10 Greatest Meta Sci-Fi Movies Of All Time

The 1983 film, War Games is an example of a nightmare situation in which one of the horrifying scenarios often present in video games suddenly becomes real. It's a story where a gamer, whose actions in the game typically have no consequences, finds out that the game he's been playing could destroy the world.

In the movie a computer whiz kid thinks it will be fun to hack a near sentient government supercomputer and play one of its simulation games. He and his friend laugh as they play the game and pretend to nuke Las Vegas. Unfortunately for him (and the world) the game turns into a real life countdown to nuclear Armageddon.

It's a classic of the cold war doomsday genre with an 80's cyberpunk twist. The teenage protagonists clash with authority figures who don't want to listen all while being haunted by the spectre of their own mortality and impending human extinction, along with the crushing knowledge that it's all their fault.