Happy thanksgiving everybody! I’ve been wondering when was a good time to publish this blog, and Thanksgiving seems to be about the best opportunity to talk about food related video game interests. So as you sit down to the computer, relaxed and nicely engorged from the undoubtedly wonderful meal that you’ve just had, lets do something really gluttonous, and talk about MORE food. For a long time, it’s been recognized that great video game music can aid in remembering a moment from a game with great clarity. And of course, seeing a game’s classic characters or locations will also bring to mind what it was like to play it. But recently I have realized that there is another form of association in videogames which I have experienced. When I taste just the right foods, I immediately have memories of a time when I was playing a video game and consuming that same food. I don’t know of many games or foods like that, but it sticks out in my mind as something unique and worth mentioning.

Back in high school, I had long hassle-free summer breaks between school years. Usually that gave me huge periods of time to play especially long games like RPGs. It’s really surprising that game companies don’t take advantage of this and release more games over the summer for younger players who have the time to play them then. Anyways, one particular summer, I borrowed Grand Theft Auto: Vice City from a friend, maybe one or two years after it had been released. I took a whole month out of my summer to play that game and steal/blow up as many cars as I could get my hands on. In the real world, I was lazily lying around, playing this game and eating a new brand of party mix chips which had Dorritos, Cheetos, and Pretzels all in one bag that got you closer to a heart attack with each mouthful. Soon, that was my snack of choice while going on a rampage through the city. Eventually, I made my way through the story missions until it was time to take vengeance on my betraying buddy Lance. I took back my place as the Mafia kingpin of that city of vice, and ended my killing spree. Strangely, I lost my taste for the party mix, and went back to my regular combination of Goldfish Crackers and pretzel sticks. A couple months after that, I ended up buying those same party mix chips again, and found that as soon as I started noshing I was mentally back in Vice City, sexing up hookers and avoiding the po-po. It was almost as vivid as actually re-experiencing that one especially unproductive month that summer. I didn’t realized how ingrained some of those moments in the game were in me until that happened.

Another clearly memorable game that is connected to a particular food is Jakk 3, which I played just last year. This time the food was freshly baked biscuits. I can’t say why, but for the longest time, me and my brother have loved biscuits with butter and jelly on them. Around the time that I was playing through the early Haven city missions in Jakk 3, I happened to pick up some biscuits from the store and shared them with my family. It was really a good experience to have with everyone standing around the kitchen, waiting for the biscuits to turn that appetizing shade of golden brown, and talking or laughing while we ate them. We ended up doing this a couple more times because we liked it so much, and I would always go back to playing Jakk 3 when I had my belly full of that buttery baked goodness. Earlier this year, I was brought back to those times when I ate some more of those biscuits, and also recalled those treacherous missions in Jakk requiring you to gain ancients’ technology in the belly of long forgotten crypts and tombs. I’m glad Jakk 3 is tied to the taste of biscuits and family times, and hopefully I’ll remember them if I play it again, getting hungry for more biscuits.

But these are not the only examples that come to mind when gamers eat and play at the same time. I’m sure everyone has some game that they associate with eating pizza when sitting around the console with your buddies, passing around the controller, and trash talking all night long. It just goes with the territory when you have good friends who enjoy the same games as you. Pizza will be there, and it will be consumed while you play video games. For me, I think it’s hard to call just which game most strongly sticks with the taste of pizza. I have to say that I did play a TON of Halo 2 and 3 at my friend Blake’s house, often when there was pizza in abundance, and with a mountain dew close by. But I also recall that with Super Smash Bros and even Tekken 5, pizza made it’s way to the party. I guess pizza is too much of an all purpose gamer food for it to be connected to one specific game.

I think developers have only just begun to really explore how we not only interact with video games, but how they interact with us. Just imagine how much impact a game would have if you were so fully immersed in it that you could touch, taste, and smell, as well as hear and see the world that they have created for you to explore. To me, video games already create such strong impression, that the prospect almost frightens me with how deeply I would find myself immersed in virtual reality, when there is a nice one already provided for us. Anyways, I hope that was a interesting diversion for everyone who read this, and once again, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!