Interspecies gaming hits GDC

Sure, playing games against other people is fun, but three developers at this year's Game Developer's Conference were challenged to create games for humans and other species to play -- and the results were just as wild as you'd expect. Alexey Pajitnov, the inventor of Tetris, unveiled a concept called Dolphin Ride that features paintball-armed dolphins racing (and attacking) each other to hit as many targets as possible, while Wizardry developer Brenda Brathwaite showed off an actual game called OneHundredDogs.com, due to launch on February 29th. The social-network-based game pits 50 dogs and their owners against each other in various challenges to become the "alpha dog" of their communities -- who will then lead the quest to find 50 hidden virtual dogs by way of other challenges and dog-based activities. The winner, however, was Steve Meretzky, developer of Zoo Tycoon, whose concept game Bac Attack pits players armed with light and radiation against a bacterial colony in a petri dish -- when the player is inevitably overwhelmed by the bacteria, Steve suggests calling the government to arrange a sale. Cheery -- but we'll stick to the heavily-armed dolphins, thanks.

[bjrcboy @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:36PM]

Wait.. whats new about this? Sorry but can anyone explain this for me.

[KangMin @ Feb 22nd 2008 4:19PM]

Just think of it as "Leap Frog - Microbiology 'For Adults/Gamers' "
joy

[Joe @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:38PM]

It's not a bug, it's a feature! Really!

[Junior @ Feb 22nd 2008 3:17PM]

like the windows home server bug

[Ghen @ Feb 22nd 2008 4:08PM]

I can't wait for next years contest... Develop a game that creates a vaccine for the virulent strains of bacteria created by playing bac attack. Over 1 million deaths so far! Can YOU be the savior of humanity?

[wrabbit @ Feb 22nd 2008 4:09PM]

A bit grim... but funny :D

[Wesburl @ Feb 23rd 2008 11:47AM]

I am Legend??

[highjumpman @ Feb 22nd 2008 4:44PM]

Maybe one day games can really be used to further science, in the theme of "fold-at-home" or those scanned-book decrypting captchas...

[John @ Feb 23rd 2008 2:35AM]

frickin' paintball guns!

[soulblade @ Feb 23rd 2008 4:03PM]

Haha! That's great! Made from the Tetris guy.
(a choir of dogs plays the Tetris theme in the background)