‘Holy Grail of Hacks’: MIT Hacker Turns Building Into an Interactive Game of Tetris
- Posted on April 25, 2012 at 12:07pm by
Erica Ritz
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In what is being termed the holy grail of hacks by the technically-inclined at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one individual flagrantly transformed the campus “Green” building into a giant game of Tetris.
As Game Revolution reported, “Sometimes going to one of the best technical schools in the world just isn’t enough. Sometimes you just have to prove to everyone out there that you really are a technical genius. And that’s just what one student did…”
Watch as the yet-unnamed individual relives everyone’s youth:
YouTube commenters are uncharacteristically upset that the potential genius didn’t think of “clearing” the rows, as players can do in the conventional arcade game. Rather, the pieces on the building continue piling higher and higher.
“Dude hacks into an electric system and he’s incapable of clearing a row… #EPICFAIL,” one said, but another simply responded, “Ohhh… You all geniuses in here! Jealous, are we? Oh there, there..”
According to CNET, the hacker used a joystick to control the 153 LED lights on the 21-story building housing MIT’s Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Science. It may also surprise you to learn this isn’t the first time the “Green Building” has been hacked, thanks to its visibility as the tallest building in Cambridge, Mass. Check out a full list of other hacks on the building here.
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jn3t
Posted on April 26, 2012 at 7:35pmThe term hack technically refers to getting something, whether hardware or software, to operate in a way it wasn’t originally intended for. Colloquially, it refers to getting past some sort of security measures. It is certainly an interesting hack, but is unclear if any security measures were bypassed. Either way, interfacing with the building’s light system in this fashion would require somewhat more than just a “basic” knowledge of programming, as a previous poster opined.
Report Post »neoconpunk
Posted on April 26, 2012 at 1:32pmBeing a ‘green’ building it probably has LED lights whereby you can change the color by changing the frequency. I‘m sure there’s a central controller that was easily accessed via the internet. This may amaze lots of reporters but it probably wasn’t that difficult.
Report Post »goodinohio
Posted on April 26, 2012 at 1:25pmOMG! Save us CISPA! ugh
Report Post »mcmeador
Posted on April 26, 2012 at 8:20amI like how he avoided completing any lines because he wasn’t quite smart enough to figure out how to handle the effects of that.
Report Post »mdeputy7
Posted on April 26, 2012 at 9:19amDon’t be stupid. If you watch through it, he DOES complete lines. I hate when people look for the bad in an otherwise impressive show of talent. Does it make you feel better to downplay what he did here?
Report Post »mcmeador
Posted on April 30, 2012 at 6:57pmYou’re right. Don’t be so touchy, though. I wasn’t really insulting the guy. I was just joking.
Report Post »grannyrecipe
Posted on April 26, 2012 at 6:27amI don’t understand the claim that he did this through hacking as if this building already has multiple colored lights in each room. No2. Is there a central control unit whereby you can turn any light in any room on and off? What I think he did was placed remotely controlled light banks in each window…with permission.
Report Post »MAMMY_NUNN
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 10:24pmFunny thing about technology there‘s always someone who’s better.
Report Post »ItsNotThatDifficult
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 9:40pmNice hack, but he’s terrible at Tetris. :-)
Report Post »Keep Your Skepticals On
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 7:38pmHacking into the system to make use of the grid of colored lights – cool.
Not clearing any rows – fail.
Imagine breaking the story of the century only to publish it full of plot holes and spelling errors. It only detracts from the real achievement when you blow it on the really easy stuff.
Report Post »Gumbercules
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 7:09pmGenius?! For being such a genius, he sure is a crappy tetris player.
Report Post »drphil69
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 6:35pmVery cool!
““Dude hacks into an electric system and he’s incapable of clearing a row…”
Far as I can see there were no complete rows. Epicfail by the critic…
Report Post »American Soldier (Separated)
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 7:14pmThat‘s what they’re talking about. They weren’t talking about his incapability of programming a row from disappearing but that with all his hacking genius, he did get a row lit up to clear it. However, from the looks of it, he wasn’t trying to.
Report Post »Smoovious
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 7:40pmactually, in his defense… he did actually clear 1 row near the end… .. .
. .. …just sayin’… .. .
Report Post »Its Gonna Getcha
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 5:44pmAwesome, congrates to the hacker!
Report Post »jhaydeng
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 5:53pmCool! In a creepy, hope he’s one of my ,kind of way?
Report Post »MammalOne
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 5:04pmlooks like fun.
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 4:56pmROFL :) Do something to the WH!
Report Post »Ialmostforgot
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 4:22pmwhat a boring game.
Report Post »4xeverything
Posted on April 26, 2012 at 7:42pmBlasphemer!!!
Report Post »kevinj319
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 4:20pmAnyone with basic programming knowledge could set this up. And probably do a better job, by actually making it playable.
Report Post »American Soldier (Separated)
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 7:17pmMaybe with permission. The challenge, is doing it without authorization.
Report Post »elosogrande
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 4:09pmHe’s right – he’s a genius. If what he did cost the University or the Taxpayers money, it’s only right that the genius picks up the tab…or goes to jail.
Report Post »HuskerDave
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 3:32pmFAIL. You don’t create a building with colored LEDs unless you WANT it hacked for games. Colored LEDs are not suitable for workspace lighting. It‘s a publicity stunt by MIT to show how smart we’re supposed to think they are.
Report Post »HerbieHuskerFan
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 4:15pmA little too convient..
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