Robot

Frogger is now upwards of 30 years old and remains very playable even today. That doesn't mean it couldn't use a little bit of a modern update -- and no, I don't mean a 3D version, because those like myself who have played one know how terrible they can be. Instead, I'd love to see Frogger get the Championship Edition treatment that Pac-Man did; I never would have figured that game could be redesigned in a way that wasn't radically different but was as intense as anything out there, yet that's what Namco Bandai accomplished with Pac-Man Championship Edition and its successor.

Sadly Namco does not have the rights to Frogger, and it doesn't look as if Konami is keen on doing much to update the classic games it brings to platforms like Xbox Live Arcade. In its place we'll have to settle for an experiment carried out by Tyler DeAngelo which stays very much true to the original game while also incorporating something that would have been mind-blowing in the early '80s: He's modified the game to make use of real world traffic data.

Using a webcam set up in a building overlooking Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, 5th Ave Frogger generates traffic in the game based on vehicles driving down the New York City street at that very moment. This is done with a traditional Frogger arcade cabinet which, upon its completion, DeAngelo proceeded to wheel down onto Fifth Avenue for people to play.





It's an impressive display of technology. Those interested in how this all came together can check out the series of videos posted here, where the development process was documented through a series of videos. The one above, as spotted by Joystiq earlier today, gives an overview of what the goal was and a basic idea of how it works. It also manages to make no reference to Seinfeld, a feat I could never aspire to accomplish myself.

Now, if only this data could be transmitted to a modified version of the game we could play at home, we'd really be talking.



http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=9098883

Comments

Interesting.

Dudebro

That's an awesome idea. It really does need a Seinfeld reference though, for shame.