Any gamer will tell you that playing on large HD TVs makes gaming much more enjoyable: the bigger the screen, the better. During Philly Tech week in Philadelphia that concept was taken to a whole new level by playing Pong and using a skyscraper in place of a TV.
Frank Lee, a professor at Drexel University and the co-founder of the school's Game Design Program decided to use a 29-story skyscraper as the display, making it one of the world's biggest video games.
Lee spoke about how he came up with the idea: "I didn't really think too much about it, but this time, in 2008, when I was passing by, I saw Tetris shapes rotating and falling. And that began this long journey to make this game."
About 1,000 gamers entered an online lottery to win the chance of playing Pong on a 29-story screen. Friday, April 19, before Philly Tech Week kicked off on Saturday, hundreds of gamers showed up to watch the classic arcade game Pong be played on a skyscraper.
Darren Davis, a high-school junior by day and a game developer by night, was selected in the lottery and was able to play Pong on a display much bigger than anything he has played on before. He said, "playing a video game on a skyscraper was pretty cool. To be honest, taking my hands on the joystick, it was pretty amazing. I actually really liked it."
This isn't the first time a skyscraper has been used to play a video game: in 1995, students from Holland successfully played Tetris using a building as a display. Playing games on a 50-inch HD TV might be impressive, but playing on a 29-story building is priceless.
