I’m amazed I didn’t notice this before. The best games are those when you stand up to play. The exception are PC games since you have to sit down to work the computer.
Everyone stood up to play PONG.
Everyone played Pac-Man while standing up.
Notice how thin was the norm for women back then. Perhaps it is because we all played video games standing up.
It is safe to say all arcade games were played standing up. So who sat down?
Only babies sat down in order to play video games. They were too short and their arms too small in order to reach the buttons.
Sometimes you would have to stand because of the interface such as guns. Bang! Bang!
Not all arcade games made you stand. Racing games, such as the above, made you sit. Still, the ‘sitting games’ were extremely complicated arcade games and were far more expensive. I honestly don’t know who ever used them. I suppose the future console gamers did.
The image of video games was one of people standing. No one ever sat to play. The natural state of man is not to sit. It is to stand and move.
Why would anyone sit down to play a video game? The idea was once seen as absurd.
If you’ve ever seen a kid play a console game, they don’t just sit down. They tend to hop around like a little bird. They just focus on the game and adjust to the living room in whatever way. In the above picture, the kid is somewhat sitting down. It is like he is more leaning on the chair than anything. He can bounce up at any second! He is most definitely not in a vegetative state.
Kids sit crosslegged in front of the TV. Sitting crosslegged isn’t very comfortable for long periods of time (this was how elementary kids were taught to sit in classes in America).
The reason why they are on the floor is because the nature of the game does not permit them to ‘lie back’ in the sofa and play.
Look at how the man is seated. He is leaning forward, alert, his gaze intent on the tiny TV (which was the norm in those days). The kid is lying on the floor away from the furniture. Gaming was not a sedentary experience.
Even with computer games, you didn’t sit back to play. Gaming was very stimulating and kept you alert. Yes, those were the typical computer desks used in the time period.
People played the NES the same way people played the Atari 2600. The games were very stimulating and did not allow a relaxed manner. (It is difficult to find vintage photos since NES photos have been spammed by retro fashion.) Clearly, the light gun encouraged someone to play while standing up.
Remember the Power Pad? You had to stand up and move around in order to play with it.
With the Gameboys, gaming was being done while standing up, walking, waiting, or however else. I do remember that the Gameboy was never played at home when one had access to the home console. Gameboy was when you were away from the home console.
I suspect a part of the reason why mobile gaming has replaced much of home gaming (such as in Japan) is because you are more free to play the games standing up, moving around, or whatever else.
This image is just too cute not to show.
The correct choice of the three offered items is the Gameboy. It’s the only one that is still fun twenty five years later.
The is the definition of what gaming is today: people sitting down playing non-stimulating games.
Shock! People are standing up to play a console game! Why sorcery is this?
Is it a trick?
Is it a gimmick?
No! It is what gaming has always been.
I remember a 2006 issue of Popular Mechanics saying of the Wii: “Remember when video games used to be fun?”
Then there is Wii Fit where you had to stand to play.
A more perfect video game has never been made. It not only helped make women less fat, it got them interested into video games too. Beyond Mario and Zelda, it is Shigeru Miyamoto’s crowning achievement (I’m serious).
The point of this post is that there is a correlation with the best games (both in sales and in experience) and people not sitting passively.
Ironically, our hardcore gaming friends HATED the Wii. I suspect the true nature of the hate was the fact they had to stand up to play. They got into their head that gaming is a sedentary experience.
Now that Nintendo has abandoned everything about the Wii and embraced a sedentary experience for the definition of video games, the Game Industry is racing to decline. While the Atari crash can be blamed on some Atari executives, this upcoming crash can be blamed squarely on one group of people: the hardcore gamers.
In order for gaming to be saved, the hardcore must be destroyed!
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