Octopad (2018)
by Patrick LeMieux


TAG LINES
*An eight-player controller for the Nintendo Entertainment System!
*Transforms single-player games into cooperative puzzles and multiplayer parties!
*Tetris as a team sport!


DESCRIPTION
Instead of one controller with eight buttons, what if there were eight controllers with one button each? Instead of a single-player experience, what if Tetris was a team sport? The Octopad is an alternative interface for the Nintendo Entertainment System that transforms classic titles like Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, and Tetris (or Yo! Noid, Gremlins 2, and Hatris) into cooperative puzzles and multiplayer parties for 4 to 8 people!

Inspired by the treasure trove of photoshopped interfaces that Richard van Tol and Barrie Ellis posted on the Game Accessibility Forums over ten years ago, the Octopad reimagines a historic platform in the paradigm of one-switch games designed by and for people with limited manual dexterity. Rather than thinking about accessibility as a single-player problem, this controller engages the social, political, and environmental aspects of videogames to change the way we play.


INSTALLATION
The traveling version of the Octopad consists of eight controllers with 6’ long cables attached to a plug n’ play console fashioned to look like a Nintendo Entertainment System. The piece requires a pedestal, a power source, a projector or LCD screen that accepts HDMI, and enough room for 4-8 people to play comfortably together. It can run any NES game in a sustainable loop and crowds have made substantial progress in Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, and Mega Man 2 but Tetris works particularly well! Based on past exhibitions in museums, galleries, bars, and classrooms, the Octopad is very robust and doesn't require supervision (though it occasionally needs to be untangled!)


BIO
Patrick LeMieux is a media artist, game designer, and assistant professor in the Cinema and Digital Media Department at the University of California, Davis. His work engages the material histories and community practices of play in order to investigate and intervene in the embodied experience of digital media from videogames and media art to machine code and finance capital. Recent projects include Metagaming, a co-authored book with Stephanie Boluk (https://manifold.umn.edu/project/metagaming) about the games we play in, on, around, and through videogames, and Platform Games, a solo exhibition at Babycastles (http://babycastles.com/Platform-Games) about the strange ways people play Super Mario Bros. For more information visit http://patrick-lemieux.com.


WEBSITE
http://patrick-lemieux.com/projects/Octopad


TRAILER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmYjpyOToOI, https://vimeo.com/289182327


VIDEOS
GDC2018 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzyoA1Pv2A8, https://vimeo.com/265079676
CMS2018 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_iOEqY3rho, https://vimeo.com/277894686
EGitC2018 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVsbFwncR_M, https://vimeo.com/289181664


LOGO
http://patrick-lemieux.com/projects/Octopad/media/LeMieux-Octopad_Logo.png


IMAGES
http://patrick-lemieux.com/projects/Octopad/media/LeMieux-Octopad_00-Inspiration.jpg
http://patrick-lemieux.com/projects/Octopad/media/LeMieux-Octopad_01-Console.jpg
http://patrick-lemieux.com/projects/Octopad/media/LeMieux-Octopad_02-Controllers.jpg
http://patrick-lemieux.com/projects/Octopad/media/LeMieux-Octopad_03-Closeup.jpg
http://patrick-lemieux.com/projects/Octopad/media/LeMieux-Octopad_04-SAAM5.jpg
http://patrick-lemieux.com/projects/Octopad/media/LeMieux-Octopad_05-GDC2.jpg
http://patrick-lemieux.com/projects/Octopad/media/LeMieux-Octopad_06-DiGRA2.jpg
http://patrick-lemieux.com/projects/Octopad/media/LeMieux-Octopad_07-Denver.jpg
http://patrick-lemieux.com/projects/Octopad/media/LeMieux-Octopad_08-SAAM4.jpg
http://patrick-lemieux.com/projects/Octopad/media/LeMieux-Octopad_09-Berkeley.jpg
http://patrick-lemieux.com/projects/Octopad/media/LeMieux-Octopad_10-DiGRA1.jpg
http://patrick-lemieux.com/projects/Octopad/media/LeMieux-Octopad_11-GDC3.jpg
http://patrick-lemieux.com/projects/Octopad/media/LeMieux-Octopad_12-SAAM3.jpg
http://patrick-lemieux.com/projects/Octopad/media/LeMieux-Octopad_13-Turin2.jpg
http://patrick-lemieux.com/projects/Octopad/media/LeMieux-Octopad_14-GDC1.jpg
http://patrick-lemieux.com/projects/Octopad/media/LeMieux-Octopad_15-Tahoe.jpg
http://patrick-lemieux.com/projects/Octopad/media/LeMieux-Octopad_16-SAAM6.jpg
http://patrick-lemieux.com/projects/Octopad/media/LeMieux-Octopad_17-GDC4.jpg
http://patrick-lemieux.com/projects/Octopad/media/LeMieux-Octopad_18-Turin1.jpg
http://patrick-lemieux.com/projects/Octopad/media/LeMieux-Octopad_19-SAAM7.jpg
http://patrick-lemieux.com/projects/Octopad/media/LeMieux-Octopad_20-Cat.jpg


PROCESS
http://patrick-lemieux.com/projects/Octopad/media/Octopad-Process.zip


TWEETS
https://twitter.com/alt254/status/974341164538019840
https://twitter.com/alt254/status/974544555117723648
https://twitter.com/alt254/status/975411084772352000
https://twitter.com/VamptVo/status/977385312891551744


PRESS
https://americanart.si.edu/blog/eye-level/2018/17/57788/saam-arcade-game-spaces
https://blog.adafruit.com/2018/07/06/it-takes-8-people-to-collaboratively-play-these-octopad-nes-controllers-atsaam-americanart/
https://www.geeky-gadgets.com/8-player-octopad-nes-controller-09-07-2018/
https://gonintendo.com/stories/313040-the-octopad-turns-any-nes-game-into-an-8-player-experience
https://gaminggadgets.de/nes-octopad-acht-spieler-und-ein-retro-game


JURIED EXHIBITIONS
Video Game: Cohabitant in Shenzhen, China (forthcoming December 10-12, 2018)
Different Games 2018 at Worcester Polytechnic (forthcoming October 12-14, 2018)
SAAM Arcade at the Smithsonian American Art Museum 2018
Scholars Lab at University of Virginia 2018
Neural Nets at UC Berkely 2018
Digital Humanities Institute at UC Davis 2018
alt.ctrl.party at GDC 2018
Platform Games at Babycastles 2015 (Demo)


CONTACT
Patrick LeMieux
lemieux@ucdavis.edu
(919)886-8781
@alt254