How to grief your friends with Watch Dogs' free companion app

The ctOS Mobile app for Watch Dogs, Ubisoft's upcoming open world game, will allow you to challenge your friends and try to grief them into failure for free, according to a recent post by communications associate Anne Lewis on Ubisoft's blog.

She began her time with the connected app by locating her friend on the app's map of Chicago and then challenging him with a tap on the screen. Once he accepted the challenge, it was his job to hit four checkpoints within a limited time period. Her job was to stop him by changing the game world from within the app.

"By dragging the helicopter on the screen to hover over the console player's marker (which moved in real time with his movements on the screen) I was able to see the various aspects of Chicago's infrastructure I could affect," Lewis wrote. "As my opponent stole a car and headed toward an intersection I quickly hacked the traffic lights, sending cars careening into him. His luck held out and he was able to keep moving. If a player dies during the challenge it's not an automatic game over, but he'll have to start back at the beginning and none of the time is returned."

The ctOS Mobile app will work with Wi-Fi and 3G and is headed to Android and iOS as a free app for both tablets and phones.

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said in July that app users won't have to own the full retail game to use it.

"Watch Dogs - ctOS Mobile is a free app, with its own progression skills," technical lead Frederic Blais said, "the more you play, the better you will get and the better the experience will become."

Watch Dogs is slated for a Nov. 19 release on on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U and Windows PC, with versions headed to PlayStation 4 on and Xbox One as well. For more on the game, you can check out a nearly 15-minute long video romp through the streets of Chicago.