German art duo //////////fur//// are bringing their PainStation back to Japan for the Yokohama Eizone which starts on the 22nd July. Here's how they describe the project:
For contemporary game designers, the Holy Grail of gaming is to create compelling experiences that bridge both the on-screen world and the real world. Now fur may have started a trend in convergent media with the game PainStation, a two-person console that dishes out physical pain to unsuccessful players. Avoiding the obvious references to unusual sexual practices, we prefer to describe PainStation as "a contemporary duelling system"...PainStation comprises a box structure housing a horizontal screen over which the two players face each other. The software is based on Pong, an early computer game. Players use their right hands to control a bat on screen, and must keep their left hand on the console's "pain execution unit". Removing your hand means breaking the circuit - game over. During play, if your screen bat misses a ball, your left hand suffers the consequences through the application of heat, electric shocks or a quick whipping on the back of your hand.
This site shows their original design while their newer site shows the PainStation 2 and a more vivid "Hall of Pain" gallery of players' bruised and bloodied hands.
They just played that on WOWOW the other night.. Funny as hell.. Sean's the best.
