Harvey Smith, designer of PC games such as System Shock and Deus Ex, won the crowd's approval for best game idea. The game, entitled Peace Bomb!, would require players to suddenly gather up a crowd and do something great for society.
The notable thing about the game concept is that it was specfically designed in mind for the Nintendo DS. In fact, it was the only design of the three entrants that was intended for a specific platform.
While Smith's idea for a Nobel-caliber DS game will never see the light of day, it's still noteworthy to see developers using the handheld as another way to get their ideas out there.
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Originally posted by: PGC NewsBot
While Smith's idea for a Nobel-caliber DS game will never see the light of day, it's still noteworthy to see developers using the handheld as another way to get their ideas out there.
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Smith's winning idea, Peace Bomb!, was presented as a Nintendo DS game in which players create flash mobs--"crowds of people who assemble suddenly in a public place to do something notable and then disperse."
Specifically, Smith envisioned that the game would have a "subversive feeling to it" and promote peaceful insurgency projects.
Smith, who believes that flash mobs represent a kind of "social gaming," stated that his design was motivated by a desire to "engender that spirit of 'let's get together to do something cool.'" He further explained that by spilling into the real world, the game world would "afford players a higher sense of purpose."
Smith described his design as a "minimal graphics social network game." Smith also suggested that players could use the stylus to collect pe tit ions, practicing a kind of activism.
