Many of us older generation gamers have gone outside during the fall season to catch a falling leaf in hopes that it would give us the raccoon suit (I can’t be the only one…Can I?). Then as we got older a lot of us got our driver’s license looking for freedom of the open road and marks on the road to make the car go faster. (Okay, maybe I was the only one looking for them) Still, as it stands today the military hasn’t perfected the spread gun from Contra, and we don’t get turtle shells if we go out to the go kart track to arm ourselves among friends.
It’s a possibility that all this is because video games are unrealistic. How many times is a princess going to get kidnapped only to have an Italian plumber and his brother come along and save her? How many times is a blue hedgehog going to be friends with a mutated fox…that can fly? How many times are the Seattle Seahawks going to beat the defending Super Bowl Champions in Seattle? Oh that really happened? Then allow me to present to you:
The Top 10 Things From Video Games That Can REALLY Happen
10) A frog gets run over-Frogger: You feel bad if you’re the one that ran it over, thinking all it had to do was pass me and it was safe and on it’s way home.
9) Playing in a band-Rock Band, Guitar Hero: Granted you need the real feel of a guitar’s strings and location of notes, and a few more people with talent, and eventually you can get a gig somewhere out of the basement and/or garage.
8 ) Fatigue-Sports Games: Chances are if you partake in running 20-50 yards every minute, you’re going to start feeling it eventually. It happens to the human body, running along with the impact of the other player running into you will wear you out quick. The only way to prevent this is unfortunately more exercise to work on your conditioning. Speaking of Fatigue…
7) Sleep-Fallout Series: I chose Fallout because you can choose how long you sleep, knowing what you need from a 1 hour nap to maybe a full 8 hours or so. You generally know how much sleep you need to recover.
6) War: It never changes, and to most leaves an unclear purpose in the world. Some pay the ultimate sacrifice to protect strangers, but in both case of game and life, the objective is to hopefully survive.
5) Mowing the lawn-No More Heroes: It’s that little tedious chore I used to have every Saturday afternoon as a child that has been passed down to my youngest brother. Sometimes it earns a little extra cash, sometimes nothing.
4)Death: It’s never pretty and as certain as taxes. Methods usually vary for everyone. Falling from a high place, getting shot too many times (or one well placed one), and getting attacked by a wild animal. They’re the gritty reminder that not everything has a continue.
3) A pro wrestler as Mayor-Final Fight Series: The most notable figure in professional wrestlers getting into politics is Jesse “The Body” Ventura, who successfully became Governor of Minnesota as a Third Party Independent in 1998. Eight years prior to that Ventura was elected Mayor of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota and even remained as a part time color commentator for World Championship Wrestling. Is it a fair assumption that Mayor Mike Haggar was the inspiration? Probably.
2) Continues: It happens in just about every game, you come so close to beating that boss only to have defeat snatched away from you because you made one mistake. The thing about life is that when you do get that chance you know what you have to do next time. Persistence does indeed pay off when you apply it.
1) Driving a racecar…against professionals-Gran Turismo: Thanks in part to the Nissan Driving Academy and Gran Turismo, Lucas Ordonez went from gamer, to second place at the 24 Hours of Le Mans Race. Yes, under the right circumstances, this could be you.