March 01, 2006

Got an old Sega CD game system and 16 hours to kill? A rare copy of "Penn & Teller's Smoke and Mirrors" has surfaced...

This legendary game was never released, but apparently has been whispered about for years in Sega fan circles. The main game is mainly Penn & Teller walking about in Vegas & New York and encountering wacky characters along the way. The real story here is a secondary game on the disc, "Desert Bus." The object of the game? Drive a bus straight across the desert from Tuscon to Vegas - and back - without exceeding 45 mph - in REAL TIME. Your reward? 1 (that's ONE) point. And don't think you can tape down the joystick either - the bus has an alignment problem. Happy driving!

posted by waitingtoderail 18 years ago
  • So hard to find the rare combination of not fun, incredibly time consuming, and almost totally unrewarding. Click? Not.
  • It HAS to be funner than the actual drive.
  • and the game never made it to release? i can't possibly fathom why a publisher would want to back out of something like that. it kinda reminds me of andy kaufman reading the great gatsby for two hours to a pissed off audience... it's both funny and incredibly stupid. who says video games can't be "art"?
  • If Penn got into a contest with Kaufman to see who's the biggest asshole, Penn would totally win.
  • The sad thing isn't that I'm downloading this. The sad thing is that this isn't the first time I've gleefully torrented unreleased / leaked games. /loves 'Propeller Arena' on Dreamcast
  • In two weird ways, I have two and totally separate near brush-with-greatness associations with Penn, and from these, I would have to concur with Mr. Knickerbocker.
  • I just received confirmation from Penn's wife that the "Desert Bus" thing is, in fact, real. Now I suppose I have to download the game.
  • Come on guys! Rumor is, a bug hits the windshield 2 hours into the drive!
  • from the SA thread: "When you pause the game, it shows a two minute completely unskippable movie of Penn & Teller eating pizza in silence" haha, wow, i have a renewed respect for penn and teller
  • As a game it sounds horrific. As some sort of twisted art project it sounds excellent. It is truly a good thing that it has not been lost. Some day there will undoubtedly be some sort of prestigious art gallery for video games and this will have a place of honor.
  • waitingtoderail how about a spoiler warning next time?
  • Now I know a bug hits the windshield, my desire to play this is has all but evaporated.
  • Yeah derail, really, you like, ruined the experience.
  • It's sort of like The Last Starfighter. Who ever successfully passes the bus level gets hired by Penn & Teller to drive their bus. To Vegas
  • Bullshit!
  • wasn't this done by warhol in the 60s?
  • It was somewhere around Barstow, at the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold.
  • Hey, it's just a rumor! Maybe there WON'T be a bug?
  • You can't stop here! This is bat country!
  • Hey, somebody run out and get a friend to join MoFi. I'm not comfortable looking at 4666 members. The devil, you say.
  • Right. I was mildly interested until I read about the Debbie Harry cameo. This is now on my Christmas list. You have been duly advised. Govern yourselves accordingly.
  • How long could we maintain, I wondered? How long before one of us starts raving and jabbering at this boy? What will he think then?
  • From the comments: "I didn't know you were a Something Awful forums member." That just tickles me; I have the mental image of the commenter typing that with their arms stand-offishly crossed. Also, how does the Penn & Teller game measure up against Takeshi's Challenge on the insanity meter?
  • I don't play games where bugs are senselessly slaughtered.
  • *sends much love to Chyren*