Blitz Play Hero III game uses RFID, WiFi, and modified DS's to do...something

We're not even going to pretend like we know exactly what the players who gather to play Blitz Play Hero III are attempting to accomplish -- with phrases like "level 2: DRAW with CHALK within certain subjectively chosen (psychogeographic) WiFi areas and PLACE RFID-tags - all analogous- old school tagging!" sprinkled liberally around the website, it seems likely that we don't really even posses the necessary chemicals to understand what's happening here. Regardless, the game features RFID light up Christmas tree badges connected to modified Nintendo DSs running a homebrew "game controller," a little creative warchalking, and an system of scoring that appears to center around graffiti-ing Nintendo D-pads everywhere. That sounds like a little slice of awesome, no matter what the rules -- but if anyone can tell us how all this will somehow result in "the LIVE concert is simulated over Bergen: A BLACK AND WHITE MOVIE with a virtual RFID SOUNDSCAPE concert!" in the spring of 2008, do please let us know in comments? Thanks.

[Via Make]

[Aaron Stone @ Nov 19th 2007 10:06PM]

William Gibson would get a kick out of this...

[Josh @ Nov 19th 2007 10:06PM]

I can tell you this: i had problems stumbling through that post - i can't imagine their website being less confusing.

[Christian Martin @ Nov 19th 2007 10:21PM]

Bad machine translation FTW.

Running the last quoted text through Babelfish, translating first into Korean and then back to English, we get:

"The concert which it is living is imagined on Bergen skies: It is black in actual RFIDSOUNDSCAPE concert with white motion picture!"

Apparently it's a cleverly disguised racially-segregated film?

[kojo87 @ Nov 19th 2007 10:26PM]

what the balls is this?

[sgt_easton @ Nov 19th 2007 10:31PM]

I'll take a stab at this...

I think the idea is to use a DS running homebrew interfaced with the Christmas trees. The idea is to find wireless networks (war-driving or walking) and to mark them with RFID tags. However, you have to check to see if someone else already marked it with an RFID tag. Using the trees and DS to detect RFID tags causes the DS to make sounds, apparently a la Guitar Hero III. Furthermore, the chalk design a person uses to mark the network and RFID's is a D-pad.

If some random person saw an idiot on the street with this setup making noise, they'd probably call the police.

My favorite quote from the site is "War-Chalk a TAG KNOB." I have no idea what that means but I can't stop laughing.

[Devastator @ Nov 20th 2007 4:36PM]

War-Chalk A TAG KNOB! Holy crap that's awesome! That may well be the next largest internet catch phrase...next to "LEEROY JENKINS!" I'm with sgt_easton on this one. I can't stop laughing either.

[John @ Nov 20th 2007 12:09AM]

i think i got dumber by reading that

[webon @ Nov 19th 2007 10:37PM]

WTF
by the ways, "most commented on" are almost all zune posts ain't that som'

[nate @ Nov 19th 2007 10:48PM]

who'd of thought a new device would get attention from people.

particularly after the hubub with ryan's first review of it.

[greg @ Nov 19th 2007 11:03PM]

i would say die for spaming engadget but that would be mean so just leave and don't come back

[Nick @ Nov 19th 2007 11:08PM]

I'd rather not.

[hurricane @ Nov 19th 2007 11:11PM]

ooOOoo, and a double post to boot! Tsk, tsk, tsk...

On a slightly different note... I have no idea as to what that contraption could be...? Nah, I'm not gonna try reading the article again...

[matttX @ Nov 20th 2007 12:01AM]

The black tree figure looks like an air freshener

[nizzy1115 @ Nov 20th 2007 1:01AM]

yeah im sorry, rewrite this post engadget.

[go nads go! @ Nov 20th 2007 7:05AM]

?!?!?!?!?!?!?

at least i got a chuckle out of it.

but seriously. WTF?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

[JPN @ Nov 20th 2007 9:23AM]

Great find...it's like Engrish, but I'd call it...Germlish. And who doesn't love some nice war-chalking, especially in the winter in Germany?

[Meltz; @ Nov 20th 2007 2:47PM]

...so it's like geocacheing, but more high-tech??

[TA @ Nov 20th 2007 3:21PM]

I'd like to RFID my brain cells that are running away from me after I read this post.

[enric @ Nov 20th 2007 10:04PM]

warning don't decode. if u did already though, you might want to consider living the rest of your life running and hiding from your own shadow.

[Duncan Shingleton @ Nov 21st 2007 6:34PM]

It's true, often you can be lost in the ludic speak. In short its a real life game that is played in 3 levels. First you use a DS to find WIFI spots in they city, then you place RFID tags within the WIFI spot, and last of all you can then play the sound of the rfid tag back through the ds, creating a street concert. The game is played both in the street by many players and also online via a google map hack that overlays the above across the city. I'll write a blog post on my site shingleton.org to explain it in plain text.

[nafets @ Nov 22nd 2007 8:02PM]

http://www.ludic-society.net/tagged/

[cplusplus @ Nov 24th 2007 6:26AM]

LOL. A new leeroy jenkins phrase is coined :) "war chalk a tag kn00b!" .. Probably, you should watch the video on their site (http://www.ludic-society.net/blitz/) . It is much more clearer than their written abstract...