Wednesday, June 21, 2023

GeoGuessr for Video Games

Gamers can now test their gaming knowledge using a series of GeoGuessr type games based in some of the most popular video game worlds. These video game 'geoguessrs' include Grand Theft Auto, World of Warcraft, Fortnite, Minecraft, Final Fantasy and  Guild Wars.

GeoGuessr is a very popular web-based geographic discovery game in which players are randomly placed in a Google Street View location and must guess their location on a map of the world. The game uses Google Maps’ Street View technology to show players a random view of an area, and the player must use their knowledge of geography, landscape, and signs to make a guess as to the real world location. The closer the guess is to the actual location, the more points the player earns.

The following GeoGuessr type games work in exactly the same way. However instead of having to guess real world locations in these games the player has to identify locations in popular video game worlds. You are shown a panoramic 'Street View' type image of a location of your favorite game world and you must identify that location on an interactive game world map.

Lostgamer allows you to play a GeoGuessr type Street View game in a selection of your favorite game worlds. Fans of GeoGuessr will be familiar with the gameplay of Lostgamer. In GeoGuessr you are required to identify real-world locations from Google Maps Street View imagery. The gameplay in Lostgamer is exactly the same. Only in this case you have to identify where you are in a virtual game-world based on 360 panoramic imagery of that world's map. 

You can choose to play Lostgamer in three different game-worlds; Grand Theft Auto's Los Santos, World of Warcraft's Shadowlands or the Fortnite game-world. Choose either GTA, WoW or Fortnite and you will be randomly dropped in your chosen game's game-world. Using the custom made Street View imagery you then have to work out where you are in that world. If the location isn't immediately apparent you can use the arrows to move around (just as you would on Google Maps Street View). When you think you know where you are you can submit your answer by dropping a pin on the map of your game-world. You will then be awarded points based on how close you guessed to the correct location.

Lostgamer allows you to 'play solo', where you play against yourself and attempt to set your own personal high-score. Alternatively you can play 'multiplayer', in which you get to test your knowledge of one of the three featured game-worlds against other players.  

Even if you aren't interested in playing a Geoguessr type game you can still have a lot of fun with Lostgamer. Instead of trying to work out where you have been randomly dropped in a virtual game-world you can just use Lostgamer to virtually explore Los Santos, the Shadowlands or the Fortnite world. Each game has been fully mapped using custom developed Street View like panoramas. This means that you can explore each of these three game-worlds exactly as you might explore your own town using Google Maps Street View.

Guild Wars 2 Geo Guesser is another GeoGuessr type game which allows you to test your knowledge of the vast fantasy world of Tyria. 

Unfortunately, unlike the other games featured in this post, Guild Wars 2 Geo Guesser doesn't have panoramic imagery and instead works from static screenshots of Tyria. However in all other aspects Guild Wars 2 Geo Guesser is a great application of the GeoGuessr form of location guessing game applied to the Tyria game-world. In each round of the game you are shown a succession of images showing locations in Tyria and you have to identify the location depicted by selecting it on an interactive map of the game. You are then awarded points based on how close you are to the real location.

Hermitcraft GeoGuessr is a GueGuessr type game which requires you to identify locations in the Minecraft worlds of Hermitcraft.

Hermitcraft is a popular Minecraft server on which Minecraft players, known as Hermits, create and share Minecraft creations based on various themes and challenges. In Hermitcraft Geoguessr you are shown a random panoramic 'Street View' image of a location in the Hermitcraft Minecraft world. You then have to guess the location of that Street View by clicking on an interactive map. Points, as always, are awarded based on how close you are to the depicted location.

Eorguessr is a geographic discovery game which requires you to identify your location in the universe of Final Fantasy XIV. Final Fantasy XIV is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game set in the fictional world of Eorzea.

In Eorguessr you can choose from a selection of expansion packs to choose which parts of Eorzea (or which expansion pack game-world) you wish to play in. After selecting your expansion packs you are then shown a series of panoramic Street View images of Eorzea. Each of which you have to identify by clicking on an Eorzea interactive map.

No comments: