Ingress

So Google released a new game in closed Beta this fall on November 16, 2012.  It's not tottally known how long the beta will last, but I got my invite last week.   The game is called Ingress.

Wikipedia on Ingress

Here is part of what Wikipedia has to say:

Ingress is an augmented reality^[1] massively multiplayer online video game created by NianticLabs@Google, released for Android devices.^[2] The game has been called "a data gold mine" for Google.^[3]
Players of the game belong to one of two factions, “Enlightened” (represented in green) and “Resistance” (blue). The game-play allows players to enclose regions of territory on the surface of the earth with virtual links between virtual portals, which are visible in the game software. The top-level goal of the game is for one’s faction to control large numbers of “Mind Units”, the estimated number of humans within the regions of territory controlled by the faction.^[4]

The website for the game is: http://www.ingress.com/

And while you can download the game from the google play store, you need an android device to play on, with gps and data... and an invite to play.  You can request an invite to an email address, and to try and help speed up the process you can do some creative artwork and post it on twitter or G+.  That is how I got my invite.  I posted a couple of art pieces to my twitter and had an invite within minutes.

I'm in a small town with only a couple of portals.  But you can submit portal request at historical or important locations in town.   Most towns with portals have them at locations like city hall, court houses, train stations, libraries and post offices.

Sadly the weather is bitter cold here where I live right now and it's impeding me from getting out side in a more portal populated town, walking around and hacking as many portals as I can.   And every time I say hack a portal, my brain flashes back to the movie from the 90's, Hackers and the show on that movie where they were always saying "Hack The Planet"

Overall I'm enjoying the game so far.