If you watch the trailer for the new Adam Sandler comedy “Pixels,” you'll find the usual antics from the funny man and eye popping 8-bit graphics developed from the backing of a major movie studio.

But what’s more remarkable is the short film that inspired it.

French filmmaker/artist Patrick Jean created the two-and-a-half minute short, also titled “Pixels,” five years ago for $5,000. In it, the classic arcade games of the 1980s travel to New York City and begin to devour it into 8-bit blocks.

The short became an instant sensation on the web, getting over a million views in its first 24 hours online, according to Jean’s website. And, as Jean told Business Insider, within two weeks he began hearing from movie studios about making it into a feature-length film that he’d direct.
 “I came up with the idea of what the feature film became,” said Jean in a phone conversation from L.A. “I pitched it to about five companies that really wanted it and we ended up going with Adam Sandler and Sony.”

For the next four years, Jean went from directing a modest-budgeted movie about ex-gamers trying to save the world from its destruction by classic video game characters, to stepping aside as major players in Hollywood took it over.

He said he’s grateful for what has happened, but he has some critiques about the finished product.

According to Jean, he sold the film rights for $1 million. He was to direct the film with Sandler producing it and perhaps star. Jean teamed with a screenwriter hired by Sandler’s Happy Madison production company to write the script, which he said went through many drafts over a few years.

But when the script got to a point when the project got a green light, the budget increased, which led to Jean’s exit as director.

“They asked me to come up with a list of directors [to make the movie] and we got Chris Columbus,” said Jean.

Columbus is known for the fantastical films he wrote in the 1980s ("Gremlins" and "The Goonies") and the classics he went on to direct ("Home Alone,""Mrs Doubtfire," and the first two "Harry Potter" movies).

Jean became an executive producer on the film and made an arrangement with Sony that he would shadow Columbus on set.

“It wasn’t easy because it was my baby at one point,” said Jean of having to relinquish the director reigns. “But I still wanted to be attached to the project, so I learned to watch and not interfere with what Chris wanted.”

When asked what he thinks about the film, Jean doesn’t give the usual Hollywood spin.

“I think the movie is not perfect, but I like it,” he said. “I feel the second half of the movie could have been better. But I know they had budget issues, they had to cut some stuff.”

One bit in particular is a scene at the end where the heroes (played by Sandler, Kevin James, Josh Gad, and Peter Dinklage) meet their younger selves (who we meet in the beginning of the movie) while battling the mothership that’s releasing the video game characters onto Earth.

“They did shoot it,” said Jean. “But sadly it didn’t make it in the film.”

Overall, Jean said he loves the humor of the film, and the visual effects. “It’s a light action comedy movie and that’s what we wanted to do in the first place,” he said.

But he’s now ready to direct one of his projects.

He says he’s shooting a live-action film for a French company next summer and is in talks with Sony to direct an animated feature.

“Pixels” opens in theaters on Friday.

Watch Jean’s “Pixels” short below:

SEE ALSO: Here's when you'll be able to see Adam Sandler's first original Netflix movie

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Peter Dinklage is a Donkey Kong champ in new 'Pixels' trailer

Female characters in video games like Lara Croft from "Tomb Raider" have historically had body types that were far from "average."

Even beyond the impossibly proportioned women of early console fighting games, most iconic female characters are, in various ways, stylized in an unrealistic way.

Now Bulimia.com, a collective dedicated to empowering those with eating disorders, has asked the question: “What would video game characters look like with average American bodies?”

The organization questions why — with games now featuring technical wonders such as natural cloud movements — they still don’t usually portray the female body accurately and free from exaggerated proportions.

Though it's also true that video games certainly don’t portray the average male body — with games like "Gears of War" featuring hulking body types that are practically unobtainable — it’s still useful to be reminded of just how far our fantastical representations can sometimes take us from reality. And that this could potentially have consequences.

Here is a series of graphics, created by Bulimia.com, that shows what different iconic female video game characters would look like with average American body proportions.

SEE ALSO: Microsoft's Xbox One video game console is your next work computer

NOW WATCH: There is a secret US government airline that flies out of commercial airports

Though things aren’t looking good for "Pixels" this weekend, Adam Sandler’s latest comedy has a 19% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, one thing that can’t be ignored is the brilliance of Peter Dinklage in the movie.

Known best for his dramatic work, especially as Tyrion Lannister in "Game of Thrones," Dinklage is one of the saving graces of the film playing the hilarious former arcade champion Eddie “The Fire Blaster” Plant.

Rocking an impressive mullet, tattoos and an attitude, he seems like a character only Hollywood could come up with.

But in fact some movie lovers may link Fire Blaster’s pretentious ways to a real-life gaming legend.

Though Dinklage has not addressed it publicly, many believe his character in "Pixels" channels the swagger of Billy Mitchell, who is known for earning the first-ever perfect score in Pac-Man in 1999 and stars in the documentary "The Kind of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters." Mitchell was also named one of the Video Game Players of the year in 1984 and later became Video Game Player of the Century.

"Pixels" director Chris Columbus has confirmed that Plant is partially based on Mitchell. The physical resemblance between Mitchell and Dinklage's character is hard to ignore too, particularly the mullet.

Most recently, Mitchell has gained recognition from "King of King."

Seth Gordon’s film follows underdog Steve Wiebe as he attempts to break the 20-year-old world record for Donkey Kong (you guessed it, it's held by Mitchell). But like any great heel, Mitchell plays mind games with Wiebe, and says things on camera like, “Oh, Billy Mitchell always has a plan,” to get under Wiebe (and the viewer’s) skin.

Dinklage certainly gives Plant the same traits. In “Pixels” he belittles Sam Brenner (Adam Sandler) for coming in second to him in an arcade tournament when they were kids. And he only becomes more cocky when Sam turns to him for help to beat the arcade characters that have come to Earth to destroy it.

When asked about Dinklage’s character at an interview for the 35th anniversary event for Pac-Man, Mitchell initially seemed humbled.

“Well, I think Peter is a good actor,” he said.

But he followed that with...

“People tell me I got beat out by the little guy finally,” referring to Dinklage’s height.

“Pixels” opens in theaters on Friday.

Watch Dinklage as Fire Blaster in this clip from the movie:

SEE ALSO: The director of the short film that inspired "Pixels" says Adam Sandler's version "could have been better"

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NOW WATCH: What really happened to Jon Snow in 'Game of Thrones'?

You've never seen the world's most famous Italian plumber look this good:

Or how about his arch nemesis, the blue blur that is Sonic the Hedgehog? Just look at this:

Or perhaps you're more of a Pokémon fan? Here's the always adorable Charmander rendered in the same gorgeous fashion:

These are all the incredible creations of one YouTube user named "CryZENx," who added some of the world's most famous game characters into a gorgeous tech demo for the Unreal Engine (a piece of software that powers many games). 

The tech demo is meant to show off the prowess of Unreal Engine, and it does that spectacularly. Here's one more gorgeous look into that world, through the eyes of the Hero of Time, Link, from "The Legend of Zelda." Try to ignore the terrifying moon:

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NOW WATCH: Sony has been working on this Playstation game for 8 years — and the trailer is absolutely beautiful

(Reuters) - A competitive video-gaming organization will begin testing players for performance-enhancing drugs next month, as the field of so-called eSports moves further into the mainstream and prize pools climb.

The announcement by the Electronic Sports League came just weeks after one gamer admitted to using the stimulant Adderall at a tournament, sparking discussion around an issue that has long plagued traditional sports.

The ESL said in a statement on Thursday it would start administering randomized skin tests for the drugs at its ESL One Cologne event in Germany in August, a tournament for the first-person shooting game "Counter-Strike: Global Offensive" that boasts a $250,000 prize pool.

The ESL said it will partner with the World Anti-Doping Agency and Germany's anti-doping agency to develop a policy on the issue, and aims to perform tests at all of its major events once the policy is established.

The ESL said it has long banned players from using drugs or alcohol at its events, like many other organizations, but that it will be the first to test its cyber athletes.

"The growing visibility and popularity of eSports, as well as increasing prize pools make it not only more tempting for teams and players to break the rules, but also more damaging to our sport as a whole when they do," the ESL said in a statement.

"ESL has an ongoing commitment to safeguarding the integrity of our competitions and providing a fair playground for professional players," it said.

Earlier this month, Kory Friesen, who now plays Counter-Strike for the team Nihilum Gaming, spoke about his performance with a former team at a recent $250,000 tournament.

In a video interview with another gamer, Friesen said the "hectic" nature of their communications had been due to his entire five-man team taking the amphetamine, Adderall.

"The ESL comms were kind of funny ... I don't even care, we were all on Adderall," he said with a laugh. "Tons of people do it."

The ESL is the world's largest gaming organization, with more than 5 million registered league participants, according to its website. It hosts tournaments for many of competitive gaming's top titles.

Among the games ESL holds events for is the multiplayer online battle arena title Dota 2. A Dota 2 tournament in August, in which the ESL is not involved, has a prize pool of more than $17 million.

(Editing by Daniel Wallis and Mohammad Zargham)

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If you watch the trailer for the new Adam Sandler comedy “Pixels,” you'll find the usual antics from the funny man and eye popping 8-bit graphics developed from the backing of a major movie studio.

But what’s more remarkable is the short film that inspired it.

French filmmaker/artist Patrick Jean created the two-and-a-half minute short, also titled “Pixels,” five years ago for $5,000. In it, the classic arcade games of the 1980s travel to New York City and begin to devour it into 8-bit blocks.

The short became an instant sensation on the web, getting over a million views in its first 24 hours online, according to Jean’s website. And, as Jean told Business Insider, within two weeks he began hearing from movie studios about making it into a feature-length film that he’d direct.
 “I came up with the idea of what the feature film became,” said Jean in a phone conversation from L.A. “I pitched it to about five companies that really wanted it and we ended up going with Adam Sandler and Sony.”

For the next four years, Jean went from directing a modest-budgeted movie about ex-gamers trying to save the world from its destruction by classic video game characters, to stepping aside as major players in Hollywood took it over.

He said he’s grateful for what has happened, but he has some critiques about the finished product.

According to Jean, he sold the film rights for $1 million. He was to direct the film with Sandler producing it and perhaps star. Jean teamed with a screenwriter hired by Sandler’s Happy Madison production company to write the script, which he said went through many drafts over a few years.

But when the script got to a point when the project got a green light, the budget increased, which led to Jean’s exit as director.

“They asked me to come up with a list of directors [to make the movie] and we got Chris Columbus,” said Jean.

Columbus is known for the fantastical films he wrote in the 1980s ("Gremlins" and "The Goonies") and the classics he went on to direct ("Home Alone,""Mrs Doubtfire," and the first two "Harry Potter" movies).

Jean became an executive producer on the film and made an arrangement with Sony that he would shadow Columbus on set.

“It wasn’t easy because it was my baby at one point,” said Jean of having to relinquish the director reigns. “But I still wanted to be attached to the project, so I learned to watch and not interfere with what Chris wanted.”

When asked what he thinks about the film, Jean doesn’t give the usual Hollywood spin.

“I think the movie is not perfect, but I like it,” he said. “I feel the second half of the movie could have been better. But I know they had budget issues, they had to cut some stuff.”

One bit in particular is a scene at the end where the heroes (played by Sandler, Kevin James, Josh Gad, and Peter Dinklage) meet their younger selves (who we meet in the beginning of the movie) while battling the mothership that’s releasing the video game characters onto Earth.

“They did shoot it,” said Jean. “But sadly it didn’t make it in the film.”

Overall, Jean said he loves the humor of the film, and the visual effects. “It’s a light action comedy movie and that’s what we wanted to do in the first place,” he said.

But he’s now ready to direct one of his projects.

He says he’s shooting a live-action film for a French company next summer and is in talks with Sony to direct an animated feature.

“Pixels” opens in theaters on Friday.

Watch Jean’s “Pixels” short below:

SEE ALSO: Here's when you'll be able to see Adam Sandler's first original Netflix movie

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Peter Dinklage is a Donkey Kong champ in new 'Pixels' trailer

While Chinese gamers have been able to buy grey market Playstations and Xboxes for years, and official ones since 2014, firms can now finally make and sell their products anywhere in China, after the remaining restrictions of a 14-year console ban were lifted.

The move comes as two of the world's most popular gaming consoles, Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's Playstation 4, have struggled to gain market share in PC and mobile-gaming obsessed China.

The sale of consoles was banned in 2000 by the Chinese government amid fears games could have "adverse effects" on Chinese youth. However, this ban was largely ineffectual, with imported grey market consoles being sold openly in many Chinese cities.

In January 2014, the ban was effectively lifted when the Ministry of Culture decreed that foreign firms could manufacture consoles in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone and submit their products to inspection by relevant departments.

Microsoft entered the market in September 2014, with Sony following in March this year, both basing their operations in the Shanghai FTZ.

The latest move by the regulators means console makers can manufacture anywhere in China.

However, it is unclear whether the move will have a significant impact on console sales, which have been sluggish despite availability.

Legal sales of the Xbox One and PS4 are expected reach less than a combined 550,000 units in 2015, according to a report by Niko Partners, a research firm focused on the Asian games market.

The poor sales figures may be explained by the long availability of grey market consoles, limited range of games and the high price of purchasing through legal channels.

Console makers eyeing the Chinese market are also competing with a growing array of gaming platforms, including the dominance of PC gaming, the exploding popularity of mobile and the rise of smart TVs.

According to Newzoo BV, a research firm focusing on gaming markets, China is the largest games market in the world, with expected revenues of US$22.2 billion in 2015, a 23 per cent year-on-year increase.

PC gaming dominates the Chinese market, claiming 68 per cent (US$15.2 billion); mobile gaming is next biggest at 19 per cent (US$4.1 billion), but is rising on the ranks, having grown 50 per cent year-on-year.

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Look at that GIF. That's from a Nintendo ad.

Video game advertising went bananas in the late 20th Century. (Much more on that here.) But this ad raises a number of questions about artistic intent, commercial goals, and the fever dreams of Nintendo executives. 

Why is Mario's head in a vice? (Apparently so Sega and Sony cronies could press a Nintendo parachutist into revealing details of an upcoming "Star Fox" title.) Why does a Nintendo parachutist have this information? Why did Nintendo hire a parachutist? Do Sony and Sega cronies wear their branded t-shirts on real-life torture-based corporate espionage missions?

See the ad – or "Nintendo Power feature presentation"– for yourself: 

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NOW WATCH: Here's what we know about the new 'Earth' — a planet that could support life

This new game from LEGO takes advantage of the toy company's broad multiverse (and a universe-hopping baddie) to bring a whole range of characters and places together in a single game.

The game also features "toys-to-life" figures that, when placed on a "portal" (read: microchip detector), enter the game world. LEGO is far from the first to introduce this feature to a game, but they promise to make theirs highly customizable. With the company's penchant for creative construction, and huge potential for expansion packs, it will be interesting to see how far this new feature goes.

It comes out September 27, 2015.

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I'll admit it: When mobile game developer Rovio announced their fifteenth "Angry Birds" title would be an official sequel, I rolled my eyes. But this trailer, with its brief, soaring squack-chestral soundtrack and teased new moves, leaves me wanting more. We'll see if that remains the case after the first five minutes playing the game on the subway when it launches on July 30.

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The video game industry isn't exactly known for subtelty. These days, the biggest companies have ballooned to the point where they have outside marketers and HR folks to keep the most malicious nonsense in check. In the 1980s and '90s, though, console makers Nintendo and Sega were fighting a war for dominance of the American and Japanese markets. Sony, used to selling electronics overseas, often came across as the adult in the playroom. But even Sony produced some zany marketing.

Tech-corp camp, goofiness, and the constant subtext that all video game players are immature teenage boys overflowed from the strange ad spots of the era. The result was a sometimes amazing, sometimes sad, and sometimes downright weird melange of the collective game developer id.

Nintendo tried to sell the Game Boy Pocket with a six-tongued wall of flesh.

Imagine flipping through a magazine in 1996. On one page you read a review of "The English Patient" (and decide to see "Independence Day" instead). On another, you skim an article about newly divorced Princess Diana. Then – without warning – Nintendo throws this horrible spread in your face. What is this beast with five lurid tongues spilling like "Alien" chestbursters from its wall of beige flesh? Why has it been licking portable video game consoles? Why does its saliva have such powerful paint-stripping power? Will anything ever be okay again?

While its menacing TV commercials lured fans into buying Nintendo games.

So you put down the magazine and flip on the television, but Nintendo follows you across media. This ad, with its threatening script, paleo-CGI characters, and rasping digital voices wouldn't have made me feel any better about the company.

In fact, it seems to operate under the premise that video game companies should present themselves to customers as horrible enemies to overcome. Text cannot convey the full creepiness of the (alligator? dinosaur?) creature intoning "You ... cannot ... beat ... us." over and over in front of a cathode-ray television flashing with video games, so you'll just have to watch it for yourself:Youtube Embed:
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Would you want to play Nintendo games after watching this? I think I'd be hiding under the bed with a nice book.

Sony, meanwhile, brilliantly subverted American xenophobia for its own advertisements.

Nintendo didn't have a lock on the bizarre video game ads market, nor were all bizarre ads terrible. In 1995, after a decade of Americans fearing a "corporate Japanese takeover," Japanese electronics firm Sony ran this commercial to push its fledgling PlayStation.

The ad played on and gently satirized American fears of invading Japanese businessmen, but was goofy enough to be funny without that subtext.

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Its message (delivered by a man in a business suit speaking Japanese) is summed up early on:

"Do you suppose a smart company like Sony would invest millions of dollars in the PlayStation, only to launch it with a bunch of games that suck?"

The man has a point. And you know he's an authority, because he tells you this:

RAW Embed

The genius of this commercial is that it operates on three levels. If your boogeyman really is a Japanese man in a suit, seeing this guy make a fool of himself might undercut your fears (and make you more comfortable buying a Japanese product). If you are just an interested fan worried the PlayStation won't have any good games, it allays those fears as well. And it does all that while serving as a wink and a nod across a linguistic, cultural, and possibly racial boundary.

"Real Japanese guy" immitates silly '90s-era American idioms:

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Then tries (and fails) at some martial arts:

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And, just for kicks, he shows off his racing skills:

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 You can watch the full video below:

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NOW WATCH: This drummer created a whole song by only using the sound of coins

Minecraft wasn't always the enormous franchise that it has become. It has slowly been building popularity since it's creator, Markus Persson, released the game in 2009. So, what is it about this independently created game that made it endure over time?  

Produced by Corey Protin

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SEE ALSO: It looks like Lego is creating a 'Minecraft' competitor called 'Lego Worlds'

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The hype is real.

I just tried HTC's virtual reality headset Vive, and I'm certain we're on the precipice of a major change in computing. This is going to change the world as we know it. Really.

The HTC Vive was born out of a partnership with Valve, one of the most important gaming companies in the industry: Valve runs the Steam store, which is the biggest distribution platform for online games, and the company is also famous for making several critically-acclaimed games, including the "Half-Life" series. HTC, of course, makes consumer technology products, including the gorgeous HTC One smartphone line.

So when Valve and HTC introduced the Vive at Mobile World Congress in early March, the response wasn't just "good." It was overwhelmingly positive. Just look at these headlines from around the web at the time:

Having just experienced the HTC Vive first-hand, I can tell you that the device truly lives up to its expectations, and then some. And this was just an early version of the headset. The final version launches later this year.

Here's a quick rundown of what I experienced:

• I'm ushered into a hotel room in Manhattan to test out the Vive. The windows are covered with a dark shade and all of the reflective surfaces were covered, too.
• J.B. McRee, HTC's senior manager of product marketing, explains that the final consumer version of the HTC Vive won't require you to turn the lights off or cover all your reflective surfaces; they simply did this to ensure a stable VR experience for all the demos throughout the day.
• I don the Vive headset and McRee throws some headphones over my ears. I'm suddenly standing in a white room with a ring of applications for games and demos floating around me.
• McRee holds two symmetrical controllers, and I can see them in my white environment, just floating in the air. I instinctively grab them, and I can hold them now. The two symmetrical hand controllers are now wireless (they were wired when the Vive was introduced in March). Both controllers have small touch-sensitive pads, and triggers on the back.

• The demo starts, and I'm suddenly standing on an underwater shipwreck on the ocean floor. Fish are swimming around me, and I see the shadow of a manta ray cross the boat. I look up and see a small school of manta rays swim by. I turn around again and see a giant blue whale approach the ship and slow down, just to greet me. We have a small staring contest. I'm pretty sure I win because the whale swims away.
• The next demo begins. Suddenly, I'm in a colorful Italian kitchen. I see a cutting board, a rolling pin, a full stove, and tons of ingredients in front of me: mushrooms, tomatoes, sriracha, and more. In the background, I see instructions to make some kind of tomato stew. So I use the trigger on my hand controllers to grab the ingredients and throw them in the pot. I'm dropping some supplies occasionally, but all in good fun. I need one more mushroom, so I open the fridge and get one. Turning around in that tiny kitchen made me feel like I was actually a chef in a restaurant, not just playing a game.
• Next, I try a painting application. The environment actually looks like our hotel room, but very dark, so as to highlight the activity. A flower appears in front of me and I start using my hand controllers to paint: The right controller is my brush, and the left controller is my palette. I use the "brush" to point to the color I want on the palette, and begin painting. I draw a bunch of squiggly circles, but then I look around my drawing only to realize it's in 3D, not 2D. What looked like a simple 2D ball now actually looks like a spiral strand of DNA. I've never painted in 3D before, so this felt like an entirely novel experience.
• Finally, I'm dropped into a familiar setting: The scientific testing grounds of Aperture Labs, home to Valve's "Portal" series, one of my favorite games. I walk around a small white and beige room, which looks like an office for a scientist or tinkerer. I'm asked to flip switches, open drawers, and fix a broken down robot. At one point, the walls of the room fall away and I'm standing in the center of a giant factory. It was awe-inspiring.

Following my demo, I had a chance to sit down with Jeff Gattis, HTC's executive director for marketing and emerging devices. I had tons of questions about my experience, and how HTC and Valve hope to get this product into people's homes. Here's a brief synopsis of what I learned:

• HTC and Valve are aiming to release the Vive before year's end. That said, it's not certain if only pre-orders will be available by that time, or if the companies intend to ship the first batch of products out to customers before the start of 2016. We will learn more in October at an HTC event, apparently.
• As McRee previously told me, lights and reflective surfaces won't be much of an issue for the final consumer release. HTC and Valve are taking into account that most people's living rooms also have tables and counters, as well as televisions, so they're building in smart ways for Vive users to navigate those spaces safely without bumping into furniture, or even stepping on a cat.
• Vive content (games, demos, and more) will be available through the Valve VR store, but considering many developers for Facebook-owned Oculus Rift will also want to build applications for the HTC Vive, it's likely there will be other ways to download virtual reality content.
• Many brands have reached out to HTC to start building applications for Vive. All the big car companies, including Mercedes, want to use the Vive to create immersive virtual reality experiences for their customers, but plenty of other huge companies, like Nike and Coca-Cola, are also getting involved early.
• HTC and Valve will soon announce the PC requirements for the Vive, but both companies want to offer this experience to as many people as possible. So as HTC and Valve work on lessening the requirements for Vive to work — it's mainly about having a capable graphics processor — Gattis insists Vive will work on Windows PC, Linux, and Mac.

The biggest takeaway from my talk with Gattis, however, was that Vive's potential is almost limitless.

Virtual reality experiences, or the ability to transport a person to any place at any time to experience anything you could dream of, have tons of applications in almost every major industry you can think of.

Education

Kids love visuals, and with virtual reality, you can take them on a field trip without ever leaving the classroom. You can also teach them things like animals, biology, and history, just by taking them to those places in virtual settings.

Entertainment

Games are a popular application for virtual reality, but imagine being able to sit courtside at a Los Angeles Lakers game without needing to visit the Staples Center. Imagine being able to watch a live concert, in perfect 3D, without needing to stand in a mob of people. 

Medicine 

Doctors, researchers, and patients can learn more about the human body, particularly with regards to conditions and treatments, to improve internal practices and patient care. Plus, spending time in virtual reality I imagine is extremely therapeutic; for a period of time, you forget you're in the real world, and that immersion is helpful as a means of distraction.

Retail 

Shopping online isn't always easy, but trying on virtual clothes, or being able to see and manipulate a product in the virtual world could be a helpful tool for making purchase decisions.

Military

Simulation is an important part of training, and military groups have long used virtual reality for things like flight and vehicle simulation, as well as battlefield training. As these tools improve, our soldiers will be better prepared for what's out there, and they won't need to spend money on using expensive physical tools to do so.

Engineering 

As Microsoft showed off in its HoloLens demo, being able to create and manipulate 3D objects in real-time — and potentially even print out those 3D objects from a nearby printer — could have massive implications for the maker community. With fewer barriers to creation, more people can design and construct systems large and small — it could even help engineers create houses, or new forms of transportation.

Social experiences

Right now, the Vive is more or less a solo experience. But Gattis said HTC is certainly looking into making the virtual reality experience a social one, where you can meet and chat with people in a virtual environment, even if those people are on the other side of the globe. Some companies have even created these kinds of applications: A company called AltspaceVR, for instance, once showed me how multiple people's avatars could interact with each other in real-time, exploring virtual spaces or even just watching YouTube videos together.

Many of these virtual experiences are in development right now, but after my brief 30-minute demo with HTC, I'm convinced of VR's limitless potential. It's immersive, it's functional, it's intuitive, and it's addictive. Taking off the Vive was, dare I say it, sad. My colleague Antonio Villas-Boas tried the Vive after I did, and his reaction upon taking off the headset summed up the experience perfectly: "Well, thanks for ruining reality for me!"

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NOW WATCH: Thanks to Facebook's virtual reality device, I've been to 'The Matrix' and all I want is to go back

All the cool kids in the Tech Insider office are playing "Rocket League"– even those of us who hate sports games. Here's what Ben Gilbert said of the game's player experience:

I can't stop playing "Rocket League." I was up until midnight last night – well past my bedtime – passing a PlayStation 4 gamepad back and forth with my wife, yelling and laughing and experiencing great joy.

That's not to mention how much the internet has blown up over this game:

Now the game's developers have released a trailer announcing both a free update (including new content and a "Spectator Mode"). A $3.99 downloadable expansion adds cars and trophies to the game in August.

The trailer soundtrack is pretty fresh as well.

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Oculus may be in big trouble thanks to the HTC Vive. First seen at Mobile World Congress in March, the world has stood up and taken notice of the Vive. Created in partnership between HTC and Valve, this system uses a combination of a VR headset and laser guidance that allows the participant to have a truly interactive experience. So we sent two reporters to experience Vive and they are convinced that the world will never be the same again.

Produced by Darren Weaver

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Last week Tech Insider spoke with video game music aficionado Emily Reese. She loves video games, loves music, and loves to talk about the new and unlikely creativity that emerges when the two art forms meet. That intersection is the subject of her show "Top Score," a Minnesota Public Radio program that focuses on video game music. Really!

We asked Reese to send over a list of her favorite game soundtracks, and the results are absolutely overflowing with good ideas.

"There are so many more but I feel like this is getting out of control!" she wrote, "TOO MANY AMAZING SOUNDTRACKS!!!"

Collected here is a selection from that list. These scores broke technical or creative boundaries, and added depth to games – some of which weren't so great otherwise. Nearly all the soundtracks are available on SoundCloud, iTunes, or Bandcamp. Because each one was crafted for a particular mood and activity, we've included some suggestions as to how you might bring them into your own life.

If after reading this you want to learn more about the craft of video game scoring, you can visit the "Top Score" show page here.

The 1986 "Metroid" soundtrack was a brooding rebellion against arcade-pop.

When "Metroid" came out, game design was something very different than it was today, and soundtrack designers had to be hardware technicians as much as musicians. Composer Hirokazu Tanaka studied electrical engineering in college before joining Nintendo.

In a 2002 interview with "Gamasutra," he described writing individual 1s and 0s onto a chip. The soundtracks of that era had to take up about as much memory space as these few paragraphs of text. Where other composers used that technology to generate catchy tunes for the arcade, Tanaka had other interests:

I had a concept that the music for Metroid should be created not as game music, but as music the players feel as if they were encountering a living creature. I wanted to create the sound without any distinctions between music and sound effects ...the melody inMetroids only used at the ending after you killed the Mother Brain. That's because I wanted only a winner to have a catharsis at the maximum level. For the reason, I decided that melodies would be eliminated during the gameplay. By melody here I mean something that someone can sing or hum.

In other words, Tanaka crafted a reponsive, mood-setting soundtrack that behaved more like a movie score. That legacy persists in many of today's best games.

Listen to the soundtrack in the video below:Youtube Embed:
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Also good for: laser tag; retro bowling.

"Super Mario Land" had a trippy, glitchy soundtrack to match its oddball gameplay.

"Super Mario Land" was an early GameBoy release that broke the mold of the Mario franchise. Notable for its distinct style and artwork – as well as the strategic innovations necessary to scale NES gameplay to the (then) new, handheld world – it featured another Tanaka sound creation. Its melody is warm and inviting, looping without feeling repetitive. And the glitchy, syncopated beat has a deliberately incomplete feeling that propels you forward through the game looking for resolution. These elements combine to produce the sort of music you might actually want to listen to on a tiny, lo-fi paleo-mobile device.Youtube Embed:
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Also good for: a cheerful Saturday morning stroll; a video of your dog playing on a beach.

"Kirby's Dreamland" played a fun, relentlessly upbeat march.

"Kirby" is, in many ways, "Mario"-lite. Both are "platforming" games that have players move from left to right across a screen, jumping and dodging to avoid obstacles. But where "Mario" follows a mustachioed plummer through increasingly difficult stages into some hardcore gaming, "Kirby" features an adorable puffy bubble's much less frustrating quest. The series keeps things cute, friendly, and simple enough not to get frustrating.

Masahiro Sakurai, who went on to create "Super Smash Bros," created "Kirby's Dreamland" in 1992 for the GameBoy console. The first game in the series, it featured a peppy, fun soundtrack by Jun Ishikawa to match its cheerful disposition.

Youtube Embed:
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Also good for: skipping across a field with your toddler; celebrating your promotion within a candy company.

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We, as a society, remain on the cusp of virtual reality. It's coming...soon! More accurately, it's already here.

You can buy a VR headset from Samsung today at Best Buy if you want. And it's pretty great!

What's still coming is much, much better virtual reality, care of companies like Sony, Facebook and HTC. In the above video, we explore Sony's solution for the PlayStation 4 – the Project Morpheus headset, which arrives at retail in the first half of 2016 – with the headset's chief architect Richard Marks. 

(And no, he's not the same Richard Marks who sings "Right Here Waiting." Different guy.)

Report by Ben Gilbert. Video by Corey Protin.

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What comes to mind when you talk about '90s gaming? The relentless rumble of a Playstation controller clutched in your hands as you blasted Sweet Tooth in "Twisted Metal"? Yelps and shouts from the back seat of your parents' car as you splatted Goombas on your GameBoy Color? The madcap ad campaigns of the Sega vs. Nintendo console wars?

These images of home video games at the end of the last century stick because they directly produced today's game culture. We still play games on consoles, and many of those series persist today. But there was a whole other, more grown-up gaming world flourishing at that same time in neon-lit, tootling arcades. Midway Games, creators of classics like "Mortal Kombat" and "NBA Jam," dominated that industry – and now their history will be recorded for the first time in a documentary: "Insert Coin" by former Midway developer Josh Tsui.

Partially filmed but still awaiting funding on Kickstarter, Tsui's "Insert Coin" documents an era when game companies operated like anarcho-capitalist arts fraternities. Midway was an extreme example.

"It was a bit like walking into a tent city," he tells Tech Insider. The video games division of the company was squashed into a corner of a building set up to build mechanical arcade machines. "I can't imagine HR letting things go the way they did at a company today."

Midway churned out short hits built to compete for player's attention – and quarters– in dark, loud, bustling arcades.

Designers largely had free reign over their creations, Tsui says, and often followed absurd ideas from inception to release. The GIF at the top of this article comes from "Revolution X," a 1994 shooter featuring Aerosmith. Here's how Midway pitched the band on the idea:

No PR agents. No go-betweens. Just a video letter with all the unnecessary special effects of a 3AM cable ad for dish cleaner ... to one of the biggest rock bands in the world.

And the thing is, it worked. This for the same reason celebrities and sports franchises hitched their brand to Midway: they were raking in the cash.

Tsui says that each unit Midway made sold to an arcade for a few thousand dollars, and their most popular hits raked in tens of thousands of orders. Smash hit "NBA Jam" made a billion dollars alone in its first year.

Developers got a cut of that action too. "[Those bonuses] could definitely get into the six figures," he said.

For all the cash involved though, Midway hung on to its back-of-the-envelope approach to design. Here's a couple of developers trying out tricks to animate:

Tsui says he's the perfect person to tell Midway's history – including visits from Macaulay Culkin, pro wrestlers, and playboy playmates – because he lived it for six years in the '90s. Of course, he showed up as a character model in several games:

If "Insert Coin" gets funded, it could be the most important record of an era in gaming that has almost entirely passed us by. The arcade has moved from the center of the video game universe to the novelty fringe. For Tsui, who now works on console and PC franchises like "Tony Hawk," the documentary is a return to his origins. And for younger game fans, it's a chance for reflected nostalgia about something they might not have even realized was gone. 

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This new behind-the-scenes trailer for "Guitar Hero Live," coming October 20th, reveals online play, an on-demand, constantly-updated song database, and singing gameplay. The game also introduces first-person, live-action visuals and a more developed controller. This seem like the end-all be-all of "Guitar Hero" games – unless, that is, you play them for the story.

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"The game industry is like any other entertainment industry, it's a hit-driven business" Shuhei Yoshida says. He's the president of Sony Computer Entertainment's World Wide Studio, which a long title for saying he's responsible for all the games coming out of PlayStation. 

But, what does being a "hit-driven business" even mean. Essentially, it means that the success of a few blockbuster titles will fund its entire content lineup. 

Produced by Corey Protin

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