‘Q*bert’ and the video game marathoning trend in the aftermath of ‘The King of Kong’ – Grantland

‘Q*bert’ and the video game marathoning trend in the aftermath of ‘The King of Kong’ – Grantland – Great article. I never really like Q*bert. Something about the way the pyramid was skewed made it very difficult for me to control, and my Q*bert was forever leaping off to his doom.

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3 responses

  1. LynS

    Sometimes, like today, your posts might just as well be written in ancient Greek. They show me there’s a parallel world that doesn’t intersect with the one I inhabit. I have no idea what this means (other than it’s something to do with games and technology. Perhaps that’s all I need to know?)

  2. Kris

    Ha. And sometimes I forget that I should give a little more context for some of these items!

    It’s an interesting article, and luckily you don’t need much background knowledge. Basically, there’s a group of people who are attempting to set the world record for playing a video game for as long as possible. You could argue that it’s a pointless exercise, but really, I don’t see where it’s that different from running a marathon or attempting any difficult feat. They do it to push the limits of human endurance, and that’s kind of fascinating.

    The part that really blew my mind is that they don’t “pause” the game or anything like that. So this fellow plays the game Q*bert, and as he plays he amasses extra lives. And then every now and then, he sets an alarm clock and takes a nap. His little character continues to die over and over while he’s asleep. He has to get up before all the lives are gone and then keep going. Isn’t that crazy?

    (And I still recommend the documentary “The King of Kong,” which is about a guy’s attempt to regain some self-worth by winning the world record at the video game Donkey Kong. You don’t have to know anything about video games to enjoy it; it’s a very well-made doc!)

  3. LynS

    Thanks for the expanded answer, Kris. Like you, I’m fascinated by most things that challenge endurance. I was just lacking context on this one.