In a world where airport security becomes ever more intrusive, Blowtooth allows you to sidestep Big Brother and smuggle in contraband – the fake kind, of course.
Players who install Blowtooth on their phones will be able to take part in what resembles a faux drug running scheme. The Blowtooth application will automatically scan the area for Bluetooth devices, and the player can then dump or retrieve contraband onto other people’s devices. Whoever you interact with become unwitting mules in your faux-drug running empire.The ultimate goal is to retrieve the contraband once you’ve passed through security. You get points for how many couriers you receive contraband from, and how quickly you retrieve it. The “contraband” ranges from harmless plastic sporks and unlicensed cheese products to Cuban cigars and a “10-spot” of an unspecified product.
According to the creators, Blowtooth is “specifically designed to exploit the affordances of a particular class of public space – namely international airports – in which people are subject to particularly high levels of intrusive surveillance and security monitoring. Even in everyday experience such surveillance can be both simultaneously thrilling and frightening; the possibility of harnessing these sensations in a game has great potential.”
The entire game is trying to harness the potential of pervasive gaming, games that harness everyday objects and scenes in our life and turn them into gaming experiences. Unfortunately, Blowtooth only works on devices that support Bluetooth and Java, and since Apple doesn’t allow applications to access Bluetooth, this iPhone user is not going to be smuggling anything across airport security lines any time soon. Blast, I really wanted to get my 101mL of orange juice through, too.
Source: Blowtooth, via Game Politics
Published: Apr 19, 2010 10:10 pm