A word about gaming

Everyone here on Teen Seen is doing a bit on Gaming, so here's my take on it.

I'm not into gaming at all, I don't have the time or the ability. Put a joystick in my hands, and my characters walk into a wall, off a cliff or get eaten by an Orc. I sprained both shoulders trying to play Wii tennis, so it's a physical challenge as well.

A couple of events illustrate my utter lack of experience with gaming.

In my first book, The Adventures of Guy, one of the characters plays Donkey Kong on the Playstation. If you know anything at all about Playstation, you know Playstation doesn't have Donkey Kong. Well, I didn't know, my publisher didn't know, so it went into the story.

When the reviews started coming out (all of them excellent, thank you), one of the reviewers made a note about the screw up. Of course the reviewer didn't catch it herself - her son, a gamer, did - but she did put the gaffe in her review. My response? It's a work of fiction, so if I want Playstation to have Donkey Kong, so be it. The truth? I had no idea.

For my story in the anthology The Heat of the Moment, my editor thought she caught a boo-boo because the characters were playing the insane riff "Through the Fire and Flames" on Guitar Hero. She didn't think the song was in the game and wanted me to substitute it. She is a teen librarian, and her resources are usually really good, but she missed that it was on the third release, so it stayed in the story.

Anyway, I was in a store the other day and they had Ms. PacMan. Remember this one? Of course you don't. You aren't a fossil like me.

Well, my eyes lit up, I whipped out a quarter, and ... sprained an elbow.

Norm

http://fangplace.blogspot.com