How M&C Saatchi London is Fighting Cancer with VR Gaming

Remember Pong, that 2D, ridiculously simple, highly addictive arcade game that saw you squander away a few thousand hours of childhood? Well, throw in a couple of dual-player virtual reality headsets, a giant out-of-home screen and a crowd of cheering spectators, and you’ve got MindPong!

Adopting the technology behind electroencephalography, M&C Saatchi used hands-free headsets that respond to the brain’s electrical activity, and developed a Pong-style game that allows players to control their ‘paddle’ by concentrating (to move it upwards) and relaxing their mind to bring the paddle back down. It’s all very clever. So clever, that MindPong won third place in Ocean Outdoor’s 2014 digital competition, allowing the agency to commandeer Eat Street’s mammoth live screen at Westfield London for one day only, to demo said paddle-wiggling, brain-training fun for passers-by, raising money and awareness of The Brain Tumour Charity's work.