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This Canon DSLR Has an Old-School Secret: Built-in Pong

This is what happens when software engineers get bored.

Credit: bestvideogamedesign.net

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In any new medium, the days of early development are typically a creative wild west where pretty much anything goes. Apparently that was true back in the 1990s, and some engineers at Kodak must have had some free time on their hands.

The Kodak DCS 520 and 560–rebranded and sold by Canon as the EOS D2000 and D6000–had a cool little easter egg: a built-in game of Pong. Playable by rotating the command dial, you can move the paddle on the right up and down to deflect the ball back in the goal.

Canon's Chuck Westfall recently shot this short video of the D2000's easter egg in action:

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As a gamer myself, I can only imagine the possibilities had Canon or any other major manufacturer continued this trend with the powerful processors found in DSLRs today.

Surely the CPU in the Sony A7S could play something like Final Fantasy 7 when not blasting through 4K video. Who wouldn't want to level up while waiting for the light to fall just right?

The dream could be real!
Credit: Reviewed.com / Kyle Looney

The dream could be real!

{{amazon name="Retro-Bit Retro Duo Twin Video Game System, Silver/Black", asin="B001VDZN3O", align="right"}} While we're sad to see this trend fall by the wayside, you have to hand it to the innovative folks at Kodak. They may not be cranking out cameras anymore, but at least they left their mark.

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