Obama & Kids Call Astronauts, Want to Know: Can You Play Video Games in Space?
Obama & Kids Call Astronauts, Want to Know: Can You Play Video Games in Space?
March 24, 2009
Video games came up when President Obama made a long-distance phone call to the International Space Station this morning.
As reported by ABC News, Obama, some members of Congress and a group of Washington, D.C. school kids spent 28 minutes videoconferencing with the crew of the shuttle Discovery.
The Prez was friendly and conversational with the astronauts. When it came time for some questions from the students, the first one was, "Can you play video games in space?"
Obama dutifully relayed the question to the crew. Perhaps surprisingly, the answer that came back was yes, you can play video games in space.
In fact, one of the astronauts (we're not clear as to which one) replied:
We can, in fact. And in fact a few years ago when I was up here for six months I had a video game that I used to play in my spare time. Unfortunately, we don't have much spare time.
So we can, we have a lot of laptop computers. But for the most part we stay real busy doing real work.
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Crispy Gamer
GamePolitics ShoutBox
Posted 03/17/10 at 06:23pm
FlakAttack: News from Canada: Conservatives launch protest against proposed "digital media recorder" levy
FlakAttack: News from Canada: Conservatives launch protest against proposed "digital media recorder" levy
Posted 03/17/10 at 05:09pm
ZippyDSMlee: Devrys online corses are about 5-7 grand a year I think.
ZippyDSMlee: Devrys online corses are about 5-7 grand a year I think.
Posted 03/17/10 at 04:40pm
Valdearg: @Zip: Not exclusively Online, I don't think. And it's like 17,000 a year, to attend. Not worth it, IMO.
Valdearg: @Zip: Not exclusively Online, I don't think. And it's like 17,000 a year, to attend. Not worth it, IMO.
Posted 03/17/10 at 04:25pm
ZippyDSMlee: Vlag:do they have online corses?
ZippyDSMlee: Vlag:do they have online corses?
Posted 03/17/10 at 04:22pm
Valdearg: Fun. For what it's worth, at ITT, it was 8 Week Quarters.
Valdearg: Fun. For what it's worth, at ITT, it was 8 Week Quarters.
Posted 03/17/10 at 04:10pm
ZippyDSMlee: Vlag:looky here, http://forums.theeca.com/showthread.php?t=8590
ZippyDSMlee: Vlag:looky here, http://forums.theeca.com/showthread.php?t=8590
Posted 03/17/10 at 04:09pm
ZippyDSMlee: Valdearg:So force our nobles in charge to re join normal sosicty is unrealistic?
ZippyDSMlee: Valdearg:So force our nobles in charge to re join normal sosicty is unrealistic?
Posted 03/17/10 at 04:08pm
Valdearg: Instead of thinking about these fanciful notions of how things should work in your world, you should be thinking how can we realistically fix the problems with our current system. Small steps mean progress, big leaps are usually defeated.
Valdearg: Instead of thinking about these fanciful notions of how things should work in your world, you should be thinking how can we realistically fix the problems with our current system. Small steps mean progress, big leaps are usually defeated.
Posted 03/17/10 at 04:07pm
Valdearg: @Zip: Thinking realistically is the first step to bettering yourself. :P
Valdearg: @Zip: Thinking realistically is the first step to bettering yourself. :P
Posted 03/17/10 at 04:06pm
ZippyDSMlee: They should be treated as part of society not nobility and I have been labeled an incompetent so I can haz my monies, not like its enough to live on....going to be fun when I start devry in a few years.....
ZippyDSMlee: They should be treated as part of society not nobility and I have been labeled an incompetent so I can haz my monies, not like its enough to live on....going to be fun when I start devry in a few years.....
Posted 03/17/10 at 04:04pm
ZippyDSMlee: House/senate/P/VP do not need to be paid , they also should be blocked from working with any industry thats attached to government(even lowest contract bids) after office.
ZippyDSMlee: House/senate/P/VP do not need to be paid , they also should be blocked from working with any industry thats attached to government(even lowest contract bids) after office.
Posted 03/17/10 at 04:02pm
ZippyDSMlee: Also survive<live
ZippyDSMlee: Also survive<live
Posted 03/17/10 at 04:00pm
ZippyDSMlee: They do not need to be paid, the fame,influence,back scratching, free security and reduced housing is all they need to live and work.They live far to far away from society to be charged with its governance....
ZippyDSMlee: They do not need to be paid, the fame,influence,back scratching, free security and reduced housing is all they need to live and work.They live far to far away from society to be charged with its governance....
Posted 03/17/10 at 03:59pm
ZippyDSMlee: Vlag:If I had the millions they did on average I would not need my check to survive.
ZippyDSMlee: Vlag:If I had the millions they did on average I would not need my check to survive.
Posted 03/17/10 at 03:57pm
Valdearg: So, you want congress to work for free while you don't work and get paid.. Sounds totally logical.
Valdearg: So, you want congress to work for free while you don't work and get paid.. Sounds totally logical.
Posted 03/17/10 at 03:56pm
ZippyDSMlee: Vlag: Goverment needs an overhaul not absolute destruction tho I dubt it would be changed any other way >>.
ZippyDSMlee: Vlag: Goverment needs an overhaul not absolute destruction tho I dubt it would be changed any other way >>.
Posted 03/17/10 at 03:55pm
ZippyDSMlee: Vlag:Only if congress stops taking their checks :P
ZippyDSMlee: Vlag:Only if congress stops taking their checks :P
Posted 03/17/10 at 03:41pm
Valdearg: @Zip: Tell you what. How about you be the first to forsake government. You want to neuter it, how about you stop cashing those SSD Checks you receive every month. I mean, if Government is bad, then clearly, that money is corrupt.
Valdearg: @Zip: Tell you what. How about you be the first to forsake government. You want to neuter it, how about you stop cashing those SSD Checks you receive every month. I mean, if Government is bad, then clearly, that money is corrupt.
Posted 03/17/10 at 03:08pm
ZippyDSMlee: Can we neuter government first before we fix health care?
ZippyDSMlee: Can we neuter government first before we fix health care?
Posted 03/17/10 at 02:33pm
Andrew Eisen: I just skimmed the article but it doesn't appear the survey was made up, just that it was sourced incorrectly.
Andrew Eisen: I just skimmed the article but it doesn't appear the survey was made up, just that it was sourced incorrectly.
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Game Politics and Game Politics logo are trademarks of the ECA.
Comments
-16 ton weight drops on head- well that was a dumb question
Watching JT on GP is just like watching an episode of Jerry springer only as funny as the fights
They are, as it says in the article, kids. They are curious and ask whatever pops into their heads. Give'm a break, man. I'm sure you weren't Sir Isaac Newton at the age of 13, either.
--- XboxLive Tag: JuiceLayerJihad
I just can't help but picture the russian dude from "armageddon" playing WoW.
I can only imagine the lag.
http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/1977/campers.png
(not sure how to post a pic, but this will do)
Post a smiley, right click it and go to image properties, change the Url and hit OK.
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Debates are like merry go rounds. Two people take their positions then they go through the same points over and over and over again. Then when it's over they have the same positions they started in.
Also, if you open the url in another window and have that window over this window (so that you can see both this comment field and the image), you can simply drag the picture into the comment field and it will work just the same. Just drag and drop, but make sure that you can see the image and comment area at the same time, no scrolling.
-If an apple a day keeps the doctor away....what happens when a doctor eats an apple?-
THIS! is how you kill Onyxia! Now we can go home!
Can't help but laugh.
Wasn't this news in the 1980s when the Russian cosmonauts took Game Boys with them so they could play Tetris?
---
The Mammon Industry
Well, the Gameboy was released in Japan in mid-1989, so I doubt you're thinking of that particular handheld. Perhaps it was Nintendo's Game & Watch system (which was bundled with Tetris) or the Russian G&W knock-off Elektronika (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elektronika#Electronic_toys).
Only reason I'm digging this much into this was my own first thought to your post, which was "huh, I thought Game Boy came out in the early 90's."
The more you know!
--- XboxLive Tag: JuiceLayerJihad
And knowing is half the battle.
G.I. JOEEEEEE
| XBOX LIVE GamerTag: Harry Miste | Steam ID: Harry Miste | PSN ID: HarryMiste |
lol, of course they can play videogames in space. Stuff doesn't just stop working when you get up there. But I imagine that when you get into space, playing videogames suddenly doesn't seem as interesting anymore.
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Believe in something! Even if it's wrong, believe in it! -Glenn Beck
Let me guess: Dead Space?
Andrew Eisen
lol, that was a good one. Yeah, playing dead space and watching Alien and Event Horizon.
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Believe in something! Even if it's wrong, believe in it! -Glenn Beck
That's like the time i was walking home alone at night with Silent Hill Homecoming...just flat out asking for some smack-down from the gods of irony and coincidence.
I'm actually making another trip to Centralia, Pennsylvania, the place the movie is based off of. I went once alone, and it creeped the hell out of me, but walking was unsafe if I went too far so I decided not to explore the whole place.
Those are excellent ways never to sleep again.
How's the ping up there?
I'm an attention whore. So visit my DevaintArt and feed my ego. Feed the whore. http://keaton2008.deviantart.com/
Let's hope nobody brought a gun with them. Lord knows what might happen if they play GTA IV too long.
"HEY! LISTEN!"
Would the PS3 six axis, or the Wiimote work in zero G though? Seriously though; if I could get to fly the space shuttle around in space, why would I need a video game
PSN: bracomadar
You actually make a good point about the six axis and Wiimote. Can the motion sensors work without gravity?
Yeah I would like to do this experiment. I'm a bit of a scientist myself also. I like to do this experiment.
Can somebody write up a experiment and come up with a hypothesis for it??
I woulda pissed my pants if they came back with "Yeah, we play a GTA with a mod that lets us shoot space cops".
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
Nightwng2000 has also updated his MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/nightwing2000 Nightwng2000 is now admin to the group "Parents For Education, Not Legislation" on MySpace as http://groups.myspace.com/pfenl
Think they ever played this in space?
http://www.mobygames.com/game/atari-2600/space-shuttle-a-journey-into-sp...
If so, seems kinda redundant.
Nah, more likely this one:
http://www.mobygames.com/game/shuttle
That one was more of a challenge.
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
Nightwng2000 has also updated his MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/nightwing2000 Nightwng2000 is now admin to the group "Parents For Education, Not Legislation" on MySpace as http://groups.myspace.com/pfenl
If I were in space I'd try playing a star wars game myself.
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Debates are like merry go rounds. Two people take their positions then they go through the same points over and over and over again. Then when it's over they have the same positions they started in.
Its clear that they play DDR in space
LOL, I just noticed that in the picture, it looks like Obama is looking at the sky while he's talking to them. or more like looking up out the window.
I can imagine when Astronaughts are not working, they are playing on their nintendo DS and they lose their stylus pen because they forgot to put it in the DS back of it.
Then the pen would just float away.
I bet they play Backyardigans: Mission to Mars. That game is set aboard the Space Shuttle, and it's just about the difficulty level that folks at NASA would be able to handle.