Runte's take on real-world Pac-Man. The photographer designed and made the costumes for the series.
(Credit: Patrick Runte)While we wait for the big-screen adaptation of Halo to hopefully come out in the next couple of years, we must wonder about the real-life looks video games of yore may have taken. Modern games already look like awesome high-definition movies, but what about their heavily pixelated predecessors?
German photographer Patrick Runte has taken on the idea and has come up with some fairly funny recreations of old 4-bit video games as they would have looked in real life. The games adapted include Tetris, Pac-Man, and of course Pong. He even goes off the grid just a tad to bring us a pinball recreation. Rad.
Runte's a good photographer and there are many more (not so geeky) images on his site. In the meantime, check out a couple more of his game shots after the jump.
Runte's friends dress in costume to represent Pong in the real world.
(Credit: Patrick Runte)... Read more
You may have to read the instructions a few times to get the gist of the game.
(Credit: ABC.com)Itching to play Pong on the Web? Well, you're in luck since there are tons of sites that offer Java or Flash-based versions. One of my favorites--since about 20 minutes ago--being this one.
Maybe however, you're looking for something a little different. Perhaps you'd like to play Pong and have the game interrupted every few seconds to answer trivia questions about a show you've never heard of and just last night saw a commercial for. Well, that was my experience at least.
ABC, in an attempt to promote its new '70s cop drama Life on Mars, is offering Pong for play on its site and as a widget.
From the few minutes I've spent with it, I can say that the controls are responsive, but the A.I. isn't challenging at all on the first few levels. I would have played further but I just couldn't deal with the game constantly pausing to ask me '70s- and Life on Mars-related trivia questions. Otherwise, it's a pretty good version of Pong.
As for the show, as I mentioned, I saw a commercial for it last night for the first time and had no idea what it was about. Seeing Harvey Keitel with a huge flowing mullet kicking in a door didn't excite me much either.
After doing a little research I learned that it's actually a sci-fi show based on a BBC series. Of course, being the geek that I am, as soon as I learned about the sci-fi aspect I became intrigued. Also, with Clarke Peters from The Wire involved, I have to at least give it a try now.
Virtual Console
- Chase H.Q. (1992, TurboGrafx-16, 600 Wii points): You, Tony Gibson, and your partner, Raymond Broady, are of two cops from the NYPD's special "CHASE H.Q." unit. It's your mission to catch criminals by chasing them and ramming them off the road in your unmarked car--all in 16-bit graphics glory.
- Art of Fighting 2 (1994, NeoGeo, 900 Wii points): 12 characters compete in the toughest fighting contest of them all: King of Fighters. The game is notorious for having some of the most difficult opponent A.I. in the long history of fighting game.
WiiWare
- Pong Toss--Frat Party Games (JV Games, 2008, 800 Wii points): Think beer pong for your Wii remote, but without the table, stale beer, frat buddies, and the pretty ladies (unless you're lucky). You can either play in traditional mode or "Speed Pong," but you'll have to supply your own booze.
What games do you think are missing from the Wii Virtual Console? Sound off here!
Last month, some of Silicon Valley's biggest names showed up at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif., for the 25th anniversary of the Commodore 64.
What no one I heard mentioned, despite the presence of Pong designer Al Alcorn, was that October marked the 30th anniversary of what may have been an even more influential video game machine, the Atari 2600.
Now, over at GameSpy, Marty Goldberg has spun for us the story of the creation of that iconic console.
The Atari 2600 turned 30 in October. Now, GameSpy is telling the story behind the groundbreaking video game console.
(Credit: Wikipedia)And when I say iconic, I do mean it. After all, who doesn't recognize the 2600's signature joystick, that particularly ugly black thing with the circle of orange around the middle and a bright orange button? See?
Goldberg's story begins in the summer of 1975 with the release of the Sears home version of Pong. From there, Goldberg weaves a tale of the history of the 2600 that begins with the search for the machine's microprocessor and goes on from there.
This is actually a three-part series, and parts two and three have yet to run.
But for anyone with a serious interest in the history of video games and video game technology, this is a must-read.
(Credit:
eBay)
As hard as it might be to imagine today, a simple game like Pong once required a machine as big as phone booth to play (which may or may not make sense, depending on whether you remember what a phone booth looks like). Even more amazing is that there's at least one of still around for sale.
Up for auction on eBay is a 1970s-vintage Atari original, which was made by SYZYGY, as every schoolboy knows. It even has fairly low miles--around 12,000 plays--considering its age, according to Technabob.
The bidding, which opened at $1.20, stood at $375 as of this writing. That's chump change compared with a $6,650 modern game table that might be more spouse-friendly. But that doesn't include the divorce lawyer's fees.
(Credit:
Technabob)
With all these ultra-violent games everywhere, do you ever pine for the more innocent days of Frogger and Q-bert? OK, maybe not. But if you do have other favorites from an old Sega or Nintendo console, South Korea's Plezo says you can play them on the new PMG-250 handheld and its 2.5-inch color LCD.
This gadget may not have all the bells and whistles of its better-known counterparts, but it will let you pretend to be a real gamer as long as people can't see what you're playing. And it's an MP3 player too, so you can rock out to Duran Duran at the same time for the full after-school arcade experience.
As Technabob says, it's unclear whether there will be any new games sold with the $180 Plezo device, so you'll have to rely on emulation of your own stash. If you can remember how to play them, that is.
(Credit:
Moritz Waldemeyer)
While companies are making use of LED technology in such products as lamps and watches, it's good to see that some people are applying it to something that really counts: games.
Techie Diva reports that designer/inventor/technologist Moritz Waldemeyer has used LED lights and touchpads to transform ordinary tables into interactive game platforms that are on display at London's Rabih Hage Gallery: "The white table transforms itself into a ping-pong machine at the flick of a switch, while the roulette table (pictured) shows an illuminated map." We hope he'll turn his attention next to video poker.
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