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Tag: Gaming

22 Sep

The Corner of Screen and Street…

DLR / Sports, Tech / / 0 Comments

screen-street-dlrTurns out I’m not the only one dressed appropriately for Call Of Duty. I heard the Call… My only mistake was not taking a picture with the zombies on the way out. What a gas! The future on 25-ft screens and all of the action was backstage. That looked like something from a science fiction movie– all of the gamers were sitting at long tables with headsets. “The meek shall inherit the Earth,” just like it says in the Bible… or is it Spiderman?

A lot of what’s happening on the screens is like boxing. It is perfectly age appropriate if you realize that the age of the traditional gamer at the moment is probably 20, exactly 4 months before Mike Tyson became heavyweight champion. There is a great degree of reflexive jabbing, stick and move, shoot and go, run to action in both events. These are military, boxing and jiu-jitsu terms and it’s perfect for the gender and age grouping that I saw in action at The Forum and there was a lot of action at the forum. The Forum holds 17,000 of your closest friends. I know. That was just the bathroom… (Stick with me. We talk about time travel in an upcoming blog and I’ll take you back to that bathroom in 1982 until then, it’s all allegations.) There’s a reflex in gaming similar to what you might have in a street fight. You learn to anticipate and almost levitate like a hovercraft. It’s different than grandparent games like chess, go or backgammon that pre-date what’s happening now digitally. I love what’s happening digitally particularly now that we’re at the corner of Screen and Street. That sounds like an actual place… and it actually is.
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02 Sep

Call of Duty

DLR / Sports, Tech / / 1 Comment

DLRandRussWe’re going to the Call Of Duty® Gaming Empire Mega All-Pro Heavyweight Internationals that now takes up a 17,000 seat arena for three days. It doesn’t really matter what it’s called, that’s how I feel. These people competing are not contestants anymore, these are athletes. There are now universities that not only sponsor but field teams of gamers requiring all the qualifications and specifications that you would for a contact football player or a professional tennis player or any other sports team. So the question is, is a gamer an athlete?

Let’s back up… Chess teams have been around for as long as I have and a couple of lifetimes before. We never think twice about the UCLA chess team. They’re sweating. I saw a commercial about an off road 4-wheel vehicle that said, “2 mph has never been so exciting.” It looked like the Jeep was going to fall over backwards and the chick at the wheel was squealing with ecstatic glee. I knew I had to have both, the Jeep and the dame. Perhaps if I bought the Jeep first, it would facilitate the later (you have to think like a guy). 2 mph was fine by me on both accounts. Besides, I’m at the age now where if I go any faster they can’t see who’s driving. Priorities do shift.

I think they’re athletes. Did your heart rate go up to 280 BPM? I think I’ve heard some great material at the Rehab Beach Club in Las Vegas that got my heart rate up to 280 BPM. For me, that’s standard when I’m walking out in front of Madison Square Garden. At Van Halen’s all-time great we had 350,000 people in attendance one night. I’m trying to remember… was that backstage or in front of the stage? Regardless, they were just close friends.
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