There’s something strange going on at Eyebeam in New York City. The sights and sounds inside are typical for a club setting on a Saturday night: flashing lights, pulsing electronic music, and a crowd of hundreds of dancers. But a glance at the stage would reveal that there is something quite different about this scene. The DJ isn’t spinning records or mixing CDs, he’s holding a GameBoy — an original, green-screen, gray-brick Nintendo GameBoy from 1989. But he isn’t unwinding with a game of Tetris or Pokemon on this busy night — he’s providing the music. In fact, the GameBoy in his hands is the very source of the music the crowd is dancing to. His name is Josh Davis, but most folks know him as Bit Shifter - and tonight is the third night of Blipfest 2007.

You can get people do some pretty strange things when it comes to playing games. I can’t imagine anyone who would consider tagging images to be “fun” — even when tagging my own images for personal use, it gets boring rather quickly. Yet, when placed within the context of a game, suddenly, these boring chores become fun. You almost have to wonder, what other kinds of things can you get someone to do in the name of fun and entertainment?