I thought I had finally recovered from my addiction, but it has come back
to haunt me. Luckily, I am able to handle it through indulging for short periods
of time, and it mysteriously goes away, almost as fast as
it hit me.
Yes, you guessed it. The addiction is video games. Another good way
for me to stay away from video games is to just be so freakin' busy that
I don't have
time to play. But I have to make time for Circus
Atari. I just can't stop
playing it.
Jakks Pacific has
come up with an ingenious way for old-school video gamers to continue the traditions
started back in the '80s. With the Atari
10-in-1
TV Games, users can play favorites like Asteroids, Centipede, Pong and
others. The joystick system comes with Audio/Video connectors that can be
plugged
into just about any TV.
I had never played Circus Atari before receiving
this game system as a gift for being a groomsman in a friend's wedding.
We tested it after
the
rehearsal dinner, and no one even cracked 500 points. Now, my high score
is up to 8,651,
and I'm still mesmerized by the clowns (stick men) jumping from a see-saw
(slanted line) and hitting balloons (squares). Another friend who received
the gift is on an Asteroids kick.
He's still fairly
far away from unseating the World
Asteroids Champion, whose top score
stands at over 41 million points.
My Atari received a lot of play when I was
younger. I liked to play Burgertime and Empire
Strikes Back, although there
were always two AT-ATs on the
board, no matter how fast you shot them down. One time my brother was
making history
on Frogger.
He was on the 22nd board, with 15 extra frogs, when my sister got him
in trouble. Can you believe my mom
was
ignoring the fact that he could have been famous?
The next logical step
was the Nintendo, in which my brother and I had many memorable battles in
Dribble, Tecmo
Bowl and Ice
Hockey. But we still managed to team together in Super
Mario Brothers,
Tales and Contra.
Kids these days want more than games with washed out
graphics. Now, you can compete against more players than your brother; you
can compete
against
anyone on the Internet! Everquest, Diablo and
PlanetSide pit
contestants, or groups of contestants, against others in lifelike
battles. These games
are so real, and so ingrained in the psyche of those playing them, that
users
are known
to buy and sell items obtained within the game on e-bay. I'm not
even sure where to begin in explaining that you can bid
on Diablo charms, pay
for them
then use them in a game. It's not as if you can pull them out of
the computer and make a necklace.
While gaming could be seen as
addicting, a
recent study has shown young adults who play video games
on a regular basis have sharper
visual skills
than those
who do not. The research, performed at the University of Rochester,
showed players develop enhanced visual perception, but in no
way does game playing
correlate to improved skills in reading, math, etc.
In the meantime,
there are computer games that reach people of all ages in other areas. Games
like the Myst series provide
people with
problem-solving
situations in which you have to think and not just be able
to shoot your way out of a scenario. Then again, many who play games
are
just looking
to
relieve
stress from their daily routine. So is it critical that potentially,
video games don't bring large chunks of nutrition into people's
lives?
If playing video games is pulling you away from being
an active member in society, or not allowing you to complete your work
or homework,
then you
might need
to alleviate some of the hours you spend at the game console.
But if playing games is just another way to lessen the tension
in your
everyday
activities,
then play on!
For now, I'm going to stick with Circus Atari,
although I noticed Jakks Pacific has also made one system that includes
Pitfall and
River Raid, and
another system,
which should be out this summer, that contains Pac-Man
and Dig Dug. My addiction looks to continue into the foreseeable
future,
although it is only
a break from my real job as the guy who gets shot out of
a cannon at the
circus.
BOOM!
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