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major_clangerGame On is an exhibition of the history of computer and video games, currently at the Barbican. If you're thinking of going then hurry, as it closes September 15th. It's open until 9 on Wednesdays, so I took the opportunity to meet up with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
purplecthulhu for a look round. (It was obviously LJ'er night, as we bumped into the_maenad).
Even just waiting for him to arrive was a slightly surreal experience. The Barbican centre seems to live in a parallel world, a future that we've gone on to miss slightly. Sitting out in the piazza outside the third-level galleries, I felt like I was in the cover of a 1970s sf paperback; surrounded by a brown-brick and concrete arc of flats (the feel is an odd cross between a crescent terrace and an amphitheatre) with the Barbican's oddly serrated-looking tower blocks thrusting into a clear blue sky.
After meeting up we started our way around the exhibition. It's broken up into a series of galleries that start of with a chronological progress through games (from Spacewar and Pong up to recent console releases) and then moves to more thematic displays. I wouldn't be surprised though if many visitors never get past the first couple of rooms, overwhelmed by the nostalgia of seeing old favourites transplanted from the games arcades of the 1970s. And free! (well, apart from the £11 admission fee, but if you were determined enough you could more than get your money's worth). Even where the better-known games are still available as PC emulations, the original stand-up arcade machine format and bright vector graphics still bring back fresh memories.
Other galleries concentrated on specific themes: music in games; US, European and Japanese gaming styles; game design; multi-player games; the future of game design. In one room we found an example of the Star Wars arcade game that used to grace the Union Bar at Imperial College, and upon whichpurplecthulhu fell with undisguised glee. (And got the high score, proving that games reflexes can last 15 years or more). Next to it was a Nintendo GameCube running its new Star Wars game; an almost identical scenario, but with graphics and sound orders of magnitude more impressive. Ten iterations of Moore's Law before our eyes. In another room, an XBox was running Halo, the new first-person-shooter I'd heard so much about. On playing it, I found out why. I've not kept up with console gaming for a few years, and the new generation of consoles have passed another realism threshold in that time. A small part of me has already started up its "I want one..." nagging.
Other fun displays in the 'future of gaming' section included interactive exhibits showcasing how games may soon involve us even more directly. We particularly liked the one where you watched yourself on a giant display via a system that added trails of smoke and flame to any movement. Watchingpurplecthulhu apparently trying to beat out his burning arm with his equally flame-engulfed hat was definitely one of the highlights of the evening...
We left into a night that seemed almost as bright as day, brightly-lit skyscrapers towering into the washed-out night. In the covered plaza of one of them, we found a wagamama where our noodle orders were taken by wireless-LAN PDA. Still surreal, but a more familiar future now: the one we live in.
MC
purplecthulhu for a look round. (It was obviously LJ'er night, as we bumped into the_maenad).Even just waiting for him to arrive was a slightly surreal experience. The Barbican centre seems to live in a parallel world, a future that we've gone on to miss slightly. Sitting out in the piazza outside the third-level galleries, I felt like I was in the cover of a 1970s sf paperback; surrounded by a brown-brick and concrete arc of flats (the feel is an odd cross between a crescent terrace and an amphitheatre) with the Barbican's oddly serrated-looking tower blocks thrusting into a clear blue sky.
After meeting up we started our way around the exhibition. It's broken up into a series of galleries that start of with a chronological progress through games (from Spacewar and Pong up to recent console releases) and then moves to more thematic displays. I wouldn't be surprised though if many visitors never get past the first couple of rooms, overwhelmed by the nostalgia of seeing old favourites transplanted from the games arcades of the 1970s. And free! (well, apart from the £11 admission fee, but if you were determined enough you could more than get your money's worth). Even where the better-known games are still available as PC emulations, the original stand-up arcade machine format and bright vector graphics still bring back fresh memories.
Other galleries concentrated on specific themes: music in games; US, European and Japanese gaming styles; game design; multi-player games; the future of game design. In one room we found an example of the Star Wars arcade game that used to grace the Union Bar at Imperial College, and upon which
purplecthulhu fell with undisguised glee. (And got the high score, proving that games reflexes can last 15 years or more). Next to it was a Nintendo GameCube running its new Star Wars game; an almost identical scenario, but with graphics and sound orders of magnitude more impressive. Ten iterations of Moore's Law before our eyes. In another room, an XBox was running Halo, the new first-person-shooter I'd heard so much about. On playing it, I found out why. I've not kept up with console gaming for a few years, and the new generation of consoles have passed another realism threshold in that time. A small part of me has already started up its "I want one..." nagging.Other fun displays in the 'future of gaming' section included interactive exhibits showcasing how games may soon involve us even more directly. We particularly liked the one where you watched yourself on a giant display via a system that added trails of smoke and flame to any movement. Watching
purplecthulhu apparently trying to beat out his burning arm with his equally flame-engulfed hat was definitely one of the highlights of the evening...We left into a night that seemed almost as bright as day, brightly-lit skyscrapers towering into the washed-out night. In the covered plaza of one of them, we found a wagamama where our noodle orders were taken by wireless-LAN PDA. Still surreal, but a more familiar future now: the one we live in.
MC
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