Seriously, the father and the little monster child are playing N64 and using the d-pad. I've never ever come across an N64 game that actually used the d-pad. Also, random button mashing and sound effects from the 1970s.
sharePretty stupid indeed
sharePeople will read your post and think WHO CARES?
I'm sure it does seem like a small detail, and I guess it is. But this is also a big gripe with means well. And there are tons of television shows and films that are offenders of this.
I'm so sick of seeing this but he's the scene: a kid is playing a video game, he's facing the camera. He's holding the game controller and he's pushing every button on the controller as fast as he can while he leans from side to side. All the while generic 1970's Atari sounds come from the TV
Sometimes they make it even worse by adding dialog that goes something like this:
MOTHER: "Come on honey, put the game away and do your homework"
To which the son replies one of the following
SON: "Aww mom just a little longer? I'm almost on level 20!"
SON: "But mom I'm about to reach 100,000 points!"
As if points and levels are anything that matters in games anymore.
When I see this it's very clear that whoever wrote the script has never played a video game and they are only going on what they have seen in other films of TV shows. OR they have played a game before but it was Space Invaders 35 years ago.
But it still amazes me because even if the writer is out of touch, what about the director? Or ANYONE else on the set? How about the young actor supposedly playing the video game?! You would think someone would speak up and say, this isn't the way this works.
As if points and levels are anything that matters in games anymore.
In short, the largely narrative structure of most games no longer employs a level or point system. Some mobile games are still based on points and levels, but these are viewed as "arcade" style games.
Modern games have checkpoints, saves, missions, chapters, etc. Some games follow a linear structure you might be able to term as "levels", but open world choice driven gameplay is very much vogue right now, so outside of niche gaming circles, levels and points aren't really used to drive gameplay.
A much more realistic line would be "Hold on mom, I'm almost to the next checkpoint!"
It's like every director/writer took one course in "video game" terminology written in 1989, and simply refused to learn one new thing about the gaming industry.
It's akin to having a scene where a character sits down to Netflix, and you hear the sound of a dial up modem connecting to show that they're getting on the "world wide web".
Just silly.
I wrote a script for a film that takes place in 1995 and I have, in great detail, written about the kid playing Donkey Kong Country 2 all the way down to the level he's playing. I hate it when you have these fake video game situations.
shareWho cares..the jist of the scene came through..who cares how a toy is not depicted 100% correct..yes that's right..a toy..advances in technology blah blah blah..
shareYeah who cares...if I'm watching an action crime thriller set in modern day New York, and a chase scene ensues on HORSEBACK, that would be totally fine...I mean, the jist is there...
shareI guess I would be bitter and angry towards video games too if I were old and felt as if technology was "closing in on me" so to speak...
shareLOL I was thinking the SAME thing during that part! They always 'over act' when playing video games in TV/movies and I even said to myself "That isn't how you held an N64 controller." Hilarious! Always bugs me. And yea, those sound effects were something else.
shareLOL I was thinking the SAME thing during that part! They always 'over act' when playing video games in TV/movies and I even said to myself "That isn't how you held an N64 controller." Hilarious! Always bugs me. And yea, those sound effects were something else.
shareSo what!!!! It was such an insignificant part of the movie. Let it go!!!
I don't love her.. She kicked me in the face!!
NO!
shareYou have to understand what it's like for people who know how wrong it is. It takes you out of the film, and is just sloppy.
As an allegory, how would you feel if you were watching a tense drama set in 2015, and one of the characters pulled out one of those 1980s huge cell phones with the battery backpack and casually made a call and referenced "long distance charges", and none of the characters showed any signs of this being ridiculous in 2015.
Would that maybe bug you a little bit?