Crowd-controlled Breakout excites moviegoers

by John Bardinelli { May 31st 2007 at 2:58PM }

Two marketing firms in Los Angeles recently rigged a movie theater with motion sensors to allow for a crowd-controlled game of NewsBreaker, the headline-based game of Breakout from MSNBC. As theatergoers waited for Spider Man 3 to begin, the game interrupted otherwise drab pre-movie fare and had everyone waving their arms in the air. Cooperation was the name of the game as players tried to keep the game going as long as possible. To quote one of the participants "There is no better family entertainment than that, my friends."

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

mike @ May 31st 2007 3:12PM

fun in theory, but with so many people, will you really make a difference? I tend to think the results of the game would be the same if you the individual, sat in your seat doing nothing while everyone else waved their arms, or if you waved with them.

Perhaps a game where they make the motion sensor choose a random seat and the seats would be numbered and then each player gets a turn if their seat is randomly called out. Then everyone in the theater can blame the old man whos not paying attention when his seat is called and fails to move.

BPM @ May 31st 2007 3:14PM

Haha, neat.

Now, let's see some news-ridden clones of Space Invaders, Pac-Man, Tetris, and Super Mario Bros.

zwarrior @ May 31st 2007 3:28PM

That seems like an awesome and fun experience

StrangeBum @ May 31st 2007 3:30PM

I love hearing about these types of things. Makes me wish I lived in a more populated area so that there would be more of a chance of me getting to do this.

They should do something like this on bathroom walls, so instead of a bunch of punk kids scribbling the LAO symbol they can get their game on. Hmm....would need some sort of protection against germs.

Grog @ May 31st 2007 3:32PM

Tacked on waggle controls and old graphics... clearly this was not fun.

Miles @ May 31st 2007 3:36PM

"Tacked on waggle controls and old graphics... clearly this was not fun."

Good line. Did anyone notice the sarcasm in the guy who said the line about "best family entertainment"?

Ocho @ May 31st 2007 4:08PM

@Mike

I think having a single player control the game would defeat the purpose of the community driven experience they're creating here. Sure it looks a little silly and an individual's motions will only have so much influence over the game, but did you notice that part with all those individuals were moving and laughing together?

BPM @ May 31st 2007 4:11PM

Grog wins a coupon for "Buy one Internets, get one free."

1up_clock @ May 31st 2007 4:12PM

Sounds a lot more enjoyable than the movie they were waiting for, I can tell you that much.

Grog @ May 31st 2007 4:52PM

And where can I redeem my coupon? =)

OK, enough as the silly remarks. This sounds like an awesome idea, though I'm not really sure how they worked in whatever they were marketing. Would it work if it was played before every movie? Probably not - people would get bored. Still, it's this type of original thinking that is needed in both marketing and the video game industry.

Rowd149 @ May 31st 2007 7:48PM

Somehow I figured this happened in California. Shit this cool just doesn't happen on the East Coast :/

ideophile @ May 31st 2007 11:05PM

I'm the kid in the brown hat and sweater, and at the risk of sounding like some corporate mascot I have to say from first hand experience this is an incredible idea. Everyone in the audience was more than excited each time the bumper for the game started playing. Everyone was yelling and playing together. Screaming out directions. Leading and teaching those who didn't quite understand it. It even made the movie experience more exciting. Like watching the movie with a group of friends.

I hope more theaters use this and more companies contact developers about this type of thing.

VIVA Newsbreaker!

Burnt Meatloaf @ Jun 1st 2007 5:20AM

@Rowd149: No kidding. My local movie theater has 14 screens, and each never has more than a dozen people in it when I go.

I'm not sure why those people think the "experience" was so great. Herd mentality, maybe?