I have no problem with cool tech demos, and with Electroplankton less than most, as Nintendo admits it's a really cool toy instead of giving it a cursory polish and passing it off as a "game." Or "is determined not to limit its definition of what constitutes a game in the future," or whatever. In fact it reminds me a lot of the interactive work of more arty artists, like Josh Nimoy. (I have a friend in the same program he was in at UCLA, though several years later.) Yeah, it seems like early 90s wankery sometimes, but some of it really shines; have you heard Jason Salavon's "Song of the Century?"
So view the Electroplankton Flash preview movie (after it loads click the first bubble, with the question mark at the end) and tell me: doesn't the second mode, Hanenbow, look like a total rip-off of Josh Nimoy's Balldroppings? I don't suppose I should find it that disturbing that someone else had the same good idea, though Nimoy did have an exhibition and a mention in Boing Boing for it.
It also shows how dumbed down it is to tie these cool experimental toys together with the digital sealife conceit. Play around with Nimoy's first and see if the utterly Vib Ribbon vibe doesn't rub off on you.
