New Game Combines Reality and Virtual World

Virtual reality collides with uh, real reality thanks to the launch of an interactive game that allows people in a newly created game world to communicate with people outside cyberspace. The experiment will test the robustness of the 3G phone networks while providing researchers with the ability to examine how people use information technologies.

Called "I Like Frank", the game involves online gamers and people on street corners around the world who have 3G phones. The object of the game, much like Where's Waldo, is to track down the elusive Frank.

It goes live on March 2.

This announcement comes just one day after a spate of new 3G cell phones that stream video were unveiled at the 3GSM World Congress show in Cannes, France. Already, television networks and cable companies are looking for ways to stream clips to viewers.