Cisco's got game, a lame game, but worth $45,000

Cisco is trying hard to update its nerd image into something more techno-hip, but you'll have to decide for yourself if it is succeeding. First the news: Cisco is offering a $10,000 purse, plus a $35,000 Aggregation Service 1000 Router, for the winner of its video game tournament, "EDGE QUEST." Qualifying began on Monday and will end June 11.

It's an interesting concept for a router maker to host a gaming tourney of its own homegrown game. EDGE QUEST is intended as a marketing ploy to introduce the new Cisco ASR 1000 Series routers. Players (which the game cutely names "agents") maneuver a "router craft" through various levels to defend the network edge from a wide array of service demands. They pick up two different colored balls, ehem, "two packets" to score points. Yikes!

Cisco posted a YouTube video of the game (linked below), but the YouTube parody of EDGE QUEST from Zero Punctuation is more fun to watch. Best line of the parody video: "You might expect that there would be lasers or something coming out of the 'router craft' but it's a router, so it doesn't have any lasers."

Here's a link to Cisco's YouTube video about the game. If any Cisco Subnet readers have played the game let us know how you like it. If any readers are enrolled in the tourney, we offer you best wishes dominating your cyberspace packets!

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