
What could be more sado-masochistic, financially speaking, than a shooter in which every single bullet you take, and every single bullet you masterfully pump into your enemies instantly modifies the amount of money earned after a match? Whereas, up until now, we were used with these actions impacting only our health bar, the London-based company Kwari is raising the stakes and challenges us to an (upcoming) online first-person shooter - also called Kwari - in which everything will be "for money".
The game itself will be free to download and will not require any monthly subscription. Instead, however, players will have to buy the ammunition for their weapons, so wasting it or having poor accuracy will cost them, literally. To keep things as simple as possible, all weapons in the game will use the same type of ammo. The weapons exemplified on the Kwari website are: Uzu 10mm Machine Pistol, Assault Rifle TT-829, "Protagonist" Shotgun, CL1-V3 Rocket Launcher, and MKV Hand-held Ion Beam. In theory, the game system goes something like this:
"Gamers playing Kwari for cash set up an account, are matched on the basis of skill, and enter a game at a pre agreed stake level ranging from one cent to one dollar a hit. During the four-round matches (3x 16-player maps, 1x 64-player last man standing map called 'The Killing Floor') every time a player hits another, money is decremented from the target's stake and added to the shooter's. In a way, the player's money stake mirrors their in-game health, except it's exchanged from one player to another." There will also be "Jackpot" prizes, which will be fed by self-inflicted damage sustained by the players in all games being played globally (so go easy on those rocket-jumps!). The Jackpots will be released hourly, daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly - with the latter expected to pay out millions of dollars. Or at least that's what the devs are hoping. If it sounds tempting, you can sign-up for the beta, or wait for the final version of Kwari, towards the end of 2007.




