The Shroud: location-based services can be fun, too

Remember "Colors," that GPS-enabled vaporware game for the Gizmondo that was supposed to revolutionize the concept of location-based gaming, but never happened on account of Gizmondo's spectacular implosion? Well, the concept lives on -- and this time, it's in a form that a good percentage of the world's cellphone users should be able to enjoy. "The Shroud" looks looks to be a pretty ambitious and far-reaching project that attempts to bring the involvement and immersion of a traditional massively multiplayer RPG and shrink it down, allegedly offering gameplay that is "fun for hours as well as just for a few minutes." The typical RPG-ish activities play a major role in the game -- item collection and trading, quests, and the like -- but the big draws here will be the developers' ability to continually update maps and items (when the phone has a data connection, of course) and the game's LBS features, which will allow gamers to perform special tasks and challenges when in designated real-world zones -- if they have a GPS-enabled phone, of course. According to the publisher, users should never be more than four or five miles from a "hotspot" at any given time, meaning we won't need to book a flight just to get to that hot quest we're dying to complete. Look for The Shroud to hit a phone near you in the next few weeks, with availability through both carrier portals and direct download. Continue on for a few screenshots!