About a month ago I posted about a game on msnbc.com called NewsBreaker. In it, the player participates in a Breakout-like game to reveal actual news stories that are updated throughout the day. To be honest, I found it strangely disturbing (I played it right around the time of the Virginia Tech shootings, so most of the bonus news I unlocked was very negative, to say the least), but I respected the site for trying something different.
Well, we received word from the game’s creator that the new and improved NewsBreaker Live may be coming soon to a movie theater near you! Hu … zzah?
The way it works is simple: using an installed camera at the front of the theater, the audience (while waiting for the movie to start) leans their bodies left and right to control the giant paddle on-screen, keeping the bouncing ball in play. Since the camera tracks the movement of the entire room, all the theater patrons have to work together to successful complete each level. It’s a pretty novel concept that I, for one, would love to try out.
Does it look a little chaotic? Sure. Will someone eventually get his/her eye poked out, ironically resulting in a news story that may very well end up on the actual game that caused the accident? Most likely. But it looks like a lot of fun and, if anything, definitely beats reading the same damn trivia questions over and over. Yeah, movie theater, I know that John Cusack starred in Say Anything. Thanks for telling me for the fourth time.
[Thanks a lot, Sam]
