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talkpoliticsThis is my personal favorite of all conspiracy theories/urban legends, because it strikes at the very heart of my second-favorite childhood pastime (after reading), patronizing video game arcades!
So, the story goes like this: back in 1981 in the Portland, Oregon area, a certain new video game appeared at several local video arcades, by the name of Polybius. Alleged to be a vector graphics 3-D shooter/puzzle game similar to the mildly successful Atari game Tempest, Polybius proved to be extremely popular. It became so popular, in fact, and proved so addictive, that soon long lines were to be found at any arcade that offered the game, and occasional fights were reported among patrons impatiently waiting to play. People couldn't get enough...it was like they physically couldn't stop playing.
Shortly thereafter, addicted players of the game began to exhibit various physical and psychological symptoms, including amnesia, insomnia, migraines, seizures, motion sickness, nightmares, depression, and night terrors; there were even reports that some players ended up committing suicide. Other players were reported to have suddenly stopped playing the game, and subsequently giving up playing video games altogether.
At periodic intervals, "men in black" were reported to have been seen entering the video arcades at off hours and removing data recording devices from the Polybius machines. After a few months, the games disappeared from arcades. As the tale goes, far from being some innocent game, Polybius was in fact a secret U.S. Government experiment, designed to induce physiological changes in players through audiovisual stimuli and then record the results.
BUT, is there any truth to this, or is this just another one of those crazy urban legends? Is there any actual evidence? There is one grainy black and white image, provenance uncertain, purported to be of an original Polybius cabinet.
THE FACE OF EVIL? The alleged Polybius cabinet.
There is another image, provenance uncertain, of what appears to the game's title screen.
INSERT SOUL
A few years back, some jokers on the 'Net made a ROM that was supposedly a genuine copy of Polybius, complete with headache-inducing graphics; this later turned out to be a hoax.
Meh. Missile Command was better.
And that's it; no direct evidence has been found that proves the game actually existed. Oh, yeah, there are names thrown around, of particular Portland arcades where it supposedly was played, such as the Blue Diamond, which later became a bar, but nobody there remembers any such game. There are the anecdotal stores of the friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend variety about knowing someone who played it and ended up getting sick, but no records of such incidents can be found. Apart from those two photos and a lot of word of mouth, there's nothing.
Now, some say, of course no corroborated evidence exists! The government was carrying out secret experiments on American teenagers, hidden in plain sight, and of course the government would cover up all evidence of the game's very existence!
What do you think?
I think that if it was on The Simpsons it pretty much has to be true...right?
So, the story goes like this: back in 1981 in the Portland, Oregon area, a certain new video game appeared at several local video arcades, by the name of Polybius. Alleged to be a vector graphics 3-D shooter/puzzle game similar to the mildly successful Atari game Tempest, Polybius proved to be extremely popular. It became so popular, in fact, and proved so addictive, that soon long lines were to be found at any arcade that offered the game, and occasional fights were reported among patrons impatiently waiting to play. People couldn't get enough...it was like they physically couldn't stop playing.
Shortly thereafter, addicted players of the game began to exhibit various physical and psychological symptoms, including amnesia, insomnia, migraines, seizures, motion sickness, nightmares, depression, and night terrors; there were even reports that some players ended up committing suicide. Other players were reported to have suddenly stopped playing the game, and subsequently giving up playing video games altogether.
At periodic intervals, "men in black" were reported to have been seen entering the video arcades at off hours and removing data recording devices from the Polybius machines. After a few months, the games disappeared from arcades. As the tale goes, far from being some innocent game, Polybius was in fact a secret U.S. Government experiment, designed to induce physiological changes in players through audiovisual stimuli and then record the results.
BUT, is there any truth to this, or is this just another one of those crazy urban legends? Is there any actual evidence? There is one grainy black and white image, provenance uncertain, purported to be of an original Polybius cabinet.
THE FACE OF EVIL? The alleged Polybius cabinet.
There is another image, provenance uncertain, of what appears to the game's title screen.
INSERT SOUL
A few years back, some jokers on the 'Net made a ROM that was supposedly a genuine copy of Polybius, complete with headache-inducing graphics; this later turned out to be a hoax.
Meh. Missile Command was better.
And that's it; no direct evidence has been found that proves the game actually existed. Oh, yeah, there are names thrown around, of particular Portland arcades where it supposedly was played, such as the Blue Diamond, which later became a bar, but nobody there remembers any such game. There are the anecdotal stores of the friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend variety about knowing someone who played it and ended up getting sick, but no records of such incidents can be found. Apart from those two photos and a lot of word of mouth, there's nothing.
Now, some say, of course no corroborated evidence exists! The government was carrying out secret experiments on American teenagers, hidden in plain sight, and of course the government would cover up all evidence of the game's very existence!
What do you think?
I think that if it was on The Simpsons it pretty much has to be true...right?
(no subject)
Date: 16/11/11 05:43 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 16/11/11 05:49 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 16/11/11 08:06 (UTC)Absolutely...
(no subject)
Date: 16/11/11 09:09 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 16/11/11 11:29 (UTC)There's tons of Polybius videos on YouTube. This one (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtT8UWTBy9I&feature=related) seems to make the most sense when compared to descriptions of game play, but I doubt it's the real deal (if the game actual existed).
The subliminal messages are almost reminiscent of those in the movie They Live.
(no subject)
Date: 16/11/11 13:28 (UTC)