The Whiz’s Crucible

I was watching the preview of MBA ‘06 for the XBox 360 and the anchor was speaking about how the games on these NextGen consoles are true to life. On further thinking I realised that I am not in complete agreement with that statement. Oh! There is no doubt that most sports, driving and FPS licenses ARE as close to at least the normal media around us (if not real life) However it(i.e. the video games) has so much more. For eg. the slick raindrenched roads of Need For Speed Underground with all the reflections or the streaking during a nitro blast – now those never happen in real life.

This fact alongwith the habit of getting addicted to certain games at certain times does cause a lot of issues at times. For eg. I was playing the aforementioned NFS games while learning to drive in the real life. Everything seemed alright till the day I decided to take my car out for a spin on a quiet afternoon. Since the roads were almost completely deserted I got a little relaxed and was driving subconsciously. Thankfully I was not so sleepy as to not notice more than one car coming in the opposite direction! What happened was that I had just come from an undivided 2-lane road to a 4 lane raod with a divider. Since I had to choose a side I choose the right side of the divider as any smart American would do. This was subconscious to me due to playing NFS continuously for hours on end. However the little detail my subconscious forgot was that I was in India and we drive the old Raj way, on the left side of the road. Lesson learnt the hard way:)

A less serious issue comes up when I watch the NBA. I was a big fan of the College Slam game(yah right, I said it – sue me!) from Acclaim and was quite addicted to it for a long time.
It has been many years since I played that title, unfortunately that has not helped me forget it. So every time I see Parker drive a layup I half expect the ball to turn amber and then red in his hand follwed by a slam dunk which leaves the net burning and reduced to ash.

Hey if any of you media experts are reading this, can this not be simulated for real games. Something like how the 10-yard line is simulated in the MNF show. It would great to watch such games if they looked more like video games.

Hell! I would be in control of my life if life was more like a video game:)

If you want to hear the pinnacle of sarcasm you must, i repeat, must listen to Jeremy Clarkson, especially when he is speaking of matters connected to either motorcycles or the Germans. I was watching the show “Visiting the neighbours – Jeremy Clarkson” and had to change channels to stop laughing from all the potshots he was taking against the Germans. Man! That guy is E-vil:)

[Update]: Check out Venky’s “Thinking” Blog for a link to his Times article on The VW Golf. Well worth a visit. Here is a link to all his articles.