Video game Myths and urban legends

[JMK853]

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

[psj3809]

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 !

[Cornelius]

I used to be told all the time that playing the Gameboy was ''bad for my eyes''.

[psj3809]

Must admit my folks always told me that staring at the tv whilst watching a film totally in the dark is bad for my eyes. So then i had the light on while watching films and then someone said the opposite and how the light should be turned off !

[crazylegs]

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!!!

[Kaede]

Finish Street Fighter 2 on Level 8 without taking a hit, then defeat Bison in Round 4 to fight against Sheng Long.

[ToxieDogg]

Finish Street Fighter 2 on Level 8 without taking a hit, then defeat Bison in Round 4 to fight against Sheng Long.

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)

Or hanging around on the boat in Jet Set Willy for hours in order to be taken to a secret island , that one was such a persistent rumour that they actually incorporated it into Jet Set Willy 2.

[CraigGrannell]

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.

[paranoid marvin]

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.

Maybe the increase in short-sightedness has more to do with the internet...

[Fred83]

it is bad for the eyes watching tv in the dark.Your eyes are focused on that only bit of light in the room so it gets more straining and you end up with eye strain.

[Sureshot]

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

[paranoid marvin]

I remember when a 22 inch telly looked big - we had one in the living room

Now they just look ridiculously small

[James Bond]

Super Mario Bros on the NES, apparently if you collected twelve 1-up mushrooms you're 'M' cap would be replaced with a crown. Remember trying it on the Mario Allstars version, didn't work so I just assumed it was on the NES version

[EvilArmourKing]

Finish Street Fighter 2 on Level 8 without taking a hit, then defeat Bison in Round 4 to fight against Sheng Long.

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.Bison

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.

[pforson]

Maybe the increase in short-sightedness has more to do with the internet...

My Gran did always say 'You'll go blind if you play with that'