Google have released an augmented reality game called Ingress that involves a shady world where two forces are pitted against each other, battling over a mysterious energy (the best kind) that’s recently been discovered. One side is the Enlightened who want to use the energy to control people’s minds via portals and the other is a group called the Resistance, who are fighting against them.From Google’s Niantic Labs the game is mobile based and played via an app—once you’ve chosen your side you then take the fight into the real world vying for territory and control over portals. John Hanke, head of Niantic Labs, says the game takes its inspiration from Lost creator J.J. Abrams as players must fight for resources and club together with others in their local area to defeat their opponents and take ownership of the portals.Players take control of the portals by following directions and checking in like you would on Foursquare. The goal is to link different portals together and claim global dominance for your side which is how the game is won.Videos will also be released to engage players with the game and keep interest upIt’s in beta form at the moment and the app is free to download on Android, with an iOS version in the works to be released in a couple of months. As well as aiming to entertain people with alternate reality thrills by merging the physical and virtual worlds, there’s already conspiracies surrounding Google’s real motivation. Forbes reports that Reddit users have been pondering whether the game is a ruse for Google to collate mapping data from the public for future releases of Google Maps.@stewart23rd
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