Video: Whiteboard PONG

Where did these designers learn PONG? The sides should be totally open, the whole concept is based on moving the paddles, and nobody banked a shot. And yes, faster! Shorter paddles! HST, cool shiny neat thing.

Take a look at this

#9 posted by cinemajay , November 10, 2008 11:48 AM

It's like Pong channeling the light cycles from Tron. Why not just draw a big line across your side and be done with it?

Take a look at this

#10 posted by franko , November 10, 2008 12:13 PM

i'm here to say that, even back in the day, our pong was faster than this. and we had to keep our paddle lines along a single vertical vector in front of our goal -- none of that coddled "lines further out in the field" or "running at angles" business!

Take a look at this

#11 posted by Anonymous , November 10, 2008 12:18 PM

Agree with #10 Franko

Paddles must must MUST be in a vertical path near the end zone, and must must MUST be vertical only. Cannot draw lines mid-field or at an angle.

Otherwise, a bit of fun.

But who is holding the flashlight?

Take a look at this

#12 posted by Avram , November 10, 2008 1:36 PM

This reminds me more of the "Laser Hockey" game on WiiPlay.

Take a look at this

#13 posted by Kabur Naj , November 10, 2008 1:49 PM

I agree the pong game isn't very exciting to watch as a spectator sport (I mean, they never once allowed a single goal!), but if they actually rigged up a SmartBoard or something in a Johnny Lee-type hack to accomplish this, then that for it's own sake is pretty neat!

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/johnny_lee_demos_wii_remote_hacks.html

So quit yer gripin' y'all.

(As a physicist who works with optical devices, I particularly enjoyed their use of curved paddles towards the end.)

Take a look at this

#14 posted by remmelt

, November 10, 2008 2:16 PM

Good idea, pretty lame execution.

Take a look at this

#15 posted by Red Leatherman , November 10, 2008 2:42 PM

@ Arkizzle

I'm probably missing a really obvious joke.

Just my way of saying something similar to what Franko in post #10 said.
I guess my usage of the term "english" comes from from billiards. Pong came out after I learned to play billiards and several other games that were not virtual based programming (for lack of having a better way of describing these kind and those kind come to mind at the moment). I dropped a few quarters in pong games but quickly decided I didn't care a lot for playing pong and all the electronic games that came after, although I am fascinated by the technology and programing that goes into electronic games.
Oh yeah, by gollies, lemmy shake my cane another sec here. I seem to remember the blip reacted to where in relation to center it hit the paddle. maybe pong did use "english" but not by the angle of the paddle as portrayed on the white board.
and WTF the whiteboard thing was kinda cute anyhow.

Take a look at this

#16 posted by arkizzle , November 10, 2008 4:11 PM

"there is no english on the paddles in pong."

"my usage of the term "english" comes from from billiards"

Red, j'know.. I still haven't a clue what you mean by 'english' in this context. You obviously don't mean 'words', which is how I understand it, but I don't get your billiards reference at all.. sorry!

Take a look at this

#17 posted by Godfree , November 10, 2008 4:41 PM

dictionary.com's 8th entry for "english" is: "a spinning motion imparted to a ball, esp. in billiards."

Take a look at this

#18 posted by rAMPANTiDIOCY , November 10, 2008 4:49 PM

english, aka backspin

Take a look at this

#19 posted by EH , November 10, 2008 7:16 PM

actually, "english" is side-spin only. backspin is "draw" and topspin is "follow."

Take a look at this

#20 posted by zax , November 11, 2008 1:15 AM

Damn damn damn damn damn....for a whole moment there I thought this was real... Surely it would be possible to create something similar to this using a smartboard? Any takers from an "interested in programming it" point of view?

One good thing that came out of this is that 5 minutes research into games for the smartboard shows a serious lack of anything utilising this cool interface...there's a market there for the taking!

Take a look at this

#21 posted by arkizzle , November 11, 2008 9:16 AM

Thanks for the explanations guys!

I didn't look in the dictionary because it sounded like slang, but I did look on wikipedia, and the page on billiards doesn't list a use of 'english' other than the country (the 'spin' use of the word is tucked away in the carom-billiards sub-section).

Thanks again :)

Take a look at this

#22 posted by arkizzle , November 11, 2008 9:20 AM

Zax, this is real.

"What you are seeing is a real live demonstration of our physics based engine responding to it’s real life surroundings, the computer sees and recognises the black shapes on the whiteboard and the virtual ball behaves accordingly."

www.electronicmiracles.com

Take a look at this

#23 posted by Takuan , November 11, 2008 10:16 AM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_cue_sports_terms#Spin

Take a look at this

#24 posted by arkizzle , November 11, 2008 5:06 PM

"The British and Irish do not use this term, instead preferring "side"."

Phew! I knew 'english' sounded wrong coming outta my mouth..
Thanks for the link Tak :D

/haha/