Headbang Hero
Posted In: art, game, installation, interactive, interface, music
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Headbang Hero, by Tiago Martins, Ricardo Nascimento and Andreas Zingerle is a music/dance video game for testing and improving your headbanging prowess. A special wig is used as a game controller, feeding motion data to the game software. The game analyses in real time how well your headbanging follows the rhythm of the music. You are awarded points for your personal headbanging choreography… but you should be aware that your health is at risk! To stress this point Headbang Hero also analyses how hazardous your performance is. As opposed to what happens in games where the player is in control of an avatar, in Headbang Hero what matters is the player’s own health. The game keeps track of two distinct aspects of the player’s performance. The first is the player’s (potentially heroic) sense of style and rhythm as he headbangs along to the music. The second is the amount of health damage the player is causing himself in the quest to become a hero. When the game ends the player receives a printed health report based on his performance analysis. Included in this report are tips on how to improve the performance and advice on how to avoid injuries.
Headbang hero is currently installed in Linz for Ars Electronica 2009 (Interface Culture Exhibition. 4-8 september 2009).
[...] “Headbang Hero” by Tiago Martins, Ricardo Nascimento and Andreas Zingerle. Like Guitar Hero, the game encourages you to score points by wearing a controller (a dreadlocked wig) and banging your head in time to the music. Unlike Guitar Hero, the game issues a printed report on the potential health damage your headbanging has caused, and urges you “to learn how to play a cool instrument, like a flute or maybe the shamisen.” [...]