Gaming: A Car's Perspective

Cars are no stranger to video games. As you can see in the picture above, racing games have been popular in arcades since 1971, when Gran Trak 10, the first racing game ever, came out in public arcades. Racing games have since been released on every video game console, each one with special features, different cars, different tracks, and different objectives. Some of my personal favorites include the Burnout series, which involved causing as much destruction as possible while racing at the same time, and, of course, Mario Kart, which involved racing with your favorite Nintendo characters while using unique items to delay your opponents. Hundreds of other racing games have made their way onto the game shelves in gaming stores and many hundreds more have found themselves in arcades, movie theaters, restaurants, and even homes.

Now, we play games involving cars; but what about games in cars? Since automobile corporations came out with backseat televisions, kids have been able to take their video games into the family car and play their favorite games on the 8" screen while the parents went on an errand; it truly was a gaming revolution in its own sense. Nowadays, this small screen is no longer placed on the roof interior of the back; one can either purchase a car with a conveniently placed tv or go to many different websites, such as http://www.mobilevideozone.com/, and purchase a television add-on that can be placed just about anywhere in the car. Now you can have one in the headrest, on the dashboard, or anywhere really with a handy stand! When they first came out, I was around the age of 8 or 9, so televisions in cars was exciting, especially for a long road trip. I would hook up the ol' Gamecube to the tv and play for hours, allowing my dad to have distraction-free driving. No fights between my brother and I, just silent enjoyment of whatever games we want. Now that more freedom of tv placement has been given to buyers, I'm sure many will take advantage and begin to exploit it. Even though we'd like to think no one would be dumb enough to put a tv where the driver could be distracted by it, I'm sure we all have at least one friend who would. And if everyone has a friend like that, then accident stats will begin to pile up.You may have noticed a pattern in my posts: anything that gives the driver too much freedom, I hypothesize, will only lead to his/her downfall. And, unfortunately, its true. Can you take an exam while someone yells in your ear? Can you skateboard with your face in a good book? Well, I bet some people can, but the average man can't. And those people who can't, but think they can will end up with some minor problems. Now, in a car, these people/"daredevils" can either 1) leave without a scratch due to a miracle or 2) most likely end up in the hospital or dead. And, for some, death may even be a preference if you hurt someone else, hence getting sued, or caused so much damage that it'll take your entire life to work it off.

My advice: crash in the game and play it safe in the real world.