MegaPhone: Phone Call Controlled, Realtime, Multiplayer Gaming on Big Screens
Use any phone from any service provider in any country as a game controller
Join the game by making a regular phone call, and see your voice and keypad input immediately
The experience can be followed up with an SMS, MMS, or digital content download
MegaPhone turns pedestrians into players!TM
Wait, what?
- MegaPhone is a Phonecall-Controlled, Real-Time, Multi-Player Collaborative Gaming Platform for Big Screens in Public Spaces. But we already said that. What we mean is, it's a game you control with a phone call.
- MegaPhone is NOT a downloadable application that runs on your phone, and it's NOT a wireless network, like Wifi or Bluetooth. There's nothing to install, so it works on any phone, on any carrier, in any country.
- There are two ways to send input to the display: keypad and voice. The keypad can be used much like a video game controller, and the volume and pitch of the phone's microphone can also become input in the game.
- MegaPhone updates the game state on a shared screen, and can send custom audio and text messages back to each user. MegaPhone uses this mobile channel back to the caller to close the loop on out of home media advertising.
So, how does it work?
1) A viewer sees the phone number on screen
2) They call the number with any phone, and interact using their microphone and keypad
3) Their mobile carrier forwards us the call
4) The MegaPhone server answers the call and processes the voice and keypress data
5) The MegaPhone server sends the data over the internet
6) The MegaPhone Flash game displays the updated state on the screen
7) The MegaPhone mobile content server can send the caller SMS, MMS, or digital files
Engagement: Real-time feedback and individual control mean users are much more entertained by MegaPhone, and spend more time with it than similar systems. Early MegaPhone installations have had an average of more than 4.5 minutes of engagement per user.
Tracking: Each MegaPhone installation is tagged with meta-data, including location, and demographic information about visitors. MegaPhone tracks each user interaction by phone number, and records the length of engagement, and any outputs or actions from the experience (such as winning a prize, or joining a mobile mailing list).
Mobile channel: MegaPhone can use SMS/MMS to send winners of contests a message to claim a prize, or ringtones, wallpapers, games or other digital content. MegaPhone can also accept SMS/MMS from callers to display text messages and images on screen.
Customization: Games are developed as a standard Flash application, built on the MegaPhone library. The platform is built to integrate with existing workflows and resources, simply adding a new form of interaction to existing applications, or allowing for unlimited creativity for custom applications. Dynamic data, audio, images, video, and animation can be used. Game graphics and rules can be fully customized to match any existing campaign.
Multi-user: MegaPhone games can support hundreds or even thousands of players, with the real limit being the screen size and game design itself. For action games where each caller needs their own avatar, 20 to 40 users per screen is a good balance. For games where each user doesn't need to be seen on screen (such as trivia), the number of players is up to your imagination.
Multi-location: MegaPhone instances can be distributed over different locations. Imagine a game where the teams are Times Square, New York vs. Shibuya Crossing, Tokyo, with all users appearing simultaneously on both screens in a realtime phone-based international battle!
Portable: MegaPhone runs anywhere Flash runs. To deploy MegaPhone you only need a suitable screen, a standard PC (Mac, Windows, or Linux), and an internet connection (1.5 mbps of bandwidth). The rest of the MegaPhone system is hosted in our data center.
Tracking: Each MegaPhone installation is tagged with meta-data, including location, and demographic information about visitors. MegaPhone tracks each user interaction by phone number, and records the length of engagement, and any outputs or actions from the experience (such as winning a prize, or joining a mobile mailing list).
Mobile channel: MegaPhone can use SMS/MMS to send winners of contests a message to claim a prize, or ringtones, wallpapers, games or other digital content. MegaPhone can also accept SMS/MMS from callers to display text messages and images on screen.
Customization: Games are developed as a standard Flash application, built on the MegaPhone library. The platform is built to integrate with existing workflows and resources, simply adding a new form of interaction to existing applications, or allowing for unlimited creativity for custom applications. Dynamic data, audio, images, video, and animation can be used. Game graphics and rules can be fully customized to match any existing campaign.
Multi-user: MegaPhone games can support hundreds or even thousands of players, with the real limit being the screen size and game design itself. For action games where each caller needs their own avatar, 20 to 40 users per screen is a good balance. For games where each user doesn't need to be seen on screen (such as trivia), the number of players is up to your imagination.
Multi-location: MegaPhone instances can be distributed over different locations. Imagine a game where the teams are Times Square, New York vs. Shibuya Crossing, Tokyo, with all users appearing simultaneously on both screens in a realtime phone-based international battle!
Portable: MegaPhone runs anywhere Flash runs. To deploy MegaPhone you only need a suitable screen, a standard PC (Mac, Windows, or Linux), and an internet connection (1.5 mbps of bandwidth). The rest of the MegaPhone system is hosted in our data center.
We hope so. MegaPhone is interested in creating big scale, innovative, high-end interactive experiences for clients. MegaPhone works best for media owners that have their own screens (either a network of screens, or one that is setup for special events). We're not quite cost effective for small venues yet, but for a national promotional tour, long term screen installation, or an event seeking a large PR hit, MegaPhone can really enhance the value of your experience.
The MegaPhone platform can be used to control any type of service. The games we've built give a sense of what's possible, but are only the beginning of what the system can do. If you can imagine it, we can build it!
The MegaPhone platform can be used to control any type of service. The games we've built give a sense of what's possible, but are only the beginning of what the system can do. If you can imagine it, we can build it!
| Location | Example Application |
| 'Destination screens' (such as Times Square) |
Realtime shooter game |
| Movie theaters | Trivia game, with potential to reward winners |
| Sports stadiums | Home team vs. Away team 'Tug-of-war' |
| Live TV | Realtime voting, play-along quiz show games |
| Concerts / Festivals | Choose the encore |
| Corporate lobbies | Product showcase |
| Information kiosks | User requested maps and tours |
| Trade shows | Sales lead generation and tracking |
| Store windows | Information retrieval / lead generation |
| Guerilla projections | Avant garde art or advertising |
- Large display (projector, LCD wall, or plasma screen)
- 1.5Ghz computer to drive the display (Windows, Mac, or Linux)
- Broadband internet connection, about 1Mbps (DSL, Cable, HSDPA, or EVDO)
- Good cell phone reception
OK. Let's do it!
To get started with MegaPhone,
1) Please download our new client document
and fill it out.
2) Email it back to us at .
3) If you need more info, please download our one sheet here
.
1) Please download our new client document
and fill it out.
2) Email it back to us at .
3) If you need more info, please download our one sheet here
.
You might saw us at the following places. To see our client work, please visit our Clients page.
MIMA Summit (Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association Summit)
Oct 1, 2008
Minneapolis, Minnesota, US
MegaPhone's Jury Hahn was featured in the June 2008 issue of Wired Magazine as an Alpha Geek
wired.com version
download PDF
MegaPhone was featured in the Spring 2008 issue of Contagious Magazine.
CTIA Wireless 2008
Apr 1-3, 2008
Las Vegas, US
Please see the case study for MegaPhone-powered polling system for Alcatel-Lucent
O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference
Mar 3-6, 2008
San Diego, US
The MegaPhone team was chosen as one of the 'Faces of Innovation' by Wired Magazine!
presentation video
NYC: Nov 10, 2007
SF: Nov 3, 2007
LA: Oct 28, 2007
Sponsored by Nokia, MegaPhone handed out over $10,000 worth of Nokia N95s and Nokia N800s to game winners!
Oct 11-14, 2007
Manchester, UK
MegaPhone's UK premier sponsored by the BBC. Check out the photos and video here.
Sep 13-16, 2007
Los Angeles, California, US
over 2,300 unique callers
over 4,500 calls
over 12,000 minutes of calling
over 4.7 minutes average call time
Check out the photos and video here
Aug 20-23, 2007
New York, US
Jul 22-26, 2007
Sunnyvale, California, US
Jun 22-24, 2007
Sebastopol, California, US
Feb 27 - Mar 1, 2007
San Francisco, California, US
MegaPhone was launched at the 2007 O'Reilly Emerging Telephony Conference.
The name of the first version was MegaPhone 3000.
ETel Coverage: The Future of Telephony
O'Reilly Radar
MegaPhone came out of the NYU Interactive Telecommunications Program. The name of the first version was Megaphone 3000, and it was presented by Jury Hahn and Christopher Kairalla at the Fall 2006 ITP show, Spring 2007 ITP show, and as Jury Hahn's Master's Thesis in Spring 2007.