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A new game show following the popular Atari Pong format takes interactive and public access television to a new level.
It is said that first form of interactive television was from the invention of the remote control. Over 50 years ago, the wire-bound and wireless television remote controls were designed to use ultrasound and other electromagnetic technology to adjust the volume and change channels on a television monitor. Robert Adler, inventor of the wireless ultrasonic TV remote, that reigned for 25 years (1960-1985). Today, infrared technology is utilized for modern TV controllers and is still seen as one way to interact with TV. Video on-demand (view movies and other TV programming from home), television commerce also known as “T-commerce (e.g. Home Shopping Network’s Shop By Remote service), interactive TV game shows that rely on network devices (e.g. PDAs and cell phones) for game play, and the rise of digital video recorders (DVR) have diversified the definition of interactive television.
Ping Pong TV is a new television program that provides viewers the opportunity to participate in redefining interactive TV. This TV show uses the popular Atari arcade/video game Pong as the framework for each 30-minute episode that airs on local public access television stations. The show utilizes the familiarity of ping pong to motivate viewers to investigate new uses of a well-known game interface. Viewers are invited to play with the show’s interface that creates stereograms, optical illusions created formed from two-dimensional imagery. Viewers can also watch the stereoscopic images produced by other players who record their game play and upload them to a companion website for use in future Ping Pong TV episodes.
Ping Pong TV brings public art into the private sphere, while inviting viewers to make their own 3D glasses and hack common household items to construct one-of-a-kind game controllers.
Unfortunately, it seems that most of the existing modes of TV interactivity listed before (e.g. video on-demand, “T-commerce,” interactive TV game shows, DVRs, etc.) are only enabled at a cost to the viewer. Ping Pong TV is a non-commercial television program that will be broadcasted on local public access television stations. The motivation behind this interactive TV show is intended to invite the common TV viewer to partake in a public art installation from the comfort of his or her own home using their own TV. The use of Atari’s Pong is intended to create a game play atmosphere, but there is no option of winning this game of ping pong because the show’s purpose is to utilize a TV monitor as a user interface to make TV art. Viewers are invited to make game controllers and stereoscopic glasses using ordinary household items such as a universal remote control or an AM/FM analog radio. This element promotes the DIY (do-it-yourself) – arts and crafts movement, while encouraging viewers to take an active role in making technology that can be apart of interactive TV history and programming.
Ping Pong TV Website
Though you can’t win a game of ping pong on Ping Pong TV, you can be apart of the resurrection of Pong’s Cowboy wife Doreen.
One of the website’s features allows the user to upload a profile picture, which is then converted into an ASCII rendering, which ultimately becomes one of the backdrops for the show. These unique profile images are assigned a Doreen ID number, so a viewer maybe able to search for a particular sequence from a previous episode online or identify their own game play that maybe used for an episode. The Doreen ID number is taken from a character of the first Atari Pong television commercial made in 1973, where a cowboy asks for his wife named Doreen to come home after she supposedly left the house to play the coin-operated arcade game Pong and never returned home. This minor detail is intended to pay tribute to the history of Pong, which Ping Pong TV is ultimately derived from. It also provides viewers the opportunity to identify with a character in the game, Doreen.
A summary of what Ping Pong TV is and why it was created.
Ping Pong TV on one level is an interactive public access television show that broadcasts stereoscopic images for 30 minutes. And on another level, Ping Pong TV game play is a public TV art installation that is situated in private spaces. It uses the popular Atari Pong video game layout to create a familiar image that encourages experimentation while playing this version of ping pong. A viewer who participates in playing the game via a home-made game controller will notice how they can manipulate the moving images on screen creating new stereoscopic imagery and also alter the basic soundtrack of the ping-pong balls hitting or missing a paddle.
With a wide-ranging assortment of television monitors and the upcoming U.S. digital TV transition, Ping Pong TV can continue to exist as an interactive TV show because of its use of taking two-dimensional moving images and broadcasting them for three-dimensional viewing. As new technology for TV progress, Ping Pong TV hopes to evolve and introduce new types of interactive TV programming and technology.
A new game show following the popular Atari Pong format takes interactive and public access television to a new level.
