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  By: dhopkins x Show Full Post

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  True Hollywood Stories: The Pong Ball
  
  This is the story of a pioneer. A trendsetter. A superstar. A has-been. This is the story of the ball. The Pong Ball. We caught up to him at his apartment in West Los Angeles as he struggled to get a face to face with a casting agent for EA.
  
  “Yeah, yeah, I can do that. No problem. Look man, I’ve been in the industry since before your dad had callouses on his thumbs. I know my job and I’m telling you I can do it. I starred in Pong, the first ever arca...no, not bong, Pong! I starred in the most important game in the history of this business and now I can’t even get a callback?”
  
  Ball’s career had started with a bang. (Or better said, a bleep). His debut was in the first ever arcade game, Atari’s Pong. Almost single handledly, he built an entire industry. His picture was on magazines, he was the talk of Hollywood. It was even rumored that he was the cause of the break up of Lee Majors and Farrah Fawcett. Ball ruled the entertainment industry.
  
  “Nah, it wasn’t just me. I had a costar, Paddle. There was no stopping us man. Women, limos, all the quarters we could spend. Together we were like the dynamic duo.”
  
  The team of Ball and Paddle went on to headline hit after hit in the early years of the video arcade. ‘Breakout’ was the title that showed they weren’t just one hit wonders. But after its sequel, ‘Super Breakout’, became a near instant success, cracks started appearing in the friendship.
  
  “We were signed to do Mega Breakout. It would’ve been huge. And you know what they say, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. But no. Paddle wanted to get all artsy. He wanted to ‘expand his horizons’. Next thing I know, he was hanging out with this commie chick and talking about moving to Russia… I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”
  
  The bitterness in Ball’s voice may be because his one time sidekick did in fact head off to the Soviet Bloc. There, Paddle starred in the worldwide phenomenon called Tetris. The two haven’t spoken in years.
  
  But Ball didn’t leave the videogame industry, instead he appeared in many pixel exploitation games in the 80’s. One of those games still manages to effect him.
  
  “I was the real star of Pac Man! That guy was nothing without me. He was running from the ghosts until he ate ME. Only then did the real points start flowing. But all I got was 50 points. 50 lousy points! Even the Cherry got 100!”
  
  After his off screen battles with Pac Man, Ball was all but blacklisted from the videogame industry as being ‘difficult’ and ‘boring’. A few years ago, he did reunite with his old partner, Paddle, as a promotional stunt for the launch of the G4 cable network. They played Pong for 24 hours straight to rave reviews. But the comeback was short lived , and old wounds quickly opened again.
  
  “But at least I’m working. Its not like I’m homeless and broke like the rocks from Asteroids. I cant even get those guys on the phone lately. Talk about losers.”
  
  We didn’t have the heart to tell Ball about the recent release of Asteroids and Asteroids Deluxe on Xbox Live Arcade and Super Stardust HD on the PS3.
  
  “I’m a survivor. The Ball was here when video games began, and I’ll be here when they end. All I need is a shot.”
  
  Ball can currently be seen in SwitchBall for the Xbox 360.
  

  Nov 29, 2007 3:29pm PST
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  True Hollywood Stories: The Pong Ball This is the story of a pioneer. A trendsetter. A superstar. A ha... : dhopkins
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    awesome that tetris spin had me lol'n in my chair at work! : liqker
    • "Its not like I'm homeless and broke like the rocks from Asteroids." :) : mnsnota
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    In Firefox why do I see a funky a the Euro symbol and what looks like an infinity symbol and a registered... : Chod
    • i get that too, in ie6 : Dravenport
  • Fantastic work! : DOOManiac