Watch Dogs Prank Gives People Hacking Powers over Cars and Traffic Lights

An open-world action adventure game set in the city of Chicago, Watch Dogs is all about controlling and manipulating everything that's digital using the power of a cellphone. The hyper-connected world we live in could be the dream playground for somebody with the right software. Hacking into people bank accounts? Too mainstream – how about hacking into the whole city with a choice to either do right or wrong.

In order to show people just how liberating and cool hacking into everything can be, the makers of the game got together with a prankster called Hassan Al Hajry. He fooled people into thinking their phones could change the world around the with a tap of the screen and the help of a 'special' app.

Spurred by the simple tricks Hassan shows them, the victims decided to use the phone to do bad deeds, like breaking into cars and changing the traffic lights. The power to cause an actual car crash or take somebody else's prized Ford Mustang is so bad that it's good.

In Watch Dogs, you play Aiden Pearce, a wiz kid who's criminal activities resulted in his family's death. The game revolves around hacking into ctOS, a central management system for Chicago that you exploit to gain access to the whole city.