Tiny Japanese soldiers face off over Twitter in DotWar
The heaving ranks of unwashed, unwilling conscripts jostled and stumbled in a Brownian motion facsimile of a pair of armies struggling to hold their formation as @hintman (CNNGo associate editor Chris Anderson) urges his troops forward against another CNNGo editor @ladykarla45 with the ultimate prize of Twitter bragging rights his goal.
As ever, the cruel puppet master that is DotWar would not be denied, the pixilated bodies piling high in the name of a few minutes of pure work avoidance played out on a Flash-heavy website, accompanied by some very groovy muzak.
When the dust settled, @hintman had won his victory; @ladykarla45, vanquished, lay stripped of her soldiers, her prized in-game crystals and her SNS dignity.
And so, the tweets went out, proclaiming this a day for the ages and sharing some very savvy (bilingual) Twitter marketing for DotWar’s Japanese creator. In case you’re still wondering, Tokyo-based programmer Sipo’s DotWar takes two Twitter handles, analyzes their avatars and allocates thousands of tiny soldiers accordingly.
The colors in each image correspond to gifts bestowed upon the virtual troops -- speed, range, strength and so on. Think of it as Magic: The Gathering or Top Trumps for the distracted.
From that point, there’s a choice of controlling the battalions with your mouse or of letting Adobe Flash do the heavy lifting while you sit back and await the result.
Either way, it’s one of the more elegant Twitter bolt-ons we’ve seen, meaning it’s clearly destined to be clogging up the SNS tubes for weeks to come. Just don't say you heard it from us, OK?
CNNGo Comment Policy: CNN encourages you to add a comment to this discussion. You may not post any unlawful, threatening, defamatory, obscene, pornographic or other material that would violate the law. All comments should be relevant to the topic and remain respectful of other authors and commenters. You are solely responsible for your own comments, the consequences of posting those comments, and the consequences of any reliance by you on the comments of others. By submitting your comment, you hereby give CNN the right, but not the obligation, to post, air, edit, exhibit, telecast, cablecast, webcast, re-use, publish, reproduce, use, license, print, distribute or otherwise use your comment(s) and accompanying personal identifying and other information you provide via all forms of media now known or hereafter devised, worldwide, in perpetuity. CNNGo Privacy Statement.
Comments are moderated by CNNGo, in accordance with the CNNGo Comment Policy above, and may not appear on this blog until they have been reviewed and deemed appropriate for posting. Also, due to the volume of comments we receive, not all comments will be posted.
you may also like
New GPS device and service verge on the bizarre, intrusive
Japanese carmakers aim for world domination with new ‘smart’ DoCoMo sat-nav
CES 2010: 10 innovations to change the way you travel
Japan’s pollen solution: Spite hay fever, cut off your nose
Seiwa Airwasher: An atmospheric car-stink and pollen scrubber
User Comments and Reviews
What do you think?
Leave a comment or submit a review. You have to be logged in to comment.