The good folks at Evil Mad Scientist Labs have unveiled their fantastic HOWTO for recreating a 1958, oscilloscope-based proto-video-game called "Tennis for Two," created by a physicist named William Higinbotham "to improve what was an otherwise lackluster visitors' day at the lab."

Before we start, let's be clear that this is not a tutorial in how to build an oscilloscope. Tennis for Two is supposed to display on a 'scope, so beg, borrow, or buy one if you don't have one handy. Older low-end analog scopes like mine (a Hameg!) usually go for $50-$150, and if nothing else, you can always make a Scope Clock out of it later.

There are three parts to the electronics that we're building. First, there is the AVR microcontroller-- the brains of the outfit. The specific variety that we're using is the ATmega168, the same chip used in (for example) the Arduino platform. Secondly, there are two handheld controllers that connect to the ATmega168 microcontroller. Each handheld controller has a knob and a button. Third, there is the digital to analog converter that takes the output from the AVR and uses it to drive the scope.

Link

DEFENDER of the Favicon implements the game of Defender using Javascript and the tinsy, teeny space afforded by a Favicon. Supposedly works in Firefox and Opera, though my Firefox just stalls on the splashscreen. Nevertheless: woah. 8-bit arcade game in a Favicon. Woah. Link (via Wonderland)

Here's a magnificent grid showing how a humble rock would be displayed by an enormous variety of video games' rendering engines, executed with affection and wit (Fipi Lele pointed out that the Zork version would be, "There is a rock here."). The rock is the perfect, Sluggo/Zippy-esque subject for this kind of comparison, absolutely bang-on.

All I know about this image is that Kotaku apparently published it in April, 2006. Oh, and that it rocks. So to speak. Link (Thanks, Fipi Lele!)

From the December, 1933 issue of Modern Mechanix, a "periscope for bridge kibbitzers":

AT A recent international bridge match the problem of letting people watch the play without interfering with the players was satisfactorily solved by the use of a horizontal periscope with one end suspended over the table and the other fitted through one wall of the room, so that the observers need neither be seen nor heard by the players.

From the observer’s standpoint this method of watching a bridge game is more satisfactory than standing by the table, as it permits a view of the cards held in all hands as well as a better look at those played.

Link

New Babbage is Second Life's magnificent steampunk city, "bringing together the combined interests of Steampunks from around the world to a place they can roleplay and be creative." Link to video, Link to New Babbage homepage (Thanks, Josh!)

Over at BB Gadgets, John spotted this "Hockey Organ" in which a hacked vintage Casio keyboard controls the action on a table hockey game. Graeme Patterson was the maker. Hockey Organ (Matrixsynth, via BB Gadgets) photos of the Hockey Organ (GraemePatterson.com)

Bonnie Burton interviews actor, author, gamer, and geek-er Wil Wheaton in this month's edition of GEEK. Snip:

Geek: (...) I need to know how far you’ve gotten in Grand Theft Auto IV.

Wil Wheaton: I haven’t been playing GTA IV that long since the game came out—maybe five hours so far. My progress meter is at like eight percent or something like that. I’ve gotten to a point where the story took a rather shocking and unexpected twist. The character that you control in the game is a very conflicted guy with a pretty complicated and dark history. The guy is more real and has more depth to him than any of the other characters I’ve controlled in GTA. Until last night, I may have played one or two story missions to advance the game, but I really just spend the rest of my time driving around and crashing into cars. I drive cars until they catch on fire. I like to go driving through the parks and hit the pedestrians. I’ve noticed a couple of things like if you’re going really fast and you hit a wall or a tree something like that you’ll fly through the front windshield of the car. So I drove really fast down the wrong side of the street on the expressway and hit a car head-on, and the driver shot through the windshield and landed on the hood of my car. That level of detail is just remarkable. But it suddenly felt weird just driving around the city mowing down pedestrians.

Has it started to warp your sense of reality when you’re stuck in traffic yet?

I hate driving. I absolutely despise it. I particularly hate driving in Los Angeles. I’ll be out somewhere with my wife and point out things, and tell her if this was Grand Theft Auto we wouldn’t have to sit here like this. We could just drive over that median.

Wil Wheaton [ Geek Blog / Geek Magazine. Disclaimer: I have been profiled there previously. ]

(Update: By total coincidental timing, the VA executive featured in this episode, Charles Ogilvie, announced today he's moving on from VA to do something that sounds equally cool with tech and entertainment. Details at the bottom of the post.)

[Xeni Jardin]: Last week, the Boing Boing tv crew was in San Francisco shooting a few upcoming episodes, and our friends at Virgin America (BBtv is shown on the in-flight entertainment system) invited us to come wander around behind security, and peek at the nuts and bolts that are the tech underpinnings of this airline.

They're about to launch in-flight wireless internet soon, and they're holding a competition for open source games, the winners of which will be available for people to play in-flight (entries are still being accepted).

Virgin America's head of in-flight entertainment, Charles Ogilvie, brought us on board a plane that was empty and at rest between flights. We poked around with the computers and displays (all Linux!) and we tried to IM our friends using the pilot's controls in the cockpit. This did not work so well.

My favorite part of this shoot: driving a VA pickup truck around between the resting airplanes, and peeking into the giant abyss where your bags are shuffled around on giant conveyor belt systems, hopefully towards your plane and final destination.

Link to Boing Boing tv post with discussion, downloadable video, and instructions on subscribing to the BBtv video podcast.

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(Disclaimers: BBtv is an in-flight entertainment partner with Virgin, but BBtv doesn't receive compensation for this. VA once asked Boing Boing to name a plane, and we did, but we weren't paid for this, either. VA has previously been a paid sponsor on Boing Boing the blog. This episode isn't an ad, and we weren't paid to produce it. All of us at BBtv sincerely thought this stuff was cool, and that Charles Ogilvie is a cool guy with interesting ideas, and we had a blast goofing around where the TSA folks generally do not permit one to goof. )

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Update, 07-03-08: BBtv learned today that Charles Ogilvie is moving on from Virgin America. We're bummed we won't be working with him there anymore! The timing of this episode and his move are totally coincidental, we weren't aware. Here's the note from VA CEO David Cush, after the jump, and congrats on your next adventures, Charles!

The geniuses at Evil Mad Scientist Labs have lovingly documented the process of making a D12 purse (of holding):

Drawstring dice bags are nearly ubiquitous amongst people who play with non-cubical dice. They can even be used as hand bags. But what about the inverse-- a bag that looks like one of the dice? Here's how to make a dodecahedral handbag using fabric, iron-on numbers, a couple of washers and a magnet.

Link

Omar's friend Jennie made him this brilliant Pac-Man cake (with ghost cupcakes) for his birthday. Link (Thanks, Omar!)

Blik's Nintendo wall stickers are fantastic -- an easy way to turn any room into a Mario or Donkey Kong level. Link (via Tokyomango)

Using a series of ingenious measurement techniques and calculations, James Wallace has calculated the size, gravity, and density of Azeroth -- the World of Warcraft. Turns out that although Azeroth is tiny, it has a near-Earthlike gravity, suggesting that it is made of some substance 500 times more dense than the terra.

However, all this assumes that Azeroth is a standard astronomical body, and it isn’t. Despite the existence of in-world globes depicting its surface as a sphere, and that anyone standing at the Black Temple in Outland can see a small round planet in the sky that appears to be Azeroth, the world of Warcraft is in fact flat. There is no visible curvature of the world, which is unusual given its small size. Stars do not move across the night sky, indicating that Azeroth is static in relation to the rest of its universe. What’s more, dawn happens simultaneously wherever the observer is in the world, and sunset works the same way. Ergo it’s flat, albeit populated by a number of misguided “round-earthers”. Berks.

Conclusive proof on the matter comes from the research of the Canadian Dr T Paypayaso (I’m assuming from the quality of his research that he has a PhD, plus frankly they’re easier to get hold of than parking tickets these days), who has demonstrated by swimming to its edge and jumping around like a prat that Azeroth is (a) flat, (b) finite and (c) rectangular.

Link (via Oblomovka)

Bhutan's national assembly has banned laptops, nominally to prevent officials from distracting themselves with games and "pictures" (though there's nothing in the article to suggest this has been a problem in the past -- this could just be garden variety authoritarianism that uses games as a scapegoat):

The national assembly in newly democratic Bhutan has stopped lawmakers from bringing laptop computers into the house for fear they might spend their time playing computer games.

"The members can be distracted playing games and viewing pictures," said Nima Tshering, speaker of the assembly

Link (Thanks, Razib!)

Stones Edges offers free samples of their papercraft game-terrain -- check out the full (and reasonably priced) sets, which allow you to build entire, elaborate multi-level scenes out of paper and glue. And the free stuff's great too: Whose desk wouldn't benefit from some 1" paper crates? Link (Thanks, Eclecticos!)

Grandmaster Internet Funnyhunter and videogum Senior Editor Gabriel Delahaye says:

You guys, The internet is so weird. Let's just turn it off. We'll just go to to California and turn it off. Basically, some kids made music videos for their favorite hip hop songs by animating them with the Sims. I know I did not discover this trend, but I think I found some real treats that you're going to enjoy. I love sharing!

The 10 Best Fan Made Hip Hop Videos With Sims Of All Time [videogum]

Wired writer Clive Thompson appears on ABC News to explain why he thinks horror video games are scarier than horror movies. He says having a bit of control over the outcome makes the experience more frightening. Link

This incredibly detailed Quake 3 Simpsons map looks like it'd be a hell of a lot of fun to play -- especially if you skinned the bad guys as Worker and Parasite. Link (via Waxy)

Scott sez, "I hosted director Greg Maletic and screened his excellent 60-min documentary, "Tilt," last week. In 1998, Williams saw pinball sales going down and their slot machines going up. Pinball was losing ground in the arcades to the new video machines. In a valiant effort to save their livelihoods, a team of great designers from the video and pinball world decide to combine the technologies into Pinball 2000, a platform the seemed like a great new gaming experience. (I've never played it.) Maletic made a film that is part game history, part product design, and part tragic business story. Well worth watching, and the clip on the website gives a good sense of its quality. " Link (Thanks, Scott!)

Over on Boing Boing Gadgets, our John has spotted this Japanese piggy-bank that includes an RPG that gives you rewards for saving:

This new Tomy piggy bank gives forward-thinking youngsters a reason to save their quarters: it features a miniature RPG game on the front, and every coin you pump into the bank is translated into gold, which can be used to buy weapons, items and armor for your character. Ultima meets Tamagotchi, basically. Although I'd hasten to add that a savings account is a better return on investment than putting your money into a wardrobe for an imaginary elf.

Link, Discuss on Boing Boing Gadgets

Here's a fantastic gallery of Dungeons and Dragons miniatures folded origami-style to match the Monster Manual and its successors (shown here, the Mind Flayer!). The creator is Joseph Wu, who clearly knows when to fold 'em. Link (Thanks, Andrew!)

This is probably the cutest/coolest thing I've seen on a network television website in a while: free papercraft cartoon characters for kids, including Leonardo from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, shown flayed above and assembled at left (the rest of the TMNT gang is there, too). Download the PDF, print, cut, and assemble, then blow spitballs at it from across your cubicle.

Link (thanks, Jolon Bankey!)

Kaiser Kuo brings us the fascinating and deeply weird story of the QQ, a virtual currency from a Chinese social software company that turned into a real-world currency that threatens to destabilize the national currency of China:

The QQ coin is in the news again. This morning a friend sent me a link to a story on Donews (in Chinese, originally apparently from a publication called “Online International”) that goes into quite a lengthy exploration of the origins of the QQ coin, conceived in part to help ween Tencent off the addiction to wireless revenues it shared with other leading Chinese Internet companies. The story looks at how Tencent partnered with banks to pioneer a debit card-based payment system (debit cards, unlike credit cards, enjoy very high penetration), and how the company exploited game card distribution channels — amassing some 3,655 points registered outlets in Beijing alone where QQ addicts can get their fix, including post offices, news kiosks, software stores, Internet cafes, malls, convenience stores, and so on. There’s quite a bit of fascinating detail on channel costs, the margins of card resellers, and of course the balance that goes into Tencent’s pockets.

But the story purports to reveal some of the darker secrets of how Tencent keeps its users buying QQ coins — especially if the company doesn’t look like it’ll hit its quarterly numbers. (The article’s title, in my rough rendering, is “All Services Are Commodities: Exposing the Extortionate Secrets of the QQ Coin”). As promised, this time around the meat of the story centers on allegations that Tencent is manipulating its virtual currency so as to impact not the RMB, but rather its stock price. (The company is listed on the HKSE, ticker symbol 0700). The story quotes a former product manager for Tencent’s virtual pet offering, QQ Pets, named Gao Shan.

Link (Thanks, Kaiser!)

MMORPG Tycoon sounds like a delightfully recursive video game -- you're in charge of tweaking the rules for a multiplayer online game like World of Warcraft, and you win or lose based on how many simulated players hang around and pay you virtual subscription fees.

The game involves setting zones with level ranges, trying to keep them distributed so your servers don't overload ("due to the coding practices of ShadiSoft"), making sure there are enough towns and respawn points, and trying to keep monster and class stats on keel. Your primary metric for success is your forum buzz, you want more positive posts than negative, and the main factor for this is how hard or easy the game is. Here's where the punchline starts getting set-up: no matter how well you do a portion of players will complain the game is too easy, and a portion will complain the game is too hard. However, as long as you've got some content in, and you've got a half-competent balance, people will play, get addicted, and you'll grow, even though your churn rate might only be slightly lower than your growth rate. And you'll make money. You only have to get the basics down and then just let the game run. The implication is that you don't need a good game, you just need an addictive game. It smacks you in the face with a procedural resonance, the derivative names of the rival MMOs are just icing on the cake.

Link

Kevin Andrew Murphy sez, "I knew that Lady Puabi of Ur had d4s for the game boards found in her tomb, but it turns out the Romans had d20s and a nice green glass one is currently up for sale at Christie's. Only $17,925, for the gamer who has everything." Link (Thanks, Kevin!)

The Onion nails the future of videogaming in this clip on World of World of Warcraft, a new videogame that allows you to play at being someone playing World of Warcraft. Link (via Wonderland)

For part of his final thesis at Bauhaus-University in Weimar, German, Martin Lihs built the Wiispray, a reconstructed Wiimote controller hacked into a spray-paint can -- graffiti-games ahoy!

Although still early in the development process, it suggests another type of game platform and a fresh twist on the tired “art” app. The success of custom controllers for specific titles suggests that gamers are interested in a more realistic interaction than permitted by a standard joypad. Lihs plans to integrate a communal wall for collaborative graffiti in the eventual software title, that would allow ‘players’ to work on the same art project.

Link (via Engadget!)

The balloon artists at Balloon Guys Entertainment have quite a gallery of their work online, including an elaborate Balloon Mario and Balloon Master Chief. Link (via Geekologie)

Over on Play This Thing, game designer/writer Greg Costikyan has word of a sweet and funny World of Warcraft parody:

It's a World of Warcraft screenshot, right? Well, no -- it's a screenshot from WTF?!, a Flash-based sidescroller parodying WoW. And it's note-perfect, too -- every interface element and the backgrounds and characters look like they're ripped straight from Azeroth.

The gameplay is pretty similar, too, for all that this is a sidescroller -- the same tedious level-grind, based on the same sort of tedious quests ("go kill seven sheep"). But the satirical way it treats that level-grind is priceless, a telling commentary on the common tropes of the MMO. The quests get increasingly weird -- your newbie quest giver asks you to go cast a spell on sheep that have been transformed by the evil mage Karl Marx into communist brain-slaves to restore them to their rightful ovine form, and then tells you to go kill Marx himself. But Marx shows you that your previous quest-giver is simply a tool of capitalist oppression, and becomes your new quest giver. Sigmund Freud also makes an appearance.

Link to Play This Thing review, Link to WTF?

In this 11-minute video, a series of cunningly engineered custom Mario levels are used as a rhythm section to accompany a spliced-together medley of chirpy anime soundtracks. The maker (IsoTkhs on YouTube) has set up the levels so that various bumpers and objects keep Mario moving, jumping, flying and bouncing over in-game objects at very precise timing, so that each object's bounce-noise forms part of the percussion for the tracks. The clip goes on and on, which is like the Mario percussion version of Chico Marx looking casually away from his piano, cracking jokes, moving around, while one or both of his hands effortlessly continue to plunk out some insanely complex and witty bit of ivory-tickling. Clearly the maker is saying, "I can do this all day long. You thought that was cool? Check this out. And this. And this. And this. Oh, pick your jaw up, there's still more to come. Yeah, this too. Ha, yeah, that one was pretty good. Now, watch this."

If you only watch one 11-minute YouTube of anime music accompanied by custom Mario levels today, make it this one. Link (via Waxy!)