In the most recent episode of Life, a mystery emerged in which it became evident that a secret set of spreadsheets was hidden on level ten of Prince of Persia. Thus, an adult and later a teenager spent (presumably hours) playing through the game to get to level 10 in order to open the spreadsheet.
The game’s graphics and the rapt, eager faces of the watching police officers montaged, giving “excitement” to the moment. Convenient, giant graphics indicated that “You Have Reached Level 6″ or whatever. Most amusing was when the adult player was still trying (and failing) to play the game, the teenager watching was mimicking the correct control scheme with her hands (pantomiming a controller). Really? Pantomiming?
I wonder how much, if anything, xbox and the company who makes Prince of Persia paid to have that game be the featured object. Since the theme fit so snugly (the characters involved were Persians themselves), I wonder if there was any product placement. Since the console was Xbox (not 360), the potential customer base is smaller.
I’m also amused by the blatant robbery of the plot device from my favorite Dabney Coleman film, Cloak and Dagger, in which a player has to reach a certain level to get the military secrets.
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Cloak and Dagger? How cool. I’ve found most people don’t seem to know this movie. The movie’s got significance for me because Christina Nigra, the actress who plays the girl Kim Gardener, was a friend of my sister, back in the early 80s. At one point, she wanted me to be her big brother. (She was, if I recall correctly, an only child.)
That rocks. The movie is uber cool — especially the Dabney Coleman double duty. I think the father stuff in that movie is what made it connect with me–my dad was a pilot and my parents were divorced, so in retrospect it’s not surprising I was into it. Plus, you know, spies and videogames.
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