Visual augmentation to old arcade games via audio tracking. Created in response to Jaygo Bloom’s original concept. Presented at Urbanplay (Trampoline, Nottingham, UK), November 2006 and The Poker Club (New Media Scotland, Edinburgh), November 2006.
From www.gabba.tv:
Tao Joystick is an interactive audiovisual games enhancement. It works in unison with any games console and translates audible gameplay expressions into random sound and video projections.
Each system consists of a gaming environment / installation including two monitors, a laptop running the required software and a games console.
Tao Joystick references the playing of original 80’s arcade games and consoles –
< ATARI > < SPECTRUM > < COMMODORE 64 >
< BREAK-OUT > < PONG > < DIG DUG > etc.
The constraints of such games with their limited controls and set specific values are replaced with alternative values of < speed > < loop setting > etc.
At present this is created via < JITTER > programming.
Within the constructed games environment. The playing of Tao Joystick re-defines the archived video footage that is presented on its double screen monitor. Video has been extracted from many sources including – Inuit Song, Butoh Dance, Bangrha and Tibetan chant.
Content is chosen according to the practice of Tao Joystick as a vehicle to re-present and preserve the musical, oral and dance culture of marginalised traditions, within a new technologically mediated context.
As practitioners seek to embed new technologies within the environment and create ever increasingly, more sophisticated < ubiquitous > and transparent interfaces for us to explore. Interactivity and usability can become secondary to the mediated experience and any aspect of intended game playing is difficult to understand.
Tao Joystick seeks to reverse this need for < ubiquity > and looks first and foremost towards < playability > and
< what makes a game addictive? >.
The technology that presents Tao Joystick is central to its physical makeup. The controller and console is very evidently a games controller and games console, yet the intended outcome, mediated by these self same new technologies, create an altogether unique and memorable audiovisual experience.