One trend that we’re loving at the moment is the final emergence of Urban Gaming (think flash mobbing crossed with a kind of competitive digital orienteering) as something almost mainstream.

Usually relying on a mix of online and mobile elements to push users towards some truly participatory entertainment it’s something that, while not appealing to my mother, does seem to be catching on.

Last Saturday Cruel 2 B Kind ran a game of what they term as ‘benevolent assassination’ in Soho. The first time they have hit the streets of London, but when it gets listed in Time Out you know it’s no longer just for the hardcore early adopters.

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It’s far from being a new phenomenon, games like Uncle Roy All Around You are even more involved and allows gamers to play online or in reality, effectively putting a ‘digital layer’ over a real city, most recently West Bromwich, and it’s been around for ages. Players search for a postcard, and can see each other through mobile devices even though some are playing in reality and others virtually.

And in the States it’s even more established. Companies like Live Games Network are making money at it. The streets of New York have been turned into a real game of PacMan, other games have asked participants to perform tasks and record them digitally, at specific map references; cue people performing strange acts on roof-tops to ensure their phone GPS has them in the right place but they avoid the eyes of the public!

So, real social interaction, in the real world, but all aided by a layer of technology. Surely this is the future?

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