Pong

Happy Birthday

I read an article this morning that mentioned today marks the 40th anniversary of Atari's Pong game, that is crazy! No disrespect, but it seems as though Pong should be twice that age. I am not sure if its because the gaming industry has progressed much more rapidly than anyone could have anticipated in the past 10+ years or if the lack of arcades in the modern day console and portable world has put a damper on games like that because of the old "out of sight out of mind". No matter I think its actually really cool and even cooler that its still talked about today. Honestly I never played the arcade version of Pong, I played whatever the version was that came with an Atari console.

iOS App Store

According to one of the websites I follow on Twitter (engadget) the latest version of Pong, titled "Pong World" is a free-to-play download in the iOS App Store today. Before you ask, yeah I went ahead and downloaded it seconds after reading that it available.

The new version of the game is actually pretty cool. I downloaded the iPad version, but I did not check to see if the game is a dual platform version so you can play it on the iPhone as well. Although I think it would be a little difficult to play on the iPhone but to each their own.

Atari managed to find new ways to make this version of the game fun and challenging while maintaining the original game-play simplistic, yet challenging feel. By adding in extras such as walls that block and ricochet the ball right back to your puck or your opponents, coins that you run the puck though to collect them and of course various themes so you feel as though you are somewhere other than outside a cave looking deep down into the blackness like the original game.

Well Done

Nice work Atari! I have downloaded and played a few other games that did not live up to my expectations in the least. Pitfall for example is one game I was excited about, but ultimately the new version is shxt at best. The developer decided to take a successful game of days gone by and turn it into this awkward runner type game that really is not that much fun, or anything like the original game. If I am going to download or purchase something based off of an old game I want it to mostly feel the same as the game I played back in the day.

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Unfortunately that is about it for today, not a whole lot of craziness going on worth writing about once again. The weekend is just around the corner so it will be nice to relax for a couple days and possibly find some time to blow a little hot air through my shiny new harmonica while I have the house to myself. Cicely has her big craft show this weekend, well tomorrow and Saturday in downtown Sparks. I am going to try to go down and see her on Saturday and show my support. Should be fun!

Photo: Pong