WTF

Ever thought that video games would be more fun if they inflicted pain on the loser? Thanks to Volker Morawe and Tilman Reiff from the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne, therapy is no longer your only option.

While PainStation is based on Pong, which should need no explanation, the additions certainly do. Players place their left hand on a Pain Execution Unit and their right hand on the controls. Pain Inflictor Symbols are randomly placed on the playing field, and are activated when the ball hits them, inflicting different types of hurt on the player who next misses the ball.

PainStation via Arcade Heroes

The EB Games in your area not doing a midnight launch for Halo 3? Can’t wait until the morning of the 25th to run down to the store and grab your copy? Wipe the froth from the sides of your mouth and calm down, my freaky friend - Wal-Mart is coming through with the goods for you and your kind.

At 12:01am on the 25th, you’ll be able to walk in to just about any Wal-Mart, grab one of the ample stock of Halo 3 copies off the shelf, and go straight to a checkout lane dedicated entirely to people buying Halo 3, for a sickeningly speedy shopping experience.

Sometimes I wonder if the guys who started Bungie ever take a break from swimming in their giant piles of money and think about the sheer scale of what they have created.

Walmart.com via Randomn3ss

Not to be confused with Video Games Day on July 8, today is National Video Games Day, according to a couple of obscure web sites.

Holiday Insights has the following insights, despite having no idea of the origins:

Celebrate National Video Games Day by playing video games. If you are off from school (or if you are a big kid off from work), make this a marathon day for video games. Better still, invite a few friends and hold a competition. Just make certain that you have enough controllers.

Apparently, Holiday Insights posted that from a bizarre alternate reality where kids actually need encouragement to play video games when they are off from school.

via Kotaku