Competition

CBS News has an interview with Jack Thompson in which he claims that video games don't offer legitimate compeition to their players. Actually, the phrase he used was “no sportsmanship.” Which is hilarious because 1UP.COM just ran an interview with Tomonobu Itagaki about the upcoming Dead or Alive tournament. Among the competitors will be the developers of the games. He urges players to become champions for their home countries and “I can tell you,” says Itagaki, “that those who wish to challenge me personally should step forward and speak up.” Now let me remind you that half a year has passed since the Evo2K4 SF3 Championship, where a Street Fighter III player won by parrying fourteen times (even once is incredibly hard) and driving the room wild. No sportsmanship my ass!

Incidentally, Joystiq's take on the interview and Jack Thompson's hidden message is one of the funniest things I've read all day. I'm not going to quote it. Go see it for yourself!

But how about competiting in the game of life? Like, say, getting into college? Can videogames help you there? Well, let's see now... Joystiq just picked up a story about how a Student Writes Essay on His CoH Experience, Gets Into College.

So I guess they can.