Google Kills Google Shoot View, the Street View-based FPS

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Google has stepped in and put a stop to Google Shoot View, a game that uses Google Street View as the setting for a first person shooter.

Google Shoot View allowed players to play an FPS using familiar neighborhoods as the backdrop for the game and uses innocent bystanders as stationary targets. BusinessInsider reports that Dutch digital ad agency Pool Worldwide received a warning from Google that its game violated the Google Maps Terms of Service. As a result, Pool pulled the game.

"We received an email that apparently it was infringing on their terms of use, so we put the rest of the site down," Creative director Erwin Kleinjan said, adding that for the three days that the game existed, it had peaked at about 3,000 visitors per minute and crashed the company's web server.

Google has not yet commented publicly on its decision to pull Pool's permission to use the Google Street View API, however, it's not exactly hard to see why Google would want to distance itself from such a project, especially in light of recent events at Virginia Tech, Belgium's city of Liege, and, earlier this year, the Norwegian island of Utøya.

Check out the trailer for the game below. While it doesn't show any game play, it does offer an idea of what the game is like. 

Looks like the trailer has been pulled. However, there is now gameplay on YouTube, courtesy of user Shurkill. Check it out:

Jane McEntegart

Jane McEntegart works in marketing communications at Intel and was previously Manager of Content Marketing at ASUS North America. Before that, she worked for more than seven years at Tom's Guide and Tom's Hardware, holding such roles as Contributing Editor and Senior News Editor and writing about everything from smartphones to tablets and games consoles.

24 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Steveymoo
    So, even the video doesn't work now... Epic censorship is epic.
    Reply
  • FreyjasChosen
    Around 1997 I had this same idea...that someone would build a first-person game using a map of the real world. It would be awesome to see my house in virtual form, and walk around my neighborhood in a game. It's still a cool idea, but it shouldn't violate any other company's terms of use, and just being able to shoot innocent bystanders is pretty crappy.
    Reply
  • ppumkin
    You know what- why don't you just download the videa on host it on your server- I mean if it get pulled form yourube and its linked here- your make your article look like shiet... if somebody contacts you on the other hand and says, please remove the video, at least you can update your content and remove it.. with out getting broken links... common! And don't tell me you don'y know how to dl a YouTube video..
    Reply
  • memadmax
    Ahhh, that sucks....
    With a little bit of work, it could be an MMOFPS
    =D
    Reply
  • Weres da shootin'?
    Reply
  • house70
    could have been interesting if it was scripted where the Street view is used as background for character gameplay(including AI). Such a game would never run out of non-repetitive scenery, making it the biggest open-world gameplay.
    Now, it only looked like someone pasted a transparency over a screen where streetview was displayed. Meh.
    Reply
  • blackmancer
    game lameness at its greatest
    Reply
  • milanovsky
    This video is not from Google Shoot, it was done in video editor (it is said in author's comments in the end). Quick search in youtube will find you real trailer
    Reply
  • intel4eva
    nevermind the google maps terms of service, what about commercial (i.e. criminal) copyright infringement on art and sound assets from modern warfare 3?
    Reply
  • masterasia
    Nobody gets shot in the video? WTF?
    Reply