|
|
May 3, 2004 #
 Demented and Sad, But Social Software: PacManhattan.com NYU's ITP is re-defining the uses of cellphones in urban spaces. First they gave us Dodgeball to keep in contact with friends when bar-hopping and drunk-dialing needed a more sophisticated tool. Now, another group of students just test-launched their "live" semester project on the streets around Washington Square called PacManhattan. Real-life Dungeons & Dragons camps in the 80's weren't enough apparently, now a new generation of gizzeeks re-creates "analog" sidewalk versions of classic video games. It's currently getting more buzz than that dude who played one game on the Tempest machine at Golden Dome arcade for three straight hours with only Slurpees for nourishment. All the NY newspapers are planning articles and it's been ranked #1 or #2 all weekend on Blogdex. Read the site's About Page to find out what the hell is going on here: Pac-Manhattan is a large-scale urban game that utilizes the New York City grid to recreate the 1980's video game sensation Pac-Man...A player dressed as Pac-man will run around the Washington square park area of Manhattan while attempting to collect all of the virtual "dots" that run the length of the streets. Four players dressed as the ghosts will attempt to catch Pac-man before all of the dots are collected...Using cell-phone contact, Wi-Fi internet connections, and custom software designed by the Pac-Manhattan team, Pac-man and the ghosts will be tracked from a central location and their progress will be broadcast over the internet for viewers from around the world. Sadly, no details on points for running into the homeless, drug dealers or tourists. Look further and you will see kids who didn't get beat up nearly enough in high school. The *only* possible way to present these pictures with a shred of dignity for the participants involved is to imagine the game as a Guided By Voices video. Buckner & Garcia, eat your hole out... PacManhattan b/w Guided By Voices "Motor Away" Starring: Dennis Crowley.......Pac Man Will Lee.................Blinky (red) Kate Boelhauf.........Pinky (pink) Pakorn Thienthong..Inky (blue) Mike Olsen.............Clyde (orange)  When you motor away beyond the once-red lips, When you free yourself from the chance of a lifetime  You can be anyone they told you to You can belittle every little voice that told you so  And then the time will come when you add up the numbers And then the time will come when you motor away  Oh, why don't you just drive away?  When you motor away down the icy streets You can't lie to yourself that it's the chance of a lifetime  You can be anyone they told you to You can belittle every little voice that told you so  And the time will come when you add up the numbers And then the time will come when you motor away  Oh, why don't you just drive away?  Come on,  Speed on... Archives "The Other Page" powered by Removable Hype. RSS. Copyright © 2003 La Otra Página, Inc. All nights observed. Feel free to email "info(at)krucoff.com" for questions, comments, stock tips, and family gossip. |
