A few days ago we learned of an interesting (and controversial) video game, one that you could argue is shockingly realistic. In fact, it was so realistic that it put players anyone on the planet, in exact-scale replicas of every major city. That is of course, every major city that's been mapped out by Google.

More of a mod than a game, this first-person shooter experience utilized Google Street View and it essentially was Google maps but with a gun. For obvious reasons, Google does not approve.

The first-person shooter version of Google Street View, the full 360 degrees mapping tool, was put together by Pool Worldwide, a Dutch digital ad company, and it let users (players?) fool around with an M4A1 assault rifle. All players could do was shoot around at buildings, and anything they see in Google Street View but this "game" didn't last too long.

Speaking to Business Insider, Creative director Erwin Kleinjan said that Google contacted them to take it down due to a violation of terms of service. The game only lasted over the weekend but was popular, bringing in over 3000 users per minute at its peak and overloading Pool Worldwide's servers.

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Terms of Service agreements aside, the bigger issue is the obvious one, that Pool Worlwide was allowing anyone in the world to grab a weapon and shoot at images of real people in real locations. The site is down now, containing only the text "Ctrl + alt + delete" but the simple and boring app succeeded in giving the ad agency's site a lot of traffic and attention.

If used the right way, what better way to construct a vast open-world video game than by Google's cartography work. Don't be shocked that if in a few years, once Google is able to accurately map and scale out 3D environments of key worldwide locations in detail, that players could roam around with other players in an MMO similar to PlayStation Home. It could be a Google+ video game app!

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Source: Business Insider