Ecocism takes players into a grim version of the future, where greed and neglect have rendered the Earth's surface an uninhabitable wasteland. Forced underground, the Colony is made up of the lucky ones. Machines created by man, driven like all things by energy, have taken on the characteristics learned from their masters and consume without inhibition. They alone reign over the surface, waiting to devour any resources in their path.

But all is not lost. With the potential to use technology responsibly, the Colony is faced with a final opportunity to restore the environment and return to the surface. The player, acting alone against a host of ravenous machines, must carefully balance the small but growing environment under their care. Their challenges are to work with the environment to defend the emerging Colony, using a combination of arcade-style combat and strategy-based planning.

Designed especially for Xbox Live Arcade on the Xbox 360, Ecocism is a never before seen hybrid of realtime strategy and classic arcade shooter. The marrying of the mayhem of an arcade style "shoot-em-up" to the careful planning and decision making of realtime strategy forces players to truly think fast. Players must be able to keep their wits during massive onslaughts of enemy attackers while still making conscious decisions to make the Earth inhabitable again - and keep it that way. Ecocism features an adjustable overhead view of a fully 3D environment, an intuitive control scheme, and an environment and terrain which respond to ever-changing circumstances.

Ecocism captures the spirit of the Imagine Cup because it is innovative, utilizes advanced features of Microsoft's latest technology, and takes this year's theme to new levels. While the setting and story involve reestablishing the environment, more importantly, Ecocism is specifically designed to encourage players to think about the resources they have available and what kind of impact their current decisions will have on the future. Wasteful building and spending may pay off more quickly, but the player is bound to suffer sooner or later for a short-sighted strategy.