Online bird-watching game to debut; Blizzard fears mass exodus

by Darren Murph, posted Apr 20th 2007 at 4:36AM

Those nights of jubilation spent wasting time on City of Heroes, World of Warcraft, and Ultima Online just aren't what they used to be, but in just three days, the wait for the world's next incredible MMO will be over. Alright, so maybe online birdwatching won't take the globe by storm, but researchers at UC Berkeley and Texas A&M will be watching intently as the MMO goes live from the back porch of Craig Newmark. The Craigslist founder will be hosting a "remotely controllable robotic video camera" from the back deck of his San Francisco domicile, and interested users can log on to discover and classify wild birds in the Sutro Forest. By utilizing a "collaborative control interface," dozens of users can reportedly share the webcam simultaneously, which uses "highly responsive algorithms that automatically compute the optimal camera viewpoint." Gamers can rack up points by snapping shots of rare birds and then seeing just how many users can correctly classify it, so we'd highly recommend brushing up on your aves knowledge in preparation for April 23rd.

[Via Physorg]