Mad Genius Brings Flappy Bird Back From the Dead on Dreamcast Memory Card. As Segas Hail Mary pass on hardware, the Dreamcast wasnt exactly the miracle the company prayed for. But the long dead console still has a massive fanbase, as a clever hacker who managed to port the infinitely addictive Flappy Bird to the Dreamcasts interactive memory card recently demonstrated. The VMU, or Visual Memory Unit, was an oversized memory card that plugged into the Dreamcasts controllers to store game data, or serve as a second screen for some games using its built in monochrome LCD display. The VMU also featured basic controls, and could be used as a portable gaming device if you refused to just buy a Game Boy. Download Streaming Divx Movies Strawberry Shortcake: Play Day Surprise on this page. Dmitry Grinbergs hack of the Dreamcast VMU includes developing an ARM chip emulator for the tiny, under powered gaming device, allowing it to run the infamously discontinued mobile game Flappy Birdvery, very slowly. You might assume the game would be much easier running in slow motion, but the controls are equally unresponsive, as this video of Grinberg failing to get past the first obstacle demonstrates. If it were solely up to their creators, both the Dreamcast and Flappy Bird would have likely gone the way of the dinosaurs. But fans, like life, always find a way. You. Tube via Hackaday. The Uncanny Sound Illusion That Creates Suspense in Christopher Nolans Movies. Ever notice how Christopher Nolans movies Interstellar, Inception, The Prestige feel like an anxiety attack Well, maybe thats overstating things a bit. But the director does have a knack for creating an unnerving degree of tension. Turns out hes using a little bit of musical magic to do it. The magic is actually a science based audio illusion called a Shepard tone. Named after psychologist Roger Shepard, a pioneer in our understanding of spatial relation, the effect sounds like an infinitely ascending or descending scale. The tones are constantly moving upwards or downwards, but they never seem to reach a pinnacle or nadir. NDgwWDY0MA==/z/dYIAAOSwy5BZmkOo/$_75.JPG' alt='Psp Ipod Movies Star Wars Episode V 1/2: The Han Solo Affair ' title='Psp Ipod Movies Star Wars Episode V 1/2: The Han Solo Affair ' />This is accomplished by stacking scales on top of each othertypically one treble scale, one midrange, and one basswith an octave in between, then playing them in a continuous loop. A Shepard tone is sometimes referred to as the barber pole of sound. You can even see the similarity, when you hear it and look at the spectrum view of a Shepard tone. Dont listen to this too long, or you might lose your mind Anyways, Christopher Nolan just loves this. With longtime collaborator Hans Zimmer, the acclaimed director has used a Shepard tone in almost every one of his films in the last decade. He even writes his scripts to match the effect. In a recent interview, Nolan explained how he used Shepard tones in his newest film, Dunkirk The screenplay had been written according to musical principals. Theres an audio illusion, if you will, in music called a Shepard tone and with my composer David Julyan on The Prestige we explored that and based a lot of the score around that. And its an illusion where theres a continuing ascension of tone. Its a corkscrew effect. Its always going up and up and up but it never goes outside of its range. And I wrote the script according to that principle. DyynkkGlUZ1IapvczPj6Kin-GtZnCTaNR2G1ACEuqYW-uswGr8OoMUPcO8eKkEz-a8YxXH_KEkzHpnfpWxo4q5ICLA=w530-h297-n' alt='Psp Ipod Movies Star Wars Episode V 1/2: The Han Solo Affair ' title='Psp Ipod Movies Star Wars Episode V 1/2: The Han Solo Affair ' />I interwove the three timelines in such a way that theres a continual feeling of intensity. Increasing intensity. So I wanted to build the music on similar mathematical principals. Knowing this, you gain a deeper understanding of films like Interstellar, Inception, and The Prestige. It also explains why these films seem somehow inconclusive. A Shepards tone creates a conflict that cant be resolved, just like Nolans plots. Digg, Business Insider. Luke Plunkett. Luke Plunkett is a Contributing Editor based in Canberra, Australia. He has written a book on cosplay, designed a game about airplanes, and also runs. This question is part of the Ask Lifehacker advice column, where Lifehacker staff answers readers burning questions with practical tips. After all, some of the. Ever notice how Christopher Nolans movies Interstellar, Inception, The Prestige feel like an anxiety attack Well, maybe thats overstating things a bit.