Running through sunny meadows, rolling in just cut grass, making dens out of tree branches and playing Donkey Kong; yes, these are the vivid memories of my childhood circa 1979. What, I often wonder, will the children of today be reminiscing about fondly when they are thirty-something? Something inside me is slightly cynical about the moral fibre of the X-box generation. The games review columns talk about the delights of Grand Theft Auto and Gears of War; on an even more worrying note, games Such as Animal Crossing and Sushi, pastel hued and aimed at grown women, scare me even more. Thankfully we have good old fashioned British humour to keep us on the straight and narrow. You Tube are hosting a whole heap of satirical and savvy ways to boost the popularity of games consoles, and at the same time delivering us a hearty pinch of our daily salt.
Since the release of the Nintendo Wii, games reviews have been chock-a-block with the likes of bowling, tennis, cricket, golf and boxing. In the package commonly known as Wii Sport, there are a whole plethora of activities to entertain the whole family. My major gripe with this particular package is the fact that some people seem to be under the impression that after 5 minutes on 'easy', scoring a few strikes actually makes them good at bowling. The games are made for everyone to be good at, that is why people want to buy them and they are considered hearty family entertainment I suppose.
If these games were difficult, then the challenge would be too much, and it would be back to a game of Buckaroo on a Saturday night. However with the old fashioned games, we were not under the impression that we could actually become a Rodeo rider. With the new games that emulate the action we are mimicking, we are fooled to some degree about the skills we are actually using. Wii have done something that many other games have not come close to, and that is to emulate ordinary everyday activities (or activities that were once ordinary and everyday) and encourage us to interact with a screen to a realistic level.
Other consoles separate us from the activity by providing an intermediate platform that creates an arbitrary action to trigger a result. Before I get too serious about the process, it is time to mention that this has been noted by the satirical comedians, Idiots of Ants. Fresh from Edinburgh festival, the comedy troupe have come up with a wonderful sketch called Wii Breakfast. The short video shows the efforts of one gamer trying to make breakfast with all the Wii-motes one could wish for; sausages, teabags, frying pan and kettle have all been coated in glossy white and attached to a wire.
This humorous dig at the banality of such games is just what is needed in the games review columns themselves. Other entertaining items out there are aimed at the Mario Market, once again a Nintendo special product. There are shows where blacked out stages are home to characters from Mario World, and all the little icons associated with the game. A performance is played out to an expectant audience that is literally a slice of the game, scrolling along, and complete with the music.
This cross over in the world of You Tube and Games review columns is astonishing. Computer games have infiltrated real life, being played out in the world of theatre; and real life has been sucked into a console. I think that while there are people out there who understand the gaming culture but are able to break away from it to create entertainment, future generations will have something more than a games console to look back on fondly.
Author Resource:-
Dom Donaldson is a gaming expert.
Find out more about the Games Review and how you can get the most out of your games console at Pocket Lint.
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