040 --> 0:09:18.199 talk about that. Uh that's UM, it's still sort of 0:09:18.240 --> 0:09:21.280 an experimental product I would consider, you know, or or 0:09:22.200 --> 0:09:25.840 really cutting edge. It's it's on the verge of being produced, 0:09:25.840 --> 0:09:28.280 but only in limited quantities because it's sort of a 0:09:28.280 --> 0:09:32.640 first generation thing or zero point eight generation. Um. And 0:09:32.679 --> 0:09:36.079 that's a a project that Google has been working on. 0:09:36.679 --> 0:09:41.040 UM that it's it's not. It uses a frame, uh 0:09:41.280 --> 0:09:45.280 glasses frame and a small piece of glass that UM, 0:09:45.320 --> 0:09:50.160 a user would be able to see augmented reality information 0:09:50.280 --> 0:09:53.040 on the kind of thing that you would currently use 0:09:53.480 --> 0:09:56.560 by looking at your smartphone. But um, you know, it 0:09:56.600 --> 0:09:59.640 would tell you where places are around you. It would 0:09:59.679 --> 0:10:04.200 be able to make phone calls and um uh you 0:10:04.240 --> 0:10:06.080 know record video. As a matter of fact, that's how 0:10:06.080 --> 0:10:09.720 they unveiled it. They had somebody wearing a project glass 0:10:10.360 --> 0:10:13.520 um set of glasses and walking through and you could 0:10:13.559 --> 0:10:16.079 see what they were seeing as they were they were 0:10:16.080 --> 0:10:19.920 walking through and they I think somebody skydived, didn't they. Yeah, 0:10:20.040 --> 0:10:22.959 that was at the Google i Oh event. They had 0:10:22.960 --> 0:10:28.000 a team of skydivers who who wore the the glasses 0:10:28.080 --> 0:10:32.520 as they were skydiving and then handed them off to uh, 0:10:32.600 --> 0:10:36.880 some some stunt bicyclists who then handed off to some 0:10:36.960 --> 0:10:39.000 folks who repelled down the side of the building, who 0:10:39.080 --> 0:10:42.160 then handed it off to more bicyclists who then biked 0:10:42.240 --> 0:10:46.959 the pair of glasses up to the stage to serage 0:10:47.040 --> 0:10:49.440 brand as I recall, and yeah it was. It was. 0:10:49.559 --> 0:10:54.280 It was a big spectacle and it really spectacle. Oh man, 0:10:54.360 --> 0:10:57.280 I'm gonna hit you. And anyway, the yeah it was. 0:10:58.600 --> 0:11:03.400 It was an interesting demonstration of the of the technology. Well, anyway, 0:11:03.440 --> 0:11:07.360 all of this kind of leads up to Ingress. So 0:11:07.559 --> 0:11:11.559 Ingress is coming for that same group within Google Niantic Labs, 0:11:12.160 --> 0:11:14.000 which is you know that they are kind of a 0:11:14.480 --> 0:11:17.480 R and D group in a way, and the game 0:11:18.040 --> 0:11:20.319 it has several different elements to it, and we can 0:11:20.320 --> 0:11:23.800 only speak in fairly vague terms because neither Chris nor 0:11:23.840 --> 0:11:26.360 I are part of this game yet. We it's as 0:11:26.400 --> 0:11:29.200 of the recording this podcast, it's in beta and we 0:11:29.240 --> 0:11:31.640 are not in the beta testing yet. We have both 0:11:31.640 --> 0:11:33.960 applied for it, yes, so we're hoping to have that 0:11:34.040 --> 0:11:36.320 change soon, but as we're recording this, we do not 0:11:36.440 --> 0:11:39.400 have access to it. It's been again, as they'll recording 0:11:39.440 --> 0:11:42.920 this podcast, active for about fifteen days. Yeah, yeah, and 0:11:42.960 --> 0:11:46.800 I think it really wasn't wasn't really well known until 0:11:46.880 --> 0:11:49.280 probably as of the date we're recording is probably only 0:11:49.320 --> 0:11:51.840 a couple or or three days. I didn't see anything 0:11:51.880 --> 0:11:54.679 in the media about it until a day or two 0:11:54.760 --> 0:11:57.760 before we recorded this podcast. Like a lot of alternate 0:11:57.800 --> 0:12:02.240 reality games, Google started to see every the world with 0:12:02.480 --> 0:12:07.320 hints of the game from months ago, but they're now 0:12:07.440 --> 0:12:10.320 just starting to coalesce into something we can talk about now. 0:12:10.360 --> 0:12:13.320 Some of the seeds started off over at comic Con. 0:12:14.080 --> 0:12:18.960 At San Diego Comic Con, there was a person who 0:12:19.040 --> 0:12:21.319 was taking on the role of a character named Tycho, 0:12:22.679 --> 0:12:26.200 and Tycho is an artist in this uh the world 0:12:26.240 --> 0:12:28.400 that has been created for Ingress, and I guess we 0:12:28.440 --> 0:12:30.440 can kind of give a little bit of an overview. 0:12:30.480 --> 0:12:32.720 If you were to go to Google Play, which is 0:12:32.760 --> 0:12:35.440 where their store is, and to try and download the 0:12:35.520 --> 0:12:41.000 Ingress Android app, you would see this description. Ingrish transforms 0:12:41.000 --> 0:12:43.560 the real world into the landscape for a global game 0:12:43.559 --> 0:12:47.000 of mystery, intrigue, and competition. Our future is at stake, 0:12:47.080 --> 0:12:50.120 and you must choose a side. A mysterious energy has 0:12:50.120 --> 0:12:52.680 been unearthed by a team of scientists in Europe. The 0:12:52.720 --> 0:12:55.240 origin and purpose of this force is unknown, but some 0:12:55.320 --> 0:12:58.280 researchers believe it is influencing the way we think. We 0:12:58.360 --> 0:13:01.720 must control it or it will control us. The Enlightened 0:13:01.800 --> 0:13:04.400 seek to embrace the power that this energy may bestow 0:13:04.440 --> 0:13:07.800 upon us. The Resistance struggle to defend and protect what's 0:13:07.880 --> 0:13:12.240 left of our humanity. So part of Ingrist involves choosing 0:13:12.280 --> 0:13:15.520 aside being either part of the Enlightened or part of 0:13:15.520 --> 0:13:20.920 the resistance, and competing for resources by walking around and 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:24.800 moving around in the real world and and UH collecting 0:13:24.840 --> 0:13:29.600 resources through the smartphone application. That's part of the game. Yeah. 0:13:29.960 --> 0:13:32.920 The other part of the game involves puzzles that are 0:13:33.040 --> 0:13:37.520 released through various venues. UH. In some cases, you may 0:13:37.559 --> 0:13:40.640 be looking at a physical sign that has a QR 0:13:40.679 --> 0:13:43.800 code that leads you to a puzzle, or you might 0:13:43.960 --> 0:13:47.120 see there might be an ad for something that Google, 0:13:47.200 --> 0:13:50.040 either from Google or maybe from one of Google's partners 0:13:50.280 --> 0:13:52.760 that includes a clue that goes into this game. The 0:13:52.800 --> 0:13:55.400 idea being that parts the game are all around us 0:13:55.440 --> 0:13:57.960 all the time, and that by paying attention we can 0:13:58.040 --> 0:14:01.320 we can see them and and push the story forward. 0:14:02.400 --> 0:14:06.800 So right now, the the main place for those game 0:14:06.840 --> 0:14:11.679 elements is on a website called Niantic project dot com. 0:14:11.760 --> 0:14:16.319 It's in I A, N T I C for Niantic 0:14:16.400 --> 0:14:22.360 or NEANTICU and anyway, that's where the progress gets tracked, 0:14:22.400 --> 0:14:24.520 and you can actually go from the very beginning of 0:14:24.520 --> 0:14:29.480 the game, which is November one as of uh officially 0:14:29.480 --> 0:14:31.760 it's November one, and work your way up and it 0:14:31.840 --> 0:14:34.520 all start revealing more information. You can start seeing UH 0:14:34.840 --> 0:14:37.920 codes that you can break, things like that, and UH. 0:14:38.160 --> 0:14:40.760 There are also some wikies that have popped up already 0:14:40.800 --> 0:14:44.000 of players who are really passionate about this kind of stuff, 0:14:44.720 --> 0:14:48.040 who are dedicated to gathering as much information as possible 0:14:48.120 --> 0:14:52.240 and then posting it on these wikis, So you can 0:14:52.240 --> 0:14:56.760 actually find people who are already neck deep in this game, 0:14:56.800 --> 0:14:59.120 and some of them probably don't even have the smartphone 0:14:59.160 --> 0:15:01.800 app yet. They're not only participating in the part that 0:15:01.880 --> 0:15:07.000 they can over the web. But once the smartphone app 0:15:07.040 --> 0:15:11.320 becomes more widely distributed, then you'll see people um using that. 0:15:11.400 --> 0:15:14.320 Part two and the way the smartphone app stuff works 0:15:14.360 --> 0:15:18.440 is kind of interesting. Did you read about this? Read 0:15:18.520 --> 0:15:20.520 some about it? Yeah? Alright, So the idea is that 0:15:20.560 --> 0:15:23.920 there are these things called portals that are scared around 0:15:23.960 --> 0:15:27.480 the real world, and you use those portals the other portals. 0:15:28.160 --> 0:15:31.840 Well before you ask, yeah, it's not not not aperture 0:15:31.880 --> 0:15:37.160 Science portals UM or black Mesa for that matter. Now, 0:15:37.200 --> 0:15:40.200 you use your smartphone to identify where these portals are, 0:15:40.240 --> 0:15:43.240 and you at playing as a member of whatever side, 0:15:43.280 --> 0:15:45.920 whichever side you've chosen. You go and you try to 0:15:46.040 --> 0:15:50.600 secure these portals, and by securing various portals within the game, 0:15:51.200 --> 0:15:54.280 and this actually requires you to move physically from one 0:15:54.280 --> 0:15:58.440 location to another, usually on foot. From want to understand, um, 0:15:58.520 --> 0:16:03.160 then you start to solidify your side's presence in whichever 0:16:03.240 --> 0:16:06.920 city you happen to be in. Okay, so let's say 0:16:06.920 --> 0:16:09.480 that there's like, I don't know, well, let's say there's 0:16:09.480 --> 0:16:14.000 a hundred portals within a few neighborhoods where you are. 0:16:14.080 --> 0:16:16.520 I mean, I have no idea what the density actually is, 0:16:16.560 --> 0:16:18.880 depending upon you know where it is. Yeah, they do 0:16:19.000 --> 0:16:21.160 say that there's going to be a lot more interaction 0:16:21.400 --> 0:16:26.040 and have more heavily populated places. Uh so cities are 0:16:26.080 --> 0:16:29.320 more likely to have a lot going on. So moving around, 0:16:29.880 --> 0:16:32.000 you know, just by moving around and following the directions 0:16:32.000 --> 0:16:34.240 on the app, you can start to secure port portals. 0:16:34.280 --> 0:16:36.680 Actually getting to a portal of step one, then you 0:16:36.720 --> 0:16:41.400 have to hack the portal. Yes, what actually involves in hockey? 0:16:41.520 --> 0:16:43.480 I don't know. I haven't had a chance to play, 0:16:43.760 --> 0:16:47.240 do you do you well? From what I understand, um, 0:16:47.280 --> 0:16:49.400 And I'm trying not to to bring us back to 0:16:49.600 --> 0:16:52.760 real reality too much. But from what I understand, portals 0:16:52.760 --> 0:16:56.040 are basically places of interest, um, which would kind of 0:16:56.080 --> 0:16:59.280 go with you know that the current m O of 0:16:59.760 --> 0:17:01.880 nine ANTIQ labs. Yeah, if you look at some of 0:17:01.880 --> 0:17:04.200 the there's a video in particular where there's a guy 0:17:04.240 --> 0:17:07.080 who is complaining about cell phone he bought for an 0:17:07.119 --> 0:17:10.399 auction and he says, look, it seems to work. But 0:17:10.480 --> 0:17:12.840 when I walk up to the statue and hold up 0:17:12.840 --> 0:17:16.240 the phone, this weird screen comes up, and it's this 0:17:16.800 --> 0:17:19.240 very odd screen that shows up. And also, if you 0:17:19.240 --> 0:17:21.960 pay attention, in the background, there's a man in black 0:17:22.000 --> 0:17:26.440 watching Yeah, um but um, but yeah, it's it's That's 0:17:26.480 --> 0:17:28.199 kind of the idea, is that that when you get 0:17:28.240 --> 0:17:30.560 to these places of interest, weird stuff happens, and there's 0:17:30.560 --> 0:17:32.639 probably some sort of mini game I would imagine in 0:17:32.640 --> 0:17:35.880 the smartphone that allows you to hack. Yeah, I understand 0:17:35.920 --> 0:17:39.080 that that hacking is essentially a check in at that 0:17:39.119 --> 0:17:42.560 portal like four square, Facebook, places that can and I 0:17:42.560 --> 0:17:46.280 imagine it will be sort of a combination of um, 0:17:46.560 --> 0:17:49.880 something simple that you know, it doesn't frustrate people too 0:17:49.920 --> 0:17:52.280 awfully much, you know, yeah, you don't. You don't want 0:17:52.280 --> 0:17:55.080 to set the barrier too high or you end up 0:17:55.080 --> 0:17:56.920 with a very small group of players. But you don't 0:17:56.920 --> 0:17:59.600 want to set too low or people lose interest very quickly. 0:17:59.640 --> 0:18:02.560 So yeah, it's delicate, And people who have run alternate 0:18:02.600 --> 0:18:05.480 reality games probably have a lot to say about this 0:18:05.560 --> 0:18:08.239 about how what you know, all the challenges that are 0:18:08.280 --> 0:18:10.840 involved in designing and running one of these games. It's 0:18:10.880 --> 0:18:15.120 got to be pretty monumental. But but you do collect 0:18:15.480 --> 0:18:18.760 energy along the way, Yes, Uh, it was an exotic 0:18:18.880 --> 0:18:22.680 material or x M. Yes, it's not the Satellite Radio company. No, 0:18:23.119 --> 0:18:25.199 this exotic material. I like to think of it like 0:18:25.600 --> 0:18:27.960 pac Man pellets. Yeah, that's the way I've seen it described, 0:18:28.640 --> 0:18:31.679 So just what I thought. You don't actually have to Uh, 0:18:31.800 --> 0:18:34.040 you don't do. You don't know if you actually see 0:18:34.840 --> 0:18:36.919 the balls of energy or something like that, but I 0:18:36.920 --> 0:18:40.040 think you walk. As you walk, you collect it close enough. 0:18:40.080 --> 0:18:43.560 If you look at the map on your smartphone through INGRISS, 0:18:43.560 --> 0:18:46.399 it will show where the little XM dots are and 0:18:46.480 --> 0:18:49.560 as you get close to them, it collects them for you. 0:18:49.920 --> 0:18:53.480 Those x M dots. That energy also kind of counts 0:18:53.480 --> 0:18:56.720 as your health because sometimes when you're hacking these portals, 0:18:56.760 --> 0:18:59.200 some of them are booby trapped, and they if the 0:18:59.200 --> 0:19:02.520 booby trap goes off, then you take you take damage 0:19:02.560 --> 0:19:06.120 within the game, so you have to collect more exotic material. 0:19:06.600 --> 0:19:11.120 And if you have been walking around a certain part 0:19:11.160 --> 0:19:14.159 of town quite a bit for you, there may not 0:19:14.200 --> 0:19:16.359 be very much exotic material life. You have to go 0:19:16.440 --> 0:19:19.840 to some other location that you have not you know, scoured, 0:19:20.280 --> 0:19:22.560 so that you can collect it. Whereas someone else who's 0:19:22.600 --> 0:19:24.639 just playing the game, they might be able to find 0:19:24.720 --> 0:19:28.040 exact material, because part of this game is to get 0:19:28.080 --> 0:19:31.639 people out and about and exploring their environments and interacting 0:19:31.640 --> 0:19:34.520 with their environments and not just you know, passively playing 0:19:34.520 --> 0:19:38.640 a game at home. So there's there's this part where 0:19:38.680 --> 0:19:43.880 you are trying to discover, hack and control these portals, 0:19:43.920 --> 0:19:45.840 and as you control more portals, you can link them 0:19:45.880 --> 0:19:50.000 together and strengthen your position. Meanwhile, the opposing teams trying 0:19:50.040 --> 0:19:52.159 to do the same thing, and there will be times 0:19:52.200 --> 0:19:55.639 where you'll have a portal under your team's control and 0:19:55.680 --> 0:19:58.679 then through a coordinated effort, the other team rests it 0:19:58.680 --> 0:20:00.360 away from you, and then you have to figure out 0:20:00.359 --> 0:20:02.960 how you're gonna get it back within the context of 0:20:02.960 --> 0:20:05.439 the game. And meanwhile, you still have this other mystery 0:20:05.480 --> 0:20:10.480 going on between the two factions where they're they're really 0:20:10.480 --> 0:20:14.119 talking about this exotic material, what it's doing, why is 0:20:14.160 --> 0:20:16.919 it here, and is it a good thing or not? 0:20:17.160 --> 0:20:19.440 And bits and pieces of that mystery are going to 0:20:19.520 --> 0:20:21.440 play out over time, and in fact, from what I 0:20:21.520 --> 0:20:25.040 understand a Google, they're talking about it lasting about a 0:20:25.119 --> 0:20:27.800 year and a half. Yeah, yeah, so it will end 0:20:28.200 --> 0:20:31.040 um and they've made it clear that that it will 0:20:31.160 --> 0:20:35.160 end um. So yeah, this this will be an interesting 0:20:35.240 --> 0:20:38.240 experiment to see. Uh, you know, the kind of thing 0:20:38.359 --> 0:20:42.520 that that can be done with with these games on 0:20:42.560 --> 0:20:46.240 this scale. Because at the moment um, UH, the app 0:20:46.320 --> 0:20:49.080 is only available for Android devices, which make up the 0:20:49.119 --> 0:20:52.159 majority of the market at least here in the United States. UM, 0:20:52.200 --> 0:20:56.320 but it will also be available for iOS uh smartphones 0:20:56.359 --> 0:21:00.439 the Apple operating system that runs the iPhone. UM. So 0:21:01.040 --> 0:21:03.000 you know, there, this is the kind of thing that 0:21:03.000 --> 0:21:05.200 that's going to be available to quite a few people. 0:21:05.760 --> 0:21:08.520 And the more they get involved with it, UM, you 0:21:08.560 --> 0:21:10.879 know that the more interesting it will get just to 0:21:10.880 --> 0:21:14.840 see how how well it does. But it'll be UM. 0:21:15.160 --> 0:21:17.560 And it may also end up being a source of 0:21:17.600 --> 0:21:22.520 revenue for Google to right, they've partnered with some companies uh, 0:21:23.000 --> 0:21:26.440 and there may be some advertising or cross promotional stuff 0:21:26.440 --> 0:21:30.440 going on through the app that will generate revenue. UH. 0:21:30.600 --> 0:21:34.280 They may also eventually have other ways of generating revenue 0:21:34.280 --> 0:21:39.199 through this besides advertising. But advertising is certainly something that 0:21:39.240 --> 0:21:41.800 could be part of this, And it wouldn't surprise me 0:21:41.840 --> 0:21:44.040 at all. You know, it wouldn't surprise me if you're 0:21:44.080 --> 0:21:46.880 following the path to the portal and you're like, huh, 0:21:47.119 --> 0:21:50.520 it's amazing. This massive portal that's going to be key 0:21:50.560 --> 0:21:52.919 to the success of my faction is right here at 0:21:52.920 --> 0:21:57.080 this Jamba Juice, Yes, which is one of their partners. Yes. Yes, 0:21:57.119 --> 0:21:59.720 And you'll say, hey, this portal is to hack this 0:21:59.760 --> 0:22:05.320 port all you know now that I'm here, it's smoothie. Yeah. Yeah, 0:22:05.320 --> 0:22:07.760 I mean, but I mean there's you know there. They 0:22:07.800 --> 0:22:10.359 have to be able to fund the stuff or else 0:22:10.440 --> 0:22:13.960 there's no stuff, right, So I don't I don't really 0:22:13.960 --> 0:22:17.120 object to that. It's it's as long as it's handled well. 0:22:17.200 --> 0:22:19.840 So and it'll since we haven't been able to play yet, 0:22:19.880 --> 0:22:21.920 we aren't really sure how it's handled. True, I would 0:22:21.920 --> 0:22:25.040 hope it's handled pretty well. But it'll also be interesting 0:22:25.080 --> 0:22:28.720 to see how the mystery plays out. And I'm sure 0:22:29.200 --> 0:22:32.800 we're going to see more and more instances of real 0:22:32.880 --> 0:22:37.680 world stuff, uh playing into this game. For instance, Like 0:22:37.680 --> 0:22:40.080 like when I mentioned Tycho, I didn't really get into it. 0:22:40.119 --> 0:22:42.719 But the thing they did at Comic Con was this 0:22:42.760 --> 0:22:46.920