Ingress was created by a startup within Google called Niantic Labs. From the Wikipedia page:
The gameplay consists of establishing “portals” at places of public art, landmarks, cenotaphs, etc., and linking them to create virtual triangular fields over geographic areas. Progress in the game is measured by the number of Mind Units, i.e. people, nominally controlled by each faction (as illustrated on the Intel Map). The necessary links between portals may range from meters to kilometers, or to hundreds of kilometers in operations of considerable logistical complexity. International links and fields are not uncommon, as Ingress has attracted an enthusiastic following in cities worldwide amongst both young and old, to the extent that the gameplay is itself a lifestyle for some, including tattoos.
Ingress is popular, no doubt. There’s a cool “science fiction” feel to the game, and it gets you out and about, merging that science fiction overlay with the real world around you.
A player using the mobile app is presented with a map representing the area nearby. The map has a black background and the entire map is completely unmarked, except for roads which are represented in grey. Visible on the map are portals, Exotic Matter, links, control fields, and items that have been dropped from a player’s inventory.
Players must be physically near objects on the map to interact with them. The mobile client represents the player as a small arrow in the center of a 40-meter circle which represents the perimeter within which direct interaction is possible.
Here’s a link to the iOS version of the game. It’s free. Note that you’ll need to login with a gmail or other Google account.
Note also that you’ll need to share your location with the game and that your location will be shared with other players. There is a bit of risk there, both in privacy and in sharing your actual location with people you don’t know. This is the one aspect of the game I find worrisome.
The trailer is embedded below. [Via 9to5mac]
It sounds like competitive geocaching.
Exactly the reaction I had. I think it’s a pretty cool idea.
Wait! I thought Ingress was the name of an old DBMS in the 80s. Owned by IBM at one point?
I got as far as “Sign in with your Google+ account” and removed it.
“This is the one aspect of the game I find worrisome”
Well that and Google makes it.
Game play:
Find the advertising billboard portal, now repeat what the advertisement portal says three times. Now find the product and buy it. 15 google points! Follow the map to the next portal…
It’s really a Google account, Google+ isn’t required.
Grey Area Labs did it better with Shadow Cities. This google thing is just a knock-off.
Your location is not shared with other players in real time. They will see your in-game name associated with the attacks that you perform. Your in-game name is used throughout the game, and it’s up to you how much you protect your privacy outside the game.
I have a half-dozen Google accounts, each used for different purposes. There’s nothing in the rules that says you have to sign in with your every-day account. Create an account for the game (the same as you would for Steam, iCloud, Apple App Store or any other online service) and play with that.
You sacrifice more privacy by commenting on this article than you do playing the game.
I used to play this ALL THE TIME when I had Android. I’m so happy it’s finally here on iOS.
As for the privacy issues: There is Google. And I’m sure Google advertising vastly benefits from a good feed of the places you’re willing to go for the game. As for other players: You can’t see other players and they can’t see you. You pick an ingame screen name and that screen name is used in the chat log when you speak and in notifications when you attack enemy portals.
It’s actually sort of fun. You can be next to a portal someone’s attacking and be like, “AIGHT! WHO IS IT! YOU RESISTANCE SCUM!” It was awesome to spend a Saturday running around Atlanta (I lived there at the time) trying to hack portals. I met a lot of cool people playing the game.
It had a pretty awesome ARG[**] with very high production values associated with it[*]. Unfortunately, as with most ARG’s, it’s convoluted and hard to follow or catch up on, especially once they moved to the blob of G+ profiles.
The gameplay is fairly straightforward. There are two factions, the Enlightened and the Resistance. You run about running the app and collecting Exotic Matter (XM). You use XM to “Hack” portals. Neutral portals not owned by either faction are super easy. Once you’ve hacked a portal and claimed it for your faction, you can enhance it’s defenses with items (which you get by hacking portals). You can also attack enemy portals and try to claim them.
The fun comes when you start “connecting” portals. You can connect 3 portals to form a triangular field. You cannot cross the lines connecting portals. Your factions worldwide score is determined by the population of people covered by fields from portals your faction has connected.
It’s simple at first, but there’s a lot of strategy. Also, most serious players have serious external batteries. The game will murder your phone’s battery life.
[*]Apparently it was originally done via a monthly “investigation” board here from November 2012 to October 2013: http://www.nianticproject.com/
At which point it (of course) moved to a slew of Google+ pages. This page serves as the hub, of sorts, https://plus.google.com/+NianticProject/posts while most of the characters have their own pages.
[**] Alternate Reality Game: See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternate_Reality_Game
I set up an account that isn’t attached to anything but the game.
As for the game itself, constant use of location services will be a huge battery drain and possibly annoying with the new iOS 8 ‘continue to use’ feature.
Also while it looks cool it feels a lot like a massive advertising tool more than a game. Maybe if it was set up so at you have to go there and you ‘hack’ the portal by answering a question or such it might be more interesting. Encourage you to get out, walk around and explore your world.
That’s the description I have the game as well. Advertising. Maybe if it was just historical points around town i would feel better about it.