The typical browsing experience is conducted through a single application window. This is indeed a useful, practical thing. Browser Pong instead exists between a collection of windows. During play the negative space between windows is transformed into a playing field; the abstracted tennis court of Pong. The idea of thinking inside or outside some “box” is of course a dead and beaten horse. Browser Pong attempts to think with the boxes. Tested and approved for Macintosh using the following browsers in order of preference: Safari 4, FireFox 3.6, Chrome 4, and Opera 10.
The audio content was created by sound artist and musician Dominic Matar of Nine Cats Music specifically for this piece. You can view Dominic’s reel here and follow him on Twitter here.
The history of Pong is one of invention and design, but also of piracy. Both players and imitators alike are debt to Ralph Baer of Magnavox, Mr. Allan Alcorn, Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney of Atari. And last but certainly not least, Steve Russell, inventor of Spacewar!
The Space Between exhibition in London. July 2011
Creativity Online: Face to face with the brains behind iQuit, Browser Pong and other experiments in digital fun by Jamie Kim. March 2010
Google Chrome Experiments January 2010
Slashdot Games Story: Browser Pong by Soulskill. December 2009
It’s Nice That. December 2009
Digg. December 2009
Kotaku: Browser Pong More Fun That It Sounds by Luke Plunkett. December 2009
Hacker News: Browser Pong by Marcus Booster. December 2009
Boing Boing. December 2009
Meta Filter. December 2009
Daring Fireball: Browser Pong by John Gruber. December 2009
Laughing Squid: Browser Pong by Scott Beale. December 2009