Video game Myths and urban legends
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Video game Myths and urban legends
Does anyone remember all the rumours and myths of the day concerning Video games and home computers etc?
These are the ones I remember.
'IT WILL RUIN THE TELLY'
This was why a lot of mums banned video games in the house, because she heard from Mr's Murphy down the road'
Ther is a little truth in this one, as most systems did not have a screensaver built in and, if left for days could actually burn parts of the screen.
'THEY MAKE YOU STUPID'
This was another one that I always got thrown at me.
'YOU WILL GO BLIND IF YOU USE COMPUTERS'
I think this one comes from sitting about 2 feet from they tv when playing text adventures etc. No one I know ever went blind, but I am sure it is not good for the eyes.
'A 14 YEAR OLD KID WAS GIVEN A MILLION POUND AND THEY EVEN SENT A HELICOPTER SO HE COULD SELL THEM HIS GAME!'
This one went around my school, but no one ever knew the name of the kid, or the name of the game.
Anyone got any more?
Jim
These are the ones I remember.
'IT WILL RUIN THE TELLY'
This was why a lot of mums banned video games in the house, because she heard from Mr's Murphy down the road'
Ther is a little truth in this one, as most systems did not have a screensaver built in and, if left for days could actually burn parts of the screen.
'THEY MAKE YOU STUPID'
This was another one that I always got thrown at me.
'YOU WILL GO BLIND IF YOU USE COMPUTERS'
I think this one comes from sitting about 2 feet from they tv when playing text adventures etc. No one I know ever went blind, but I am sure it is not good for the eyes.
'A 14 YEAR OLD KID WAS GIVEN A MILLION POUND AND THEY EVEN SENT A HELICOPTER SO HE COULD SELL THEM HIS GAME!'
This one went around my school, but no one ever knew the name of the kid, or the name of the game.
Anyone got any more?
Jim
Last edited by JMK853 on Mon Jul 24, 2006 2:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
The past is the future
One myth is the 'it'll help me with my homework' as most of us told our mums and dads !
The vast majority just used their computer for gaming back in the 80's, all that bull about homework was just a smokescreen !
For me basic programming and typing actually helps me in my job but the vast majority of my time was spent playing games on it !
The vast majority just used their computer for gaming back in the 80's, all that bull about homework was just a smokescreen !
For me basic programming and typing actually helps me in my job but the vast majority of my time was spent playing games on it !
I got the old "It will ruin the telly" too!
I did manage to erase all the programmed channels though while tunning in an amiga, which did not go down to well with the parents. They ended up buying me a commodore 1084s monitor instead. Dont know how i managed to keep messing the tv up. bloody Toshiba TV!!!
I did manage to erase all the programmed channels though while tunning in an amiga, which did not go down to well with the parents. They ended up buying me a commodore 1084s monitor instead. Dont know how i managed to keep messing the tv up. bloody Toshiba TV!!!
Amiga all the way!
Re:
That one was funny, reminds me of the rumour about the cheat where you could get a naked Lara Croft in Tomb Raider by tapping some of the buttons in time to one of the Spice Girls songs (or something like that)hand_solo wrote:Finish Street Fighter 2 on Level 8 without taking a hit, then defeat Bison in Round 4 to fight against Sheng Long.

Or hanging around on the boat in Jet Set Willy for hours in order to be taken to a secret island

- CraigGrannell
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I suspect the eyesight thing is actually accurate. The onset of computers has led to a lot of close work and play with CRTs, whereas people used to sit far further from them. The eye is relaxed at long distances, not short, so a lot of games playing causes eye strain. I'm not sure this has led to more short-sighted people, but it wouldn't entirely surprise me.
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Re:
Maybe the increase in short-sightedness has more to do with the internet...CraigGrannell wrote:I suspect the eyesight thing is actually accurate. The onset of computers has led to a lot of close work and play with CRTs, whereas people used to sit far further from them. The eye is relaxed at long distances, not short, so a lot of games playing causes eye strain. I'm not sure this has led to more short-sighted people, but it wouldn't entirely surprise me.
Mr Flibble says...
"Game over , boys!"
"Game over , boys!"
Yeah I had the 'ruin the TV' one as well. Didn't help that in the manual for games and consoles it had all this techno jargon about how usage could cause permanent tube damage, without giving proper situations or facts, so parents were immediately scared off letting you use the main TV.
This meant I had to use a crappy black & white portable for quite some time! Going to my Granddad's house and using his colour TV (he didn't mind) was like some kind of luxury.
The main brunt of gaming-related arguments in my house came with the internet though, and unfortunately phone bills weren't mythical things
This meant I had to use a crappy black & white portable for quite some time! Going to my Granddad's house and using his colour TV (he didn't mind) was like some kind of luxury.
The main brunt of gaming-related arguments in my house came with the internet though, and unfortunately phone bills weren't mythical things

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This rumour was created by Electronic Gaming Monthly as an April Fools Day in 1992 joke and originally (on the arcade version) you had to get a perfect on every round until you got to M.BisonKaede wrote:Finish Street Fighter 2 on Level 8 without taking a hit, then defeat Bison in Round 4 to fight against Sheng Long.
From there you had to survive the whole round without hitting him (or him hitting you) until the timer expired, resulting in a draw game. You had to do this for 10 rounds. This was actually impossible, as the amount of rounds was limited to 4 in Championship Edition.
Then he was "rumoured" to come on screen and throw M.Bison off the screen, and fight you to the death.
Other great game rumours :
Mortal Kombat 2 :
You could use the weapons on the Armoury stage (weapons that can be seen in the back-ground).
Kano transformation - A fantastic rumour and one many believed was possible. Shang Tsung was able to morph into all the playable characters, and in the service menu, there is a stat in the audits section that shows how many times a Kano transformation has been performed.
"This rod will be your doom" - Kilik
Re:
My Gran did always say 'You'll go blind if you play with that'paranoid marvin wrote: Maybe the increase in short-sightedness has more to do with the internet...
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