robrohr.org : pong

More PONG metaphors

robrohr — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 14:44:08 GMT

I never cease to be amazed by the continued relevance PONG has to every aspect of my life.

Photo Credits: 9 0 0 0 from Flickr.

Beep. Boop. Cue Pathos.

robrohr — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 17:42:11 GMT

Finally!

Tom the Dancing Bug (Edited by Ruben Bolling) has realized the true drama that is encapsulated in every PONG battle.

Wear your addiction on your sleeve...

robrohr — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 03:02:45 GMT

In a previous post, I mentioned a shirt with a built in graphic sonic frequency analyzer. I was morose because it wasn't machine washable. Too much work was necessary in keeping that garment in a presentable and working state.

Now I am tormented by a new offering in animated clothing: the Animated Retro Table Tennis Shirt from thinkgeek.com.

Long time readers (hi, Mom) know I have a more than passing fascination with the classic videogame PONG. The thought of anybody taking bleeding edge technology and accomplishing something completely retro with it just makes me giddy. Viz: electric violins. Here, our garment manufacturers have managed to combine the timeless classic of a t-shirt (the raiments of Valhalla and Olympia) and combined it with solid state electronics and a laminar display that shows a trivial, yet oddly compelling animation of a game of PONG.

Even better, this shirt is machine washable.* Progress! But still too much work for a t-shirt, no matter how cool and PONG-oriented.

* Ribbon cable must be disconnected from the concealed battery pack. The battery pack should be removed from its pocket, and the animated decal must be removed from the shirt (held in place via velcro) before laundering. Do not operate motor vehicles or heavy machinery while gazing at this shirt. Pregnant women or people with heart or liver conditions should check with their doctor before being seen in public with a person wearing this shirt. Babies who have parents who think this shirt is "just ducky" should lobby their congressperson to legalize late term adoption for children of terminally embarrasing parents.

For a video of the shirt in action, check out the embedded video on the product page (scroll down).

Note to family members looking for easy gift ideas for a boy: I don't want a shirt like this until the electronics and screen can be embedded into the material, can be laundered, and can be powered by the glow from my computer screen, or my motion, or my B.O. or something. Most anything else at thinkgeek.com would work for gift ideas for either Margot or me.

Have you seen the USB Rocket Launcher? It has twice the range of the USB Missile Launcher...

Massively Multiplayer Pong

robrohr — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 19:20:00 GMT

I know the Pong category has suffered from long-standing neglect, but I've found a site that moves pong to the next level.

Massively Multiplayer Pong.

You and a bunch of your worldly neighbors join up at this site, and are randomly assigned to one side of the board or the other. Each bit of lava-lampy blob is the cursor position of one of your teammates. The paddle on your side moves to the average of your teammates chosen mouse position. The goal is for your pack of will to outplay the pack of will of your wiley opponent mob. Good luck.

In case you are confused, as neither paddle seems to be bending to your will, you are on this side.

Pong Redux again...

robrohr — Tue, 08 Feb 2005 00:04:00 GMT

Another in my long line of pong based obsession:

The chaos computer club has come up with a delightful use of cell phones and light switches. They've created a computer controller that can control all the lights in an eight story building in Berlin. This alone is cool.

That you could then dial a number on your cell phone, and play pong on the face of a building just stretches my vocabulary beyond my ability to gush appropriately.

I think I need to add a pong category...

Pong Redux

robrohr — Wed, 22 Sep 2004 17:59:00 GMT

I've posted tangentially about pong before. Now /. (slashDot) has an article (artikal?) about some germans who have made an electromechanical version of the venerable game.

No transistors, no cathode ray tubes; just relays, motors, strings, rails, and good clean fun. The "blip" and "blorp" sounds we know and love are made by wood blocks that have been struck by solenoids. This is a masterwork of mechanical beauty. State of the art - 1930.

It was better than 'Cats.' I'd see it again...

robrohr — Fri, 27 Jul 2001 20:34:00 GMT

I was doing serious research into interface design, when I came across a satirical takeoff on the current trend to make movies out of video games. The natural question is "Where will this all lead?" Hopefully you will enjoy these as much as I did. My personal favorite was PONG: The Movie.