In Tevendale We Trust

Halo 3 comes out today and I must admit, I know this sounds crazy, but I really couldn’t care less.
There are millions of people who will be playing this game before the end of the week. Give them a few days to finish it, and then it will be time to take on their fellow master chiefs in a quest for Halo supremacy. Now how can you refuse to give in to that!
Even Mountain Dew is riding the cyber pony. In a marketing gimmick that is so good I almost don’t want to give them hell for it because of how great a job they’ve done, the good people over at PepsiCo have teamed up with Microsoft to release, in conjunction with the launch of Halo 3, the all new and available for a limited time only, Mountain Dew Game Fuel. Excuse me for a moment while I pick my jaw up off the floor. Not only can I now dedicate the next 34 months of my life to Halo 3, but I can also buy a drink inspired by the game I love? Well I’m sold. Here are some quotes from www.mountaindewgamefuel.com, “Power your gaming sessions with NEW Mountain Dew Game Fuel! Make winning your only mission at 7-Eleven.” Wow, talk about a preemptive strike of awesome! Just when I thought Halo 3 couldn’t get any better, Pepsi gives me a sugary punch in the face. Who can resist marketing like that? Oh wait, I know who; people whose lives don’t revolve around sniping and playing capture the flag.
The only place I don’t see people getting their “game fuel” needs, is China. The state is implementing a law that will restrict the amount of time gamers can spend online. In an article published by the BBC, this “new system will impose penalties on players who spend more then three hours playing a game by reducing the abilities of their characters. Gamers who spend more than five hours will have the abilities of their in-game characters severely limited [and] will be forced to take a five hour break before they can return to the game.” Bravo I say, it’s about time.
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy playing video games as much as the next person. I don’t enjoy playing shoot’em up games online though because of the fact that if you don’t play them for hours on end, you will have your face handed to you by some seasoned veteran who logs in about sixty-four hours of game play a week.
Some of these kids are truly bonkers. I’ve seen clips on the net of teenaged boys throwing the biggest hissy fits I have ever seen. You really have to see it to believe it. One kid spits at his T.V. and keeps on cussing. Tell me son, what inspired you to hock a loogie at the screen? Think the guy you’re playing against is going to catch a load of phlegm on the other side? Other kids just throw these insane tantrums when their parents finally tell them to stop playing.
Which brings me to my next point.
How can so many parents out there stand idle and let their teenage son, and I say son here because online gamers consist of an overwhelming male majority, play hour after hour after hour of shoot ’em ups or role playing games. If and when I have children of my own, you can bet your bottom dollar they won’t be spending their time rotting away in front of a screen. It’s not hard to prevent a thirteen year old from doing something in your own home. Take the plugs to the X-Box or his desktop away. Problem solved- he plays when you let him play.
Unfortunately, there are grown men who don’t have parents looking (or not) over their shoulders to keep them from playing these games all the time, which is an entirely other problem all together. How can so many adult men sacrifice so much of their time to these games? People who spend obscene amounts of time playing video games put so much strain on so many other aspects of life, like their jobs, your social lives and health. The real world becomes a scary place pretty quickly once you get immersed in the wonderful world that are these games, be it online or not.
I understand that not everyone who plays platform or online games will become obsessed and give up everything else but Halo or World of Warcraft, but you really have to wonder why so many people from all over the world spend so much of their time and energy at home or at some internet caf