Data Sphere

Any of you guys play Google's new augmented-reality game Ingress? What faction do you play and how do you like the game? I cannot wait to return to civilization and start to seriously fight for portals as here in Cambodia there are not too many of them. Do you solve mysteries from dashboard? What is Niantic Project?

www.ingress.com
www.nianticproject.com

Go Enlightement!

Oh come on, keep the standards and make a proper OP
What's Ingress and how do I eat it?

Basic storyline is quite simple. All over the world you can find portals emitting eXotic Matter (XM). XM affects human mind, makes human brain more efficient, more creative. There are two factions: Enlightement believes that Shapers, superintelligent transdimensional species, are using portals and XM to to help mankind develop, to reach higher levels of knowledge and creativity. Resistance says Shapers just want to enslave us and widen their Kingdom.

Game is played through android devices. You download an app that uses google maps to detect portals (usually statues, monuments, historical buildings) and XM. You choose a faction and then try to gain as many portals as possible. They can be hacked to obtain various items, such as shields etc. Portals are linkable. If you link three portals together you create a field. This field covers area controlled by your faction. The more dense the area population is, more Mind Units your faction controls. Ultimate goal is to control all Mind Units in the world.

Besides, on web site nianticproject.com you can help investigate the mysterious Niantic Project that experiments with XM and portals. It's full of conspiracies, secret agents, abductions etc.

Reason I like this game is it forces you to go outside (you need to be near portal to interact with it) and communicate within your faction (high level portals require coordinated effort to hack or link).