The Next Frontier In GeoSocial Networking Is Here

XLabz Technologies has released their location based social game, GeoSocials for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad users. Based on the principles of gamification, GeoSocials is a real-time, location based social game played in and around one's location. Here, players can earn virtual and sometimes real rewards that boost their standing within the game's landscape. Think of it like a social game layer built atop the real world.

GeoSocials was designed to deliver an engaging hyper-social experience. The game doubles up as a powerful social networking tool that facilitates players to make instant and real connections with people both in terms of physical proximity and established social connections. With an initial limited release for the iPhone in the United States of America and subsequent staggered launches planned across Europe and Asia, GeoSocials will also be available for Android devices in the second half of this year.

The game's premise (and tagline) is simple - Play, Win and Socialize. At its heart, GeoSocials is a virtual geocaching game driven by simple game challenges that win users points for virtual and sometimes real world rewards. Comprising exciting fun games that use the accelerometer, voice amplification and gesture recognition features found in smart phones, users play an array of games to solve each challenge. Additionally, users can also ask and answer geo-specific questions relevant to the location to solve challenges and claim points.


GeoSocials positions players to pit their wits against their friends and other gamers in their immediate vicinity and while on the move. The ultimate objective is to achieve a position of supremacy on the gaming leaderboard, and maintain it in the face of competing users from across neighborhoods, cities, and even countries.

Driven by the people who play the game, GeoSocials doesn't require the user to be in a famous city, restaurant or museum. It can literally be played anywhere the user chooses and at anytime. The app's social interface allows users to make new friends, by enabling users to send and receive messages from fellow gamers and nearby friends, drop them a line, or ping them for a friendly chat or game. In a nutshell, GeoSocials allows users to re-discover their neighborhoods and earn rewards while at it, as they wait for their cup of coffee, a friend, or while at the airport. By facilitating instant social discovery, the game encourages people to be more social in real life with people who they cross paths with everyday but never get a chance to interact with or know more about.

The developers at XLabz were driven by the power of combining real time communication with social networking and seeing how the power of such an exchange could be harnessed in an interactive way: "HyperSocial is the next step in social interaction enabled via Game Mechanics. The effect of this exchange is interesting when we observe the way we interact at so many levels - individual, groups, in person and virtually. The primary effect of hypersocial interaction is the immediate influence of action, where users form an immediate connection or association which is rooted in a common background," says Krishna Prathab RV, Founder and CEO - XLabz Technologies.

While GeoSocials offers users a chance to challenge their friends or new acquaintances to a friendly real-time hyper-local game, it further heightens their experience by allowing them to discover and exchange experiences by either sharing it via the game platform and then extending it to a social level by exchanging and posting updates or notes, recommending the same to new friends or even highlighting an event, product or personal experience, all in real-time.


"The response to GeoSocial's soft launch has been tremendous and we're looking forward to growing the user base further push the game beyond the current locations we have. Our intention with GeoSocials is entertainment and enjoyment, of course; however, what we're also looking to achieve is next level of social interaction. HyperSocial is the next step in the way we will interact with people who we know, or would like to know, but seldom have the time, resources or situations to interact with. HyperSocial applications which are based on location bring out a whole new context, a deeper association and meaning to influence the growth of a type of social networking, which is more connected to the real world," said Prathab.

GeoSocials is currently available for the iPhone. The Android version is expected in the second half of this year, followed by other platforms.

Pricing and Availability
GeoSocials 1.0 is Free and at launch available only in the US exclusively through the App Store in the Social Networking category. GeoSocials will be made available for download in other countries in a few weeks after launch.

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