DailyDirt: Gaming Can Hurt For Real
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
Usually video games are played to escape from reality. The distraction from real life is supposed to be entertaining and fun. But every so often there are stories of folks who take their games a bit too far and end up getting hurt physically. Video games are getting more and more realistic all the time -- but that doesn't seem to matter that much. Here are a few game-related stories for your amusement:Nintendo says 3D games could be bad for the development of young kids' eyes. These warnings, though, are probably only going to attract more kids to play "dangerous" 3D games. [url] A 23-year-old man tries to play Frogger on an actual 4-lane highway -- and gets hit by an SUV. The awesome 2D graphics of Frogger must be at least partially to blame. [url] L.A. Noire is a realistic-looking video game that has collected a lot of facial expressions. Players are supposed to be able to tell when video game characters are lying, but I wouldn't play poker with this technology just yet. [url] Understanding Pac-Man's algorithms might help you master the game. Maybe someone will write a program that can play Pac-Man perfectly -- that program might figure out, though, that the best strategy is not to play. [url]
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Filed Under: frogger, l.a. noire, pac-man, video games
Companies: nintendo
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Re: Darwin Awards...
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There's an xkcd comic around that shows it pretty well.
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The movie industry may be better off without them.
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In fact Guitar Hero and all those karaoke games can be used to teach other languages because of that.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6gJab-LyPE
People are almost doing the same thing on the cheap already.
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http://kinecthacks.net/
99 balloons yay!
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Microsoft changes its tune after seeing how popular the kinect became in the hacking space.
http://mashable.com/2010/11/20/microsoft-kinect-hacks/
Now Microsoft says it left the hardware open on purpose, backtracking from statements threatening moders and hackers.
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Considering the risks are for kids under six years old, I doubt that the warnings will do anything. Six year olds are in first grade schooling, and some of them may have had some previous socializing in daycare and kindergarten. Peer pressure and risk experimentation is nascent and fuzzy at this age. However, virtually none of this age group are aware of news, or of corporate messages like this. Connecting the abstract concept of a negative news story into a risk-reward plan of action is way over a six year old's head. The closest analogy is connecting a blatant and specific imperative command (like those seen in glossy advertising) into an acquisition-bargaining plan of action; e.g., for a McDonald's toy, whine and shriek near mommy's knees.
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I think this just good incentive to make better 3d tech that doesn't have that issue.
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