Video games are a medium capable of the best kinds of surprises, particularly when they jump out of the screen and make a little stir in the real world before retreating back into the digital realm. Ok, if they literally did that, it'd be awesome, but in this case I'm just talking about those times when games break the fourth wall - whether they mean to or not. Sometimes, as in the famous case of Psycho Mantis from Metal Gear Solid, the player has to completely rewire their way of thinking about the game in order to progress - accepting the strange reality that an in-game obstacle can't always be passed simply by pressing buttons on a controller. Other times, characters and events in give irreverent winks to the player, stepping out of the video game reality for just a second before going back to what they were doing before. Then there are those times when the games themselves have no idea just how weirdly they correspond with the real world - to the extent that developers maybe would've reconsidered the design of some of their most iconic characters. The creators of Hitman's Agent 47, for example, will always regret not checking what the barcode on the back of his head corresponded to in real life before assigning it to him...
Gamer, Researcher of strange things.
I'm a writer-editor hybrid whose writings on video games, technology and movies can be found across the internet. I've even ventured into the realm of current affairs on occasion but, unable to face reality, have retreated into expatiating on things on screens instead.
