The time to play a live-action version of an Atari classic is almost upon us. Players of CounterSquirt, prepare to assemble. The 2010 Come Out and Play Festival starts Friday in Brooklyn, New York.
This annual event is all about games you can play outside among the public, games that might be just a bit like games you have played before in the safety of your own home.
I covered the first Come Out and Play event in 2006, during which festival I put a giant acid-green Pong paddle on my head in order to play Sonic Body Pong (my previous employer filmed this, but their 2006 video codecs are messed up right now and I can't show it to you). Here's how I described it four years ago:
The game played like old-school "Pong," except the paddles were real and attached to the players' heads. And the playing field was real space, not a screen. And the ball was only represented by sounds coming into each player's headphones, urging them to move a little to the left or right to bounce it back to their opponent. You couldn't see the ball. Other than that, it was just like "Pong."
Technically, that was an indoors game. The version of Space Invaders projected on the side of a 20-story building that I played was not.
The 2010 version of this festival has a host of new, incredible-sounding games.
This one caught my eye..
And this one...
This one...
And best/oddest of all!
Check out the full Come Out and Play 2010 schedule for yourself. Opening ceremonies are Friday night.