Just One Word: Plastics

I went to see the Game On and Body Worlds exhibits at the museum this weekend. The Game On exhibit was fun but not very informative. There was some interesting information about a few games like The Sims and the Pokemon phenomenon, but largely the exhibit was the games themselves, which, let's face it, are the only thing most people care about.

The exhibit introduced Pong and Space War (running on a Vectrex) right away and proceeded immediately into the golden age of the arcade with original cabinets running Space Invaders, Asteroids, Galaxian, Missle Command, Galaga, Dig Dug, Ms. Pac-Man, and Donkey Kong. Generally speaking, they divided the remaining sectors into home computing (Atari 400-ST, C64/Amiga, Specturm), home consoles (Oddessy-current gen), multiplayer gaming, and finally a nod to Japanese arcade culture with a couple video games available for play and two pachinko machines that were only for display.

Some of the oddities that were on display included a selection of handhelds from the late '70s through today that included those really awesome mini arcade cabinets from the early '80s that I so badly wanted when I was a kid but never got for Christmas. I was pretty well-stocked with Atari stuff, though, so I can't complain. Most of that stuff was under glass, though, so nobody could break it. The most impressive item on display was one of the first arcade cabinets made in communist East Germany. According to the display, it included a limited selection of perfectly horrible games. As the display indicated, the games were particularly bad because each one was individually approved by the government. Most of them were based on hunting because the leader of East Germany at that time was an avid hunter. Anyway, the cabinet is only one of three left in the world. Even though it wasn't running and nobody could touch it, I appreciated seeing that the most.

The exhibit had a listening wall devoted to game music, too. They got a lot of the old stuff from the guys who run c64audio.com which made for some good listening with a nice selection of tracks from the original greats like Rob Hubbard, Martin Galway, and Tim Follin. Sadly, though, the modern listening station was glutted with selections from Hitman and licensed music from rock bands. I like the music from Hitman, but there's so many other games with great music that could have been selected. At least the exhibit got the old stuff right. I just know it was the fault of lawyers. Those people ruin everything they touch when it comes to art.

Body Worlds, while not quite as fun, was much more informative. The full-body plastinates were the most interesting from both a creative and a scientific perspective. I can't really say too much about it as it is not my area of expertise, but it is certainly a must-see. I think the website presents enough information to inspire a visit to see the whole thing. If the Body Worlds exhibit comes to a city near you, I highly recommend going to see it.