Swinefighter game spreads like a virus
A casual web game dubbed Swinefighter is catching on like a virus.
The game’s popularity comes on the heels of a global panic about the spread of swine flu around the world in an epidemic that has killed hundreds from Mexico to the U.S. to Europe in a matter of days.
Evidently, the department of questionable game topics is quite busy this week. In the exploit ‘em while you can genre, Games2win created a Somali pirate sniper game. But Konami canceled its Six Days in Fallujah game after a public outcry. The Swinefighter game was created as an experiment in virality by Heyzap, which makes a widget that lets any web site include free casual games.
The mission for the player is to stop the out-of-control virus. Using a needle, the doctor-player is supposed to inject green pigs with an antidote before they fly off to infect different countries. The player has 20 seconds to click away with a mouse.
The Swinefighter game is at least educational. It offers health advice such as good hygiene to players. A counter on the Swinefighter site says more than 800,000 viruses have been eradicated.
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About the Author, Dean Takahashi
Dean is lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He covers video games, security, chips and a variety of other subjects. Dean previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News, the Wall Street Journal, the Red Herring, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and the Dallas Times Herald. He is the author of two books, Opening the Xbox and the Xbox 360 Uncloaked. Follow him on Twitter at @deantak, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.