Game Art: Mar Canet, Jayme Cochrane, Travis Kirton's "PunchOut" (2010)

"PunchOut is an artistic installation that remediates the classic Nintendo game of the same title. It achieves its classification through the design of a custom interface that forces participants into a full-bodied experience. The major components of this interface are a padded interactive screen, and a robust floor controller. These two interface components map directly to the controls of the game’s original interface: the classic square controller (buttons: up, down, left, right, select, start, a, b). Additionally, the installation “fights back” with a player… When the character on-screen is hit during a boxing match, the installation briefly flashes bright light in attempt to create a sense of disorientation for the player. The physicality of punching the soft screen, hopping back and forth in all directions, and the consequences of being “hit” amount to a physically embodied experience of a game that was originally playable only with one’s fingertips. The artistic purpose behind the design of this installation is to explore the possibilities of expanding old games and old technologies to create new experiences using low-level technical approaches to new media interaction."  (Mar Canet)

link: Mar Canet

Submitted by Matteo Bittanti