Streetpong [video]

Interesting idea, saw this make the rounds a little bit ago.<p>The installation in the video is not real, but because of the popularity of the video, they&#x27;re currently working on a physical prototype.

The fact that you eventually meet your opponent when the light goes green is awesome.

This looks a little dangerous to me, because it makes the pedestrian take their mind off the road. Just last week, a car accidentally drove up on the side walk part of the crosswalk and would have hit me had I not been paying attention and jumped out of the way. From what I understand this is not an uncommon event either. It&#x27;s not like the lip of the curve is really any protection against the cars, a car can easily drive over it.

This video is CGI - at the point it was filmed, it was just a concept, but it&#x27;s had a positive reaction and so it&#x27;s actually been installed.<p>Source: translation of <a href="http://vimeo.com/48514003" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;vimeo.com&#x2F;48514003</a>

Germany has a whole different level of first-world problems: &quot;Hmm what was my biggest annoyance today? ... I was bored while standing at the traffic lights&quot;<p>:)

It seems that those saying, “are we really this sad that we need video games on street lights to entertain us,” are missing the point a bit.<p>First sentence on the web-site: “StreetPong is a concept about playful urban interactions.” The last three words are the key here. I think it is a cool way to encourage complete strangers in a big anonymous city to have a little interaction, and then get to shake hands or high-five as they pass each other crossing the street.<p>Who knows what positive effects little ideas like this could foster?

This is an &#x27;urban interaction&#x27; installation, where two people waiting on opposite sides of a pedestrian crossing can play each other in a game of pong.<p>Pretty cool :)<p>I wonder what they are using for communicating between the two touch screens on each side of the road. It almost looks like the touch screens are large mobile phones.

Is this life now? Nobody can wait a minute to cross the street without something to distract them with? <i>Constant</i> stimulation. I know this isn&#x27;t real, but this isn&#x27;t a neat idea. We need a bit of boring time in our lives.

I like this concept - small, usable art installations designed to make inconspicuous things social. But the pessimist in me takes one look at their concept and things &quot;That&#x27;s going to break so quickly here in Boston.&quot;<p>What I would love to see, and which seems realistic from this video, is an installation that shows the people waiting a &quot;loading bar&quot; or countdown or some visual indicator of how long until the crosswalk is green for pedestrians. In the video they show this as the background color - red or green - gradually draining from the screen.

Hmm, looks fake to me, the image&#x2F;text is wobbling differently than the camera.

I wish there were traffic lights that would countdown until the the light changes (quantitative) or use something like an hourglass (qualitative).

Pretty cool!<p>What if winning the game granted your side a couple of seconds head start? I wonder if there would be little impromptu election committees formed on each side to nominate a representative for that side; &quot;Step aside, I got this...&quot;<p>Or maybe there could be a more cooperative game where the collaborative success at some activity would make the light change sooner. That would be awesome!

I was just thinking that there is really room for another innovation. Ever been a driver at an intersection where you have a turning green light at the same time as the pedestrians crossing the street you are trying to turn on and there is a constant stream of one or two people that keeps you and other drivers from turning until the pedestrian light turns red and only one car has the chance to turn? How about implementing something like the OP light, that leads to grouping pedestrians crossing the street to allow a car to turn in between them. Seems smart to me, especially in areas like universities or work centers where there are rushes of people in between classes, lunch, or rush-hour.

Off-topic: Does anybody know why you have to wait for a pedestrian crossing light to turn green at all?<p>If it&#x27;s usually green for car traffic all the time, and only turns green for pedestrians on request, why not change immediately when somebody pushes the button?

Neat, I guess, but personally I think people should be more alert and aware when in and around traffic, not more distracted.

If thy don&#x27;t call this Ample&#x2F;Ampel Time then this is not a world I want to live in.<p>(Ampel being the German for traffic light)

Huh. I thought this was actually &quot;Why Games Should Enter The Public Domain&quot; for a while (though of course I should have known better because of HN&#x27;s headline policy). If it were, it would be a wonderful argument in it&#x27;s simplicity; as is, it&#x27;s a concrete example.

Yeah, sure, it&#x27;s cool, but take a step back and it&#x27;s actually kind of sickening. All plays back to society needing constant stimulation of some kind. We can&#x27;t just <i>wait</i>, or be <i>bored</i>, heaven forbid, anymore. Our phones aren&#x27;t even enough now!

We did something similar a few months back, though there&#x27;s no CGI effects in our video:<p><a href="http://kahbow.com/post/70484446933/" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;kahbow.com&#x2F;post&#x2F;70484446933&#x2F;</a>

Great idea, but not for traffic conditions (all traffic signs have to be unambiguous all the time). Also, these small touchscreens in a public area will eventually be smashed or stolen.

This is pretty awesome, I couldn&#x27;t help but think of all those sorry people complaining about the germs on the screen itself.<p>Great innovation.

We need video games at all street corners? Look up and view life!

This also gives pedestrians a fun alternative to jay walking.

That last face it&#x27;s perfect for a meme.

Similar to queue theory in stores. Nice

Sorry to be an asshat, but isn&#x27;t this thing incredibly old? I&#x27;m getting a strong déjà vu feeling.