Random musings on video game commercials and the future...

What is it with video game commercials that try to mock reality? I noticed it with this hilarious pole position commercial, but then I stumbled across these old Atari Jaguar commercials, which depict more people being semi-absorbed into some kind of pseudo-reality video game world. If these commercials are anything to judge, real life becomes about 15 times more intense when you step into the 64 bit world of the ATARI JAGUAR! Excuse me while I go change, because I think I just soiled myself...

Did you own the ultimate in video gaming technology, the SIXTY-FOUR BIT masterpiece that would revolutionize the gaming world?!? ...yeah, me neither.

Aside from the fact that the Jaguar failed miserably, the commercials do have an inherent statement to make, which I have brushed on ever so briefly in this blog. Virtual reality, one of the thematic mother loads of science fiction, is an inherent quality in every game console around. Every time you grab a controller, joystick or Wii-mote, you enter an artificial world that allows interaction within the limits of certain rules. Some of these rules are simple, like in Pac Man or Pong, and some are extraordinarily complex sandbox-style games like Grand Theft Auto or Assassin's Creed. But the idea remains the same: a simulated experience is created in place of a real one designed to entertain and occupy our minds. All of these commercials are expressing the idea, almost unconsciously, that you must somehow be virtually integrated into the game to have the best experience.

Thanks to enormous recent advances in consumer-available technology, the Seventh Generation of video game consoles (which gamers have lovingly called "Next-Gen systems") are moving closer and closer to reaching a level of virtual reality once only fathomed by science fiction nerds and conspiracy theorists. Multi-player, story-lines, and interactive environments all contribute in different ways to the virtual experience, which in my opinion is a really cool step forward in the entertainment industry. I think this most recent Xbox 360 commercial (apparently banned, for some reason) puts my whole idea on this issue in perspective:



And there you have it. The cabbie near the end just shows me that people are still capable of being responsible and putting virtual reality on hold for real life concerns. Like homework. Which I swear, I'll do right after I finish beating Halo.. again.