JOYity To The Worlds: Virtual/Real-World Games Get Groovy Via New Android App

Who says an Android can't feel JOYity?

JOYity, a new Android app (for phones running Google's Android operating system) from Zelfi, is finally integrating the real world with virtual games that send you on adventures based on your location in the real world.

As reported by TechCrunch, is a download with three games - YouCatch, Roads of San Francisco, and City Race Munich.

My favorite just might be YouCatch, in which players in the same city, either solo or in teams, is assigned to go after someone. Everyone's location is periodically flashed on an on-screen map. When you get into the vicinity of your victim, you hit the scrollbar to make the kill. But when you do, your location is flashed on the map, too, making you vulnerable to one of your victim's teammates. See the AppVee video here for more.

Roads of San Francisco and City Race are said to be scavenger hunts where, when you find one location, a message sends you on your next mission.

Now, how might advertisers use this platform? In BRANDING UNBOUND the book, I look at how brands might sponsor contests where the scavenger hunt is related to your brand, for instance. In YouCatch, many movies and TV shows could integrate themselves into the action. In the book, I look at earlier examples that include text and MMS-based, as well as GPS-based games like "Uncle Roy All Around You."

Sure beats playing Wii. And could make for a massive wave of very fun, very cool "trans-reality" branded or brand-sponsored games.

Read more, here and here.

Quick Links:

Generation Wow: Expanding the conversation to multi-platform marketing
BRANDING UNBOUND The Book
ADWEEK Magazines Excerpt
Rick Mathieson.com

Comments

[GPS]

Good update...the phones are getting smarter and better by the day.