Bizarre/Oddities

Great news from the Perspective Research Department folks.
Rumour has it that we are about to make a giant leap forward in our knowledge of early computer games.
Far from Raiders of the Last Ark, a team of archeologists, sociologists and gaming fans plans to dig up a New Mexico landfill this month in search of what some consider to be the “missing link” in the evolution of video games.
(The dig is attempting to find evidence of some of the first games ever made, that are rumoured to be buried there.)
The history of computing is filled with events and earlier technology that paved the way for the advent of video games. It also includes games that we believe represent direct steps in the evolution of computerized gaming, and lastly the development and release of video games themselves.
Scientists and archeologists are attempting to “prove” that today’s gaming industry got its start from early programs such as “pong” and then “mouse in the maze,” and “checkers!” If searchers can find evidence of cartridges with “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” game in the landfill, this will provide direct evidence of a “missing link” between those early attempts at “gaming” and today’s virtual reality programs!

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

There are numerous debates over which game should be considered the first video game, with the answer depending largely on how video games are defined. The evolution of video games represents a tangled web of several different industries, including scientific, computer, arcade, and consumer electronics.

The “video” in “video game” traditionally refers to a raster display device. With the popular catch phrase use of the term “video game”, the term later came to imply all display types, formats, and platforms.

Historians have also sought to bypass the issue by instead using the more specific “digital games” descriptive. This term leaves out the earlier analog-based computer games.

The team is set to make a documentary about their quest, and say the public is welcome to look on as they dig.

(And remember, as always, ya heard about it here first!)

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Meanwhile, Gaming is reported to have gone WAY past VIRTUAL REALITY kids!
There’s a bizarre subculture that exists in the depths of the internet and leaks into the offline world.

It is Furry Fandom … the culture of dressing up as anthropomorphic animals from cartoons, comic strips, myths and video games.
(Photographer Tom Broadbent gained the trust of Furries in the UK and spent time capturing the lives of the people inside the suit.)
By day they are computer programmers, but by night they live a life role-playing their “fursona” — the animal they have chosen to live as, generally in private.
They communicate across internet forums and meet up at conventions, keeping one thing sacred — their human identity. (You might have seen a few of these “creatures” on an episode of C.S.I.)
A common misconception about the Furry culture is that it is entirely based on sexual fetish. Although sexuality plays a role in some areas of the Furrydom society, with the welcoming culture accepting all sexual orientations, a Furry sees life inside as much more than a kinky pastime. Furries say they enjoy dressing up for fun and like the freedom the lack of human identity allows. They have the joy of a dress up party in everyday life.
Broadbent captures this world in his stunning set of images At Home With the Furries which show the strange creatures in their natural environment.