After becoming available to all Android users back in December, Google this evening finally launched its popular Ingress game on iOS. The game originally launched in a closed beta all the way back in 2012, but has slowly been expanding to gradually larger audiences ever since.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ss-Z-QjFUio]
For those unfamiliar, Ingress is an augmented reality game that allows players to join either the Resistance or Enlightened teams to battle to locate and collect “Exotic Matter.” The Exotic Matter is located in real-life locations, meaning that players have to travel to places in real life to find it. The “portals” are established at public places and then linked to create virtual triangular fields over specific areas.
Ingress has a complex science fiction backstory that is ever-expanding and changing, depending on the success of each side.
Ingress transforms the real world into the landscape for a global game of mystery, intrigue, and competition. A mysterious energy has been unearthed by a team of scientists in Europe. Move through the real world using your iOS device and the Ingress app to discover and tap sources of this mysterious energy. Acquire objects to aid in your quest, deploy tech to capture territory, and ally with other players to advance the cause of the Enlightened or the Resistance. Track the progress of players around the world and communicate with others using an Intelligence map.
Ingress is available for free on the App Store now and is designed for both the iPad and iPhone.
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I think that this game helps Google track the day-to-day activities of high-worth individuals. This kind of data is worth more quite a bit more on the advertising market than the data of “typical internet users”. In all, this free game could really help Google promote its brand and open up a great new income stream.
Join Enlightened now…We seek to invest in a better future for mankind….
Verysimilar to great game shadow cities which had developer problems and which was fantastic.
I’ve got Android friends who are addicted to this game! So glad to see it come out on iOS! Now, I can play too!
Seriously… This was the only time that I ever knew what it was like for my iPhone to NOT have a major game that Android had… Lol.
Got to say that this game was highly additive at my office many moons ago but not now. Everyone moved onto something else. Plus, with the new hands-free driving laws in IL it makes it almost impossible to play when you are driving. I might give it a go though.
The hardcore Ingress players have gone crazy doing amazing stuff around the world. Check out this doc for an example…. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhRPoGTM1u0. I’m very curious to see how the influx of iphone players augments the game.