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p0nd

Rob Beschizza at 4:25 pm Mon, Jul 12, 2010

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p0nd, a flash game, offers a wonderful and haunting experience, especially the ending. Now this is art. Eat it, Ebert! [Peanut Gallery Games via IndieGames]

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  • Anonymous

    hahahahahahaha

  • Anonymous

    nasty trollses… nothing to see here

  • Anonymous

    History will remember Roger Ebert as the man who instigated all video game community to finally take it to the next level, and make Video Games the 11th Art.

  • querent

    any waking life fans in the mix?

    good stuff. i’ll pass this along.

  • Toby Clark

    I am so disappointed. I had assumed this would be p0rn featuring Amy Pond. Bah!

  • Pete

    I’m all for one-button mechanics in games. I’m all for expansive concepts that reach beyond genres.

    But I didn’t get any further than the doorstep in this game, despite persisting in it. Disappointing – I couldn’t work out how to bring any finesse into the manipulation of the one button, and kept on getting the same message a few seconds into the game. That’s not a learning curve, that’s a point of failure.

    Stylistically, the few game screens I saw reminded me of Loom, which was both a good game AND art when it was released. Even now, it stands out (although it’s point-and-click style dates it heavily).

  • saru

    Honestly, I thought the quote at the end was in slightly poor taste.

    Of course, I consider all of Roger Ebert’s statements about video games are in slightly poor taste as well….
    I wish him the best with his illness. I think he’s an excellent writer, and a very intelligent man. But he’s also just plain wrong. No need to go into it here.

    I liked the game though. Amusing ending.

    For anyone still looking and still having trouble, you wait for orbs to appear, then hold space to inhale until the last one passes your lips, then let go to exhale.

  • Anonymous

    WTF? If that’s art, then count me in Ebert’s camp.

  • fireinwinter

    “Wonderful and haunting.” A perfect description

    Definitely proof that video games can have meaning beyond simple entertainment.

    I especially liked the quote at the end.

  • Anonymous

    duskcheetah … getting the same thing you are… i think were missing the proper outro

  • Anonymous

    I like video games. And I like art.
    They are not in the same league. So what?
    What is the offense?
    There is art that I hate, boring art,
    like some operas.
    Games are meant to be fun to play, that’s
    it.
    A boring game offends me, not Roger Ebert
    telling me they are not art.
    Are gamers ashamed of their hobby, so
    they need to think of themselves as more than
    just players?
    Why do games NEED to be associated with art?
    Roger Ebert did not say that games were not fun.
    He said they are not art.
    And they are not!

  • Anonymous

    The whole deal is a stupid premise.
    “Games are not art”
    How about this:
    “Mario Brothers is more popular than
    Jesus Christ”
    Truth? Maybe…
    but it will sure offend a lot of people.

    If I say:
    Video games will never be religion!
    are you going to take the bait too?

  • Anonymous

    Another place to download it for PC: http://rjlayton.com/pond/

  • bardfinn

    Ebert /did/ apologise for the inappropriate commentary on video games.

    • cory

      Not exactly. He basically said that he was foolish to express an opinion about something he really knows nothing about.

      He want on to say that video games would never be art, and that he wouldn’t change his mind about that.

      He also didn’t apologize.

      So, yeah. Ebert: good movie critic, good writer. Terrible pundit about video games. In short: “arguing on the internet is like competing in the special olympics”.gif.

  • Anonymous

    If I understand Roger Ebert’s viewpoint correctly, it is not that something like p0nd cannot be art, it is that when something like p0nd becomes art, it is no longer a game. That is, art and games are mutually exclusive.

    It isn’t a viewpoint that I personally agree with, but many here seem to be raging against a Ebert of their own creation.

  • Anonymous

    how exactly was that haunting? peaceful, atmospheric, calming… not even close to haunting though.

  • jemmons

    “This Account Has Been Suspended”

    I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT ANY OF YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT :’(

    • nnguyen

      try this: http://sites.google.com/site/p0ndtemp/home

      • Hattmannen

        Thanks for the link. Unfortunately I couldn’t download it from there. Google docs said I’ve reached the bandwith limit for viewing non Google docs files.
        As far as I can remember though, I haven’t downloaded anything from Google docs…
        Too bad… I’d really like to have a go at this game.

    • Anonymous

      Same here. :,(

  • Rob Beschizza

    PTFG!

  • Anonymous

    While I personally disagree with Ebert regarding videogames as art, do you not think it’s in somewhat poor taste to tell him to “eat it”?

    You know, since he can’t eat anything what with that pesky cancer he is battling and all. Just a thought.

  • Ghede

    Ummm. Is it supposed to restart after you reach the pOnd? If so, I don’t get it.

  • QRohlf

    I have a feeling that it has no ending, and the joke is that it loops you back to the start so you play it over and over again thinking it just messed up. I didn’t really feel like finding out.

  • Zavorio

    Ebert on video games = Ebert reviewing a movie he never watched. Lets forget about the whole thing and move on with our lives.

  • fatjonny

    It does have an ending. If all you use the space bar for is breathing, you didn’t reach the end.

    Good stuff. :)

  • QRohlf

    Nevermind – There is an ending. Not really what I was expecting.

  • Anonymous

    You have to play it to the end without “holding in” an orb too long I’m guessing. Got it the second time and definitely a weird ending.

  • Anonymous

    1) game: please explain yourself or GTFO. It took several tries (and unnecessary restart delays) for me to figure out which specific unhealthy breathing pattern I was expected to perform.

    2) too hard didn’t finish. I cannot mash my spacebar that fast without getting uncomfortable.

  • duskcheetah

    Am I doing this right?

    The character walks through all 3 or 4 scenes. I use the spacebar to collect all of the orbs. At the end, after the text displays, heavy dissonant music plays, and the game resets. Am I missing something?