Funny Things Non-Gamers Get Confused

[PureChaos]

When the GameCube came out I was around 16 so I saved up to get one. When I had enough my mum took me into town to buy one. While I was waiting in the queue at the shop my mum said she was going to go to some of the shops nearby and meet me outside. I made my purchase and went to meet my mum. When we met she said she'd got me a gaming magazine and handed it to me. She doesn't play games (she used to like the original Mario on the NES but that's about it) so when she handed me an XBOX magazine I had had to try really hard not to laugh.

More recently, one of my colleagues at work mentioned a new console they got for the kids and the conversation went something like this:
Him: "We got a Playstation 2...no wait, a Nintendo 2...whatever the latest one is"
Me: "A Switch?"
Him: "That's the one!"

Still find the idea of a Nintendo 2 funny!

Anyone else have anything like that happen?

 

[Pseudonym]

I've seen the newspaper show a picture of a playstation controller, one with the word 'playstation' written on it, with the text 'xbox controller' beneath the picture.

I've met a fair few people who refer to any nintendo product as 'a nintendo'. This has lead to confusion when I was asked if I had a charging device for a nintendo around. Well, yes I do, but not neccesarily for the one you need.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

My dad thought the DS was a "BS" and said "Well, that sounds accurate", and that's more or less it.

Most non-gamer adults in my life have given up and just say "video games / Game system" for any game system because they can't keep up.

 

[Kotaro]

You know, I don't actually know anyone who gets confused like this, at least not that I'm aware of. It's possible I've met someone who would make these sorts of mistakes, but that it never came up in our conversation.
Still, it makes me laugh when I'm watching a TV show or a movie and it ends up like that stupid Secondlife chase scene from CSI, or that scene in I think it was CSI (it might have been something else) where they used footage of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time but with numbered levels added in a stock text font, or that one time in Buffy the Vampire Slayer where Spike was playing the original 8-bit Donkey Kong on an Xbox.

The only trouble I ever had with this sort of thing personally was once, when the Wii had just come out, and my brother and I asked our parents if we could get one. The response was, basically, "You already have a Gamecube and a Playstation 2, those are enough."
I had to explain that, because there were new machines coming out, they wouldn't keep making games for the old ones for too much longer. They quickly grasped the concept, and we got a Wii by the end of the year.
Thankfully, my parents are smart people.

 

[Squilookle]

You know, I don't actually know anyone who gets confused like this, at least not that I'm aware of. It's possible I've met someone who would make these sorts of mistakes, but that it never came up in our conversation.
Still, it makes me laugh when I'm watching a TV show or a movie and it ends up like that stupid Secondlife chase scene from CSI, or that scene in I think it was CSI (it might have been something else) where they used footage of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time but with numbered levels added in a stock text font, or that one time in Buffy the Vampire Slayer where Spike was playing the original 8-bit Donkey Kong on an Xbox.

Don't forget the infamous Mario Kart- Sopranos style scene

 

[Arnoxthe1]

The best part is when he picks Time Trial mode. For two players.

 

[Dalisclock]

I think my favorite is the ever present trope of someone playing a modern console, but the game making "bloop beep" sounds like an Atari, because video game audio hasn't advanced in 30 years.

Hell, Phone games have better audio then that, so there really is no excuse.

Apparently there was an episode of NCIS or CSI where they were tracking some perp who had the top score in EVERY MMO, because the writers apparently didn't know/care what either an MMO is or that most games don't actually track "Scores" anymore.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

I remember a time when all video games were referred to as "Nintendos"

 

[Dalisclock]

I remember a time when all video games were referred to as "Nintendos"

Not quite the same thing, but there are parts of the American South where all Soft Drinks are called "Coke" regardless of who makes it or what it's actually called.

 

[Callate]

It's a little amusing that Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle was produced by a Sony-owned company, and one of the main characters has posters of two Sony-exclusive games in his room, but one of the other characters still refers to the game console that triggers the story as "a Nintendo".

As Dalisclock points out, video games on television still not-infrequently make 80s console noises. Specifically, the Atari 2600 Donkey Kong sounds seem to make frequent appearances. ("bip-bip-bip-bip-bip-bip-bip-BONG-twuddledeedo-bip-bip-bip...")

 

[aprilmurphy444]

I quit my nine to five work and now I am making85 dollars hourly. ...How? I am freelancing online from my home! My old workwas bad for me ,so I was forced to try something new? Two yrs have passed sinceAnd I say it was the wisest decision i ever made! Here is what i do?dpp

........... ► http://www.Help80.Com

 

[BarkBarker]

All jumping games are "a mario" is a favorite I on occasion receive from my mother who pops her head round to see what the blips and bloops are. I had an old friend who was very comfortable with the Windows and iPhone progressive naming system and the methods of ditching older ones as the new ones came.....yet seem confused as to why you'd need a PS4 "when you already has a PS2"

 

[PureChaos]

You know, I don't actually know anyone who gets confused like this, at least not that I'm aware of. It's possible I've met someone who would make these sorts of mistakes, but that it never came up in our conversation.
Still, it makes me laugh when I'm watching a TV show or a movie and it ends up like that stupid Secondlife chase scene from CSI, or that scene in I think it was CSI (it might have been something else) where they used footage of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time but with numbered levels added in a stock text font, or that one time in Buffy the Vampire Slayer where Spike was playing the original 8-bit Donkey Kong on an Xbox.

The only trouble I ever had with this sort of thing personally was once, when the Wii had just come out, and my brother and I asked our parents if we could get one. The response was, basically, "You already have a Gamecube and a Playstation 2, those are enough."
I had to explain that, because there were new machines coming out, they wouldn't keep making games for the old ones for too much longer. They quickly grasped the concept, and we got a Wii by the end of the year.
Thankfully, my parents are smart people.

ALways great when TV programmes or films try and put games into them, especially when what's happening on the screen has no corrolations to what buttons the person is pressing or wthey stop playing to talk but the game carries on. Think there was a scene in Lost where a kid had a Gameboy Advance and told his parent the batteries had gone so he needed new ones. Also saw a show where the presenter was 'playing' on a Wii (good to hear your parents got you one) against someone and commented about how they were winning. The TV screen was at an angle but you could still just about see what was on it and it was on the Wii home page!

 

[C14N]

I remember a time when all video games were referred to as "Nintendos"

Not quite the same thing, but there are parts of the American South where all Soft Drinks are called "Coke" regardless of who makes it or what it's actually called.

It pretty much is the same thing. It's just that a once-dominant brand name was used so much that people use it as a generic name. To some people who don't know much about it (mainly older people since it hasn't really been dominant as a brand in a long time), "Nintendo" is interchangeable with "game console". Same as people saying "Kleenex" instead of "tissue" or "Xerox" instead of "photocopy". I personally always say "Hoover" instead of "vacuum cleaner" the same way, even though I hardly ever see Hoover-brand vacuum cleaners anymore.

 

[C14N]

ALways great when TV programmes or films try and put games into them, especially when what's happening on the screen has no corrolations to what buttons the person is pressing or wthey stop playing to talk but the game carries on. Think there was a scene in Lost where a kid had a Gameboy Advance and told his parent the batteries had gone so he needed new ones. Also saw a show where the presenter was 'playing' on a Wii (good to hear your parents got you one) against someone and commented about how they were winning. The TV screen was at an angle but you could still just about see what was on it and it was on the Wii home page!

I honestly never understood this. Making a TV show is a lot of effort and I'm assuming scripts have drafts written and re-written multiple times. On set, there are going to be dozens of people at least. Getting video games "right" is such a trivial matter. It's not like you need a FOIA request to find out about how they work or like you need to bring in an academic consultant. You could literally just play the actual game with an actual console for a few minutes or in the scene. Reign Over Me got props because it had Shadow of the Colossus clips that were real, but it's obvious that all this took was having Adam Sandler actually play the game and film that.

And yet they consistently mess it up in almost everything else. It's just weird. Video games aren't obscure things or anything. It's not like when a movie set in 1750 features a costume that wouldn't have existed until 1770 and a small number of specialised historians might pick up on it. There have to be several people on the set or working in post on any given episode or movie who know vaguely how they work. And I don't think they're constantly getting other stuff wrong either. If a character is playing a musical instrument or cooking or cutting up wood or whatever else, it's either done properly or just not shown so we don't see it going wrong.

 

[maninahat]

ALways great when TV programmes or films try and put games into them, especially when what's happening on the screen has no corrolations to what buttons the person is pressing or wthey stop playing to talk but the game carries on. Think there was a scene in Lost where a kid had a Gameboy Advance and told his parent the batteries had gone so he needed new ones. Also saw a show where the presenter was 'playing' on a Wii (good to hear your parents got you one) against someone and commented about how they were winning. The TV screen was at an angle but you could still just about see what was on it and it was on the Wii home page!

I honestly never understood this. Making a TV show is a lot of effort and I'm assuming scripts have drafts written and re-written multiple times. On set, there are going to be dozens of people at least. Getting video games "right" is such a trivial matter. It's not like you need a FOIA request to find out about how they work or like you need to bring in an academic consultant. You could literally just play the actual game with an actual console for a few minutes or in the scene. Reign Over Me got props because it had Shadow of the Colossus clips that were real, but it's obvious that all this took was having Adam Sandler actually play the game and film that.

And yet they consistently mess it up in almost everything else. It's just weird. Video games aren't obscure things or anything. It's not like when a movie set in 1750 features a costume that wouldn't have existed until 1770 and a small number of specialised historians might pick up on it. There have to be several people on the set or working in post on any given episode or movie who know vaguely how they work. And I don't think they're constantly getting other stuff wrong either. If a character is playing a musical instrument or cooking or cutting up wood or whatever else, it's either done properly or just not shown so we don't see it going wrong.

The answers in your question. Video games are trivial things, so directors don?t want to spend their precious time getting an actor to play it right when they have to faff with lighting, sound, set dressing, camera positioning etc. Often when a tv show depicts an actor behind a screen, the tv isn?t even on, they?re just directed to act like they are playing. All the audience needs to know is that the character is concentrating on a game, and that isn?t communicated as well if the character is doing what real life players are do; not pressing any buttons and staring at another cut scene, or slowly scrolling through an RPG menu.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Apparently there was an episode of NCIS or CSI where they were tracking some perp who had the top score in EVERY MMO, because the writers apparently didn't know/care what either an MMO is or that most games don't actually track "Scores" anymore.

I remember that episode. Yeah that was painful.

 

[Kotaro]

Apparently there was an episode of NCIS or CSI where they were tracking some perp who had the top score in EVERY MMO, because the writers apparently didn't know/care what either an MMO is or that most games don't actually track "Scores" anymore.

I remember that episode. Yeah that was painful.

It was NCIS, and that wasn't the only thing wrong with that scene. NCIS was a good show, but hoo boy, that bit was baaaaad. I've actually got the scene, if anyone wants to cringe today.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

It was NCIS, and that wasn't the only thing wrong with that scene. NCIS was a good show, but hoo boy, that bit was baaaaad. I've actually got the scene, if anyone wants to cringe today.

Isn't NCIS also responsible for that cringy as hell "hacking" scene where there was two people typing at once on the same keyboard to prevent a guy from getting in or something?

EDIT: Yep.

 

[McElroy]

I think it was CSI (it might have been something else) where they used footage of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time but with numbered levels added in a stock text font.

I have to correct you here a bit: the game was Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones. I'll also add that they depict the guy asked to play it as a Trekkie manchild, and while he fails it's some sort of autistic game proficiency that's actually needed to beat it.

OT: Yeah. Hmm, as far as I can say about my older relatives they either try to genuinely ask questions to get some info or have simply given up completely. Most are in the latter camp. I wonder if I'll become like them.