Well it didn't strictly have to be your mum, but, until recent times, people would often walk in front of video game players and into the outstretched lead of a controller, either a) yanking said controller from the gamer's unsuspecting hands or b) sending the console flying off the shelf (this was worse). The original Xbox of 2002 tried to solve this problem prior to the invention of wireless controllers, by ingeniously making it so that the first thing to give in the event of a human/controller cable collision was the lead itself, which would detach into two pieces like a frightened salamander - to the relief of all concerned. Try telling that to the kids today with their wireless motion controllers and hands-free, bluetooth-enabled, smart-pads (or whatever). They'll never know what it was like.
A regular film and video games contributor for What Culture, Robert also writes reviews and features for The Daily Telegraph, GamesIndustry.biz and The Big Picture Magazine as well as his own Beames on Film blog. He also has essays and reviews in a number of upcoming books by Intellect.
