pop ‘n music be-mouse: weird name, odd controller

Ist hier eine Spieleigenartigkeit von Japan. Irgendwo fallend zwischen Tetris und Felsen-Band, Knall ` N ist Musik Maus ist ein Windows PC Spiel, das mit einer bunten Multitaste Maus für das Steuern das gameplay kommt.

Here’s a gaming oddity from Japan. Falling somewhere between Tetris and Rock Band, Pop ‘N Music Be Mouse is a Windows PC game that comes with a colorful multi-button mouse for controlling the gameplay.

To play Konami’s music pattern matching game, pop open the ladybug-like wings on the Be-Mouse controller to access the game’s nine buttons. As the colored indicators fall down the screen, you tap frantically on the buttons to keep up with the music.

It plays out much like the chord pattern interface on Guitar Hero and other familiar music games. While you might think it’s just another GH clone, it’s actually based on the popular Japanese Pop ‘N Music arcade series which dates all the way back to 1998.

While you can use the mouse for other computer activities, it’s a bit unwieldy for most things. I certainly can’t imagine using this thing to navigate around Excel spreadsheets, but to each his own, I suppose. Importer Play-Asia is now taking orders for the game and controller package for $69.90.

reactive sparks: interactive led art responds to traffic

Diese wechselwirkende kunstanzeige nimmt Daten, die sie auf dem Führen des Verkehrs sammelt und zeigt bewegliche Bilder an, die zu den Trägern reagieren, während sie vorbei fahren.

This interactive art display takes data it collects on passing traffic and displays moving images which react to vehicles as they drive by.

Designed by artist Markus Lerner for lighting company OSRAM, the installation samples traffic patterns and maps them onto seven colorful light towers side of the road, each containing over 110,000 individual LEDs.

The waves at the bottom of each panel represent the amount of traffic that has recently passed, while a “spark” that flashes across each screen whenever a new car passes by. The more cars that pass the sensors, the bigger the waves, and the faster the motion.

The installation is currently on display alongside Munich, Germany’s highly-congested Mittlerer Ring, a thoroughfare that conveniently happens to be right in front of OSRAM’s headquarters.