It's all about fun ... and games

Beauty is in the eye of the controller holder in a one-night art show in Cape Girardeau for this month's First Friday art walk.

James Thurman organized a show of art pieces that depict the games and gaming systems of the days of old — Nintendo, Atari, etc. He called it "retro video game art" in the e-mail. In my early 20s, I didn't think I could say that I was alive and remember when something that is now "retro" was the hot, new thing.

Apparently, I was wrong.

I vividly remember my brother, sister and I begging for a Nintendo gaming system in the late 1980s. It came with two games. You remember (and if you don't remember, turn the page now; it might get a little confusing): It was "Duck Hunt" and "Mario Bros." Christmas morning we ripped it open and started zoning out to our new toy, pixilated characters and polyphonic sound and all.

Gaming systems have evolved since the days of "Pong" and "Pac-Man." You can now kill people in other states via Halo online. You can save alternate personas and slice open other characters with giant swords or other fictional weapons thanks to role-playing games like "Final Fantasy." These new games are making the younger generation more aggressive and desensitized to violence.

Bull honky. If that were true, we would all be vicious, angry, sword-wielding maniacs.

Thurman's show, titled "Game Over," reminded me of the "retro" games from which the modern ones came. Hello? Nintendo came with a gun! The original first-person shooter I can remember was "Punisher," and I'm sure my online readers will set me straight as to the real first shooting game — come on, what was it?

In "Street Fighter" and — more important to me — "Street Fighter 2," little red and blue men kicked and cut the bad guys in the streets of some dirty city. It just so happened that the graphics weren't very good and you didn't know it was Miami.

But now the systems have evolved and the game plots are more detailed. Designers create much more realistic graphics and characters and dialogue. So now the games breed violence. Those new games are going to make people angry, murderous degenerates who will go out, steal a car and run people over for fun. Yep. Then they'll be killed by a fireball thrown by Koopa in the castle on Level 8 and the cycle will start again.

Old and new, gaming systems aren't only about violence. "Adventure Island" was a kid on a skate board jumping over rocks. "Excitebike" was dirt bikes and customized courses. Rock Band teaches rhythm if nothing else, and "NCAA Hoops" lets you live March Madness. Its all about fun ... and the games.

Whatever you play, pause the game and get out into real life for a little retrospective. "Game Over" will be in the River View Room upstairs in Buckner Brewing Co. The artwork ranges from graphic design to pencil drawings. For a complete list of the First Friday art walk receptions turn to page 7. That is, if you haven't already turned the page. Then again, if you have, you wouldn't be reading this.

Well you don't know what you've missed.