prosthetic knowledge

Sega Rally Championship RC Cars Project 

Converting an old two seat arcade driving game cabinet to control remote controlled cars with cameras, developed for a tech event in Portugal (video embedded below):

From The Arcade Man:

The Artica guys are addicted to race games and Trackmania is only one of their favorites!!

They’re still addicted to race games but they don’t play them, instead, they prefer to create their own games.

They thought it would be cool to drive a remote control car using a steering wheel and pedals, and if the car had a wireless cam, the gamer could look at the screen and really see what the car was seeing in real time, just like an arcade game!

This was the proposal to Sapo Codebits! To have an arcade game where it would be possible to drive two cars and participate in a real race, without any simulations or complex algorythms, neither 3D graphics.. They want something real! Celso Martinho from Sapo was very excited with their idea, and by coincidence (or not) they were planning to have a retro gaming area at Sapo Codebits!!

More Here

Circuit Bending The SEGA Saturn 

Many of those interested in glitch aesthetics are familiar with the act of circuit bending - while running an electronic device (such as an old games console), apply contact to the circuitry to affect the data output (which could be audio or visual).

This has usually been experimented with old 8-bit / 16-bit gaming consoles such as the NES and the Sega Megadrive / Genesis, but up to this point it is hard to think of an example with the following generations of gaming hardware which were designed for 3D graphics. Due to the limitations of the earlier machines, the output was with 2D graphics and unsophisticated sound.

Big Pauper (Panzah Zandahz) of circuitbentvideo.com found an old SEGA Saturn, one of the first consoles to specialize in 3D gaming and sophisticated audio. With this, he started experimenting and documented the results:

Had no plans of getting in to the gaming mods.  I figured it was a pretty well charted and explored field.  It wasn’t until I found my beloved model one Sega Saturn in grannie’s attic that I thought, “my old friend, i wonder what secrets you keep.”  A little internet research (not the end all be all, I know) led me to realize that there isn’t much next generation gaming bends being explored out there.  If there is then people aren’t posting it.  Even the Playstation, seen in Goodwill stacks the world over, seems to have eluded the recent wave of electronic curiosity.

Upon opening the Saturn I found out why.  It’s a very complex machine with very tiny components.  One would need tweezers and a microscope to get anywhere with this thing (sound familiar? hehe).  That’s the problem with modern circuitry, it’s all so goddamn mini.  Mini, yes, but I would argue that it’s mythic there has been an increase in stability.  Electronics that generate graphics will freak the f**k out if you hit ‘em just right regardless of whether they are from 2011 or 1991.

There are some great audio and video examples - here is my favourite, a glitchy Virtua Fighters example with crazy Ganz Graf-like reactive and unpredicatble polygons:

Also, here is another which is like a crazy polygon collage:

There is more to examine - you can find out more about this little project at the circuitbentvideo website here.

Retrode

USB adaptor can connect your old game cartridges and controllers to your computer / device running an emulator:

The Retrode is the world’s most versatile (and fun!) USB adapter for vintage video games. Revive the good old 16-bit times on your computer/smartphone/tablet, using your original cartridges and controllers!

More information here

Videogame Appropriation in Contemporary Art: Racing Games By Mathias Jansson (via furtherfield.org)

Above: OutRun - Garnet Hertz

The ultimate combination of real and virtual game play is found in Garnet Hertzs work OutRun. Outrun was a game that was created by Sega 1986. Some arcade versions of the game were presented in a red sit down cabinet that looked like a car. Garnet Hertz has used this cabinet version as a model for his work and made a red real car where the front window is replaced with an aracde cabinet. With help of augmented reality the road ahead of you is an 8-bit video game, so at the same time you are playing the game you are driving down the road.

More examples of art and games can be found in this essay here

Sega Mega Drive promo material via omgbarry

gameandgraphics:

Capcom and Sega are donating during this week all the sales of some of their iPhone games to support earthquake relief activities in Japan.

Street Fighter IV: 0.99 USD - until March 22, 2011

Sonic games (1, 2, 4 ep.1, spinball) - until March 20, 2011

Image illustrating this post by Daruma studio.

Sega Genesis Circuit Bending 08 by maxcapacity

I think these are the best circuit-bending glitches Max has done, but then again, I was a big fan of the SEGA Megadrive (as it was known in the UK). Interesting to see the glitches on 2 levels here (background / foreground).

More at Max’s tumblr

Sega Genesis Circuit Bending 00 by maxcapacity

Interesting how it makes the logo minimal …

Sega Megadrive 4 with Guitar Idol Controller

New discovery of the day - the SEGA MegaDrive (US: SEGA Genesis) is still in production in Brazil, where an updated version is currently made - there is even a Guitar Hero-esque game for it!

Here is a video of the game in action:

More here about the company, TecToy, from Wikipedia here

A History of Korean Gaming by derboo - 06/07/2010 via Hardcore Gaming 101

Interesting … in a geeky gaming kinda way. A look into a gaming industry of another country not necessarily documented in the English language. Some of these games appeared on machines such as the MSX, the Famicon, the PC, or in the arcade. There are original titles, and absolutely blatant rip-offs of well known titles.

Link to the full piece