Barack Obama? Former Pong Lover

Barack Obama is a politician. He's running for president! In a probing interview with Entertainment Weekly, the publication has a hard-hitting and probing interview with Obama. Things like what Obama thought of Shrek 3, his favorite sitcoms and what's on his iPod. Here's the obligatory video games question:

What's the last videogame you played?
Pong. That gives you a sense of my age. I loved that game.

So there ya go, one of the guys running for president used to play Atari's Pong. Somewhere Nolan Bushnell is doing fist pumps and going yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesssssssssssssss.

Barack Obama: My Pop-Culture Favorites [EW via GamePolitics] [Pic]

Wii Downloadables - Catching Up To Beer Pong

With all of the E3 madness over the last two weeks, we've been sadly neglecting the Wii Virtual Console and WiiWare updates, and without us telling you what was added, how were you to know? Turning on your system? Screw that. You read Kotaku so you don't have to turn on your system. Let's catch up on what we've missed, shall we?

On the WiiWare side of things, not too much to report. July 14th saw the addition of Mastiff's Major League Eating: The Game (1,000 points), the update on the 21st added nautical shoot-em-up Pirates: The Key of Dreams (1,000 points), and today we're treated to Pong Toss — Frat Party Games (800 points), the newly renamed Beer Pong. Joy. Seeing as this is the last Monday in July, where is Strong Bad? Inquiring minds want to know.

Meanwhile, on the virtual console, Nintendo has added Donkey Kong 3 (NES 500 points), Ninja Commando (NEOGEO 900 points), Sega Genesis games Gley Lancer and Super Fantasy Zone (900 points), and today gets Art of Fighting 2 (NEOGEO 900) and Chase H.Q. (TGFX16 600 points). There, all caught up! Now to go bug the hell out of Telltale until I get me some Strong Bad.

Beer Pong For WiiWare Gets Neutered, Complaints

As much as you and I might think that Beer Pong - Frat Party Games is a brilliant idea for a WiiWare title, others disagree. One of those wet blankets is Connecticut's attorney general Richard Blumenthal, who thinks that the Teen rating from the ESRB wasn't the smartest move in the world. I might disagree, as kids should learn early that binge drinking is a fantastic way to kill a Thursday night/millions of brain cells/possibly the passenger's of the vehicle you're driving.

According to the AP, JV Games, the developer of Beer Pong, has renamed the game to Pong Toss and is removing any and all booze references from its presentation. We'd think total removal of the game would seem like the safest and smartest option. The official JV Games site shows the game as having an E rating, with no listing of the title on the ESRB's official site.

Blumenthal Calls For Changes To Video Game Ratings [Courant.com - thanks, Patrick!]

The Daily Show Tackles Presidential Campaign Games

Nolan Bushnell Doesn't Want To Mess with 47-Button Controllers

Nolan Bushnell (pictured) is a casual guy. As the Atari founder likes to point out, his games were easy to pick up and play, but difficult to master. And the controls for something like, I dunno, Pong? SIMPLE. Says Bushnell:

I think the Wii by Nintendo is getting games that once again are fun for people who don’t want to make a career out of figuring out how to run a 47-button controller... I think that the business right now should be much, much bigger than it is. If it were evenly spread over all demographics and age groups, it'd be huge. But it’s not. It's basically an 18 to 28 year-old male dominated business of about 15 million. That’s where most of the traffic is. Casual games on the net add to that, but they're all network-based.

Wait, wait, wait. Back up, Bushnell! A 47-button controller? Oh man, would we love to see that! (Playing it, well, that's another matter.)

Bushnell Interview [Next-Gen]

Nolan Bushnell Talks His 600 Trillion Games, Pong Dates

Atari founder Nolan Bushnell recently talked to GameDaily about his uWink business, a growing chain of restaurants that feature touch terminals on every table - not only do they let users order their food that way, but they can also play games together.

And Bushnell estimated the number of games he'd be able to serve through uWink at 600 trillion games across 100,000 restaurants Ambitious - but hey, it's Nolan Bushnell, right?

When we covered Bushnell's recent talk at Wedbush Morgan's annual management access conference, we heard him say that he misses the idea of gaming as a social activity, since the decline of arcades, and that part of what he hopes to do with uWink is to revive that group spirit and keep multiplayer that's actually in-person alive.

In the GameDaily interview, he cited an example - Pong used to be a hot tool for chicks to pick up guys at bars?

OK, OK, kinda misleading headline — his production company is producing "Atari" a biopic about Nolan Bushnell, Pong's developer and Atari's founder. Paramount bought the rights yesterday. Indications are that he will star, but not knowing the story yet, I don't know if that means he would play Bushnell or, perhaps, another character through whom the story of Bushnell and Atari is presented.

The Hollywood Reporter describes "Atari" as drawing on themes of "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," and "Tucker: The Man and His Dream." I was hoping it'd be a movie adaptation of "Space War" — just two ships drifting to the center of the screen, shooting each other. Maybe a love interest. Somewhere. Maybe not.

Wherever the story ends up, it sounds like it's getting very serious treatment, and the outlook sounds favorable for a well made biography. Plus I love period pieces, even if I've lived in the period described.

Leonardo Di Caprio to Star in 'Atari' [The Hollywood Reporter, via ComingSoon.net, thanks reader D Elfman]

I am a creature of basic interests. I love Space Invaders. I love Pong. In fact I own the first pair of Invader shoes and one of those limited edition Pong clocks, so when I saw this table I got way too excited... judging by the absolute silence that greeted my enthusiasm when I shared this with the others in Kotaku Tower.

Created by German designer Moritz Waldemeyer, Pong Effect uses 2400 LEDs and two track pads to essentially recreate a game of air hockey. The best part, it looks like it was created for 4-year-olds. Oh, I know how absurd that is, but does it sound like I care? It doesn't.... for those of you who can't detect the waves of enthusiasm rippling off my keyboard right now.

Pong Updated for the 21st Century [The BBPS]

Back in November we pointed you to Pac-Txt, Pac-Man as a text adventure. Now we deliver you Pong rendered as a 180-page Choose Your Own Adventure book. It's like someone sat around thinking "Hey, you know that game Pong? What if we could make it even slower and more boring. But admit it, you're intrigued. And you can read the entire thing after the jump.

Here's The Beer Pong Trailer

When you've had your fill of virtual binging with Major League Eating, why not virtually purge with a round of Beer Pong? Thanks to the power of WiiWare and Frat Party Games, the thrill of tossing ping pong balls with a femme wrist snap at Solo cups can be experienced without the threat of alcohol poisoning. To sum up, Beer Pong, Frat Party Games, WiiWare and no, this isn't something you're going to wake up from.

FINALLY, Beer Pong Comes To WiiWare

Hey! You got your Pong in my Breakout! You got your arm rasslin' in my Tetris! I swear, the only way to make boring classic video games playable and entertaining in modern times is to rig them to insane controls or pair them with another classic. Here are two.

Earlier this week I found Pongout — which actually has some replay value as you can't accept losing to such a ridiculous concept. And then TechEBlog discovered "Tresling," (left) a version of Tetris played by slamming an arm-wrestling opponent's arm into a controller. I like the video, complete with "Eye of the Tiger," but that was the theme to Stallone's "Rocky III" not his arm-wrestling vehicle "Over the Top" of 1987.

Here's the combo game I want to see: NCAA Hitman 08. As Agent 47, you begin as a top defensive back prospect in high school. Before the big rivalry game, you garrote the other team's star receiver, steal his uniform, line up at his position and nab 6 interceptions for TDs, winning the Heisman in the process.

Pongout [All Games All Free]
Tresling - Tetris and Arm Wrestling [Hacked Gadgets via TechEBlog]

Atari Founder Working On An MMO

Nolan Bushnell Reminisces On NPR

For those who may not have wasted away the weekend with a bottle of Jack and their favorite National Public Radio programming, Atari founder Nolan Bushnell made an appearance to celebrate the 35th anniversary of PONG. In his short interview, he talked about things like the public reaction to Pong "How does the tv station know what I've turned this knob?" before taking a few shots at the violent and complex games that followed. Listening to the interview feels a lot like eating the comforting, nostalgic food that only your mom could make right, and then cracking a carton of decade-old, freezer burned ice cream for dessert. Still, it's worth a listen.

Pong: The Ping Heard 'Round the World [via vh1gamebreak] [image]

The good news about this watch, with Tetris built-in, is that it looks just as playable as its Pong-playing counterpart. The bad news? They don't exist. These Nixon branded concept watches were knocked up by French product designer Lysandre Follet and are shown animated form at the link below. Music is included for maximum authenticity.

Tetris Forever [via Gizmodo]

Pong Slot Machine Pays Out More With Pong Prowess

Bally, former maker of fabulous pinball tables, has introduced something new the world of slots with its Skill Series line of machines, the first of which is based on the classic paddle game Pong. While most slot machines are based on nothing but chance, Pong breaks new ground with its skill-based pay outs. During a 45-second bonus round, a random occurrence, gamblers will be able to play a round of old school Pong. Performing better naturally gives you a higher pay out. Even if you're clueless behind the paddles, you'll still get something, but power Pong players may walk away with a bit more of their cash.

Reader Jason spotted a row of the new machines on the floor of the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, testing his Pong skills and sending us potentially drunken pics. The skill-based slots are slowly being approved in states that permit legalized gambling, with manufacturer Bally promising a follow up with a Breakout based slot machine.

If only they had one based on the arcade game Shinobi and not that horrid PlayStation 2 abomination I'd be a 7% richer man.

Iraq Vet Writes Of His Return Home, Return To Gaming

Public Play Pong Dress