Gamertell

London games publisher Kwari today (August 30, 2007) announced eponymous Kwari, an online first-person shooter with an entirely new online play agenda. While competitive online games based on cash bets are nothing new (just look at all the poker sites), the concept has never been applied to a first person shooter… until now.

Kwari is an Unreal-style online game that is free to download but not to play: Players will use real life moolah to buy ammunition and lose a bit of money every time they are hit. On the plus side, kills equal cash for skilled players.

Also interesting is the Jackpot feature. All self-inflicted injuries, including falls and suicides, subtract money from the player at fault and go into a global pool which spans across all Kwari servers. At set time periods - hourly, weekly and quarterly - a Pill round commences wherein players clamor for a sphere (think oddball) and try to keep it in their possession for as long as possible. At the end of the round, the cash from the pool is split two ways between the player who held the ball longest and the player who is holding it as the buzzer rings (unless, of course this is the same person). Quarterly payouts are expected to be huge.

This sounds like pure genius on paper – after all, it’ll only be a tiny investment to begin playing, with serious potential payoffs for those who can bring the skills. A scheme like that is more addictive than chocolate-chip-crack in practice. The game should be available for download by the end of 2007. If you really can’t wait, a beta is set to begin next week.

Site [Kwari] Read [N4G] Also Read [Spong] Site [Kwari]

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