Yahoo News: Classic Video Game Urban Legends

[TheDomesticInstitution]

http://us.i1.yimg.com/videogames.yahoo.com/feature/video-game-myths-fact-or-fiction-/1182040


Hope no one else has posted this yet... but if so- Mods lock this. Interesting, despite the fact that you may already know that some of these are myths. It's on Yahoo's main page right now. The internal combustion engine was neither internal, nor combustion. Discuss.

[coreys429]

Strongbad typed it no better " Head. Hit. Keyboard. " Come on these weren't urban legends. The ones that were facts I knew and the ones that were fake...lousy.

[Rev. Link]

Ahh, good old Polybius...

[diskoboy]

Ahh, good old Polybius...

Yay for Polybius!!

http://www.sinnesloschen.com/Slide2.JPG

Those men in black coats are still after me, BTW.... (sorry about the history note... It seems the history is part of the image. I only wanted to post the Simpsons pic.)

[noname11]

Lol!

I heard that Sadaam Hussein urban legend regarding Nintendo NES's, from my 6th Grade teacher nontheless.

"Did you all know that Sadam Hussein takes Nintendo joysticks and systems and redesigns them into missle launchers". Good old American Public school system, inculcating its poor youth with tremendous lies. The only other dated urban legend that beats this one is that regarding Baghdad Betty and her Bart Simpson remark.

http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/radio/baghdad.asp

[j_factor]

Funny, I already knew every one of those and whether or not they were true. Yay me?

[coreys429]

Funny, I already knew every one of those and whether or not they were true. Yay me?


I say yay you!

[sidnotcrazy]

Huh, that wasn't a bad article at all for Yahoo. All of those urban legends I had heard of except for Polybius. Total news to me, and thats awesome it was seen in a Simpson's episode.

[rbudrick]

The ET one is doubted to be actually in the millions. There were several tractor trailers of shit, but much of it was old computers and other equipment. No way they buried 5 million ET carts only.

Also, wasn't Polybius confirmed to be a real game, but completely taken out of context? Just another crappy arcade game that people made a myth about?

-Rob

[Rob2600]

wasn't Polybius confirmed to be a real game

No. According to Snopes.com:

"No arcade game called Polybius induced amnesia, caused gamers to wake up screaming in the middle of the night, or attracted the attention of mysterious 'men in black' who periodically came to collect records from Portland-area machines. This one is just a gag someone invented several years ago which has now become enshrined on the web, another version of the conspiracy rumors involving military intelligence agents visiting arcades to collect stored information from game consoles which date to at least the early 1980s. (Back then we were supposed to watch out for men in black who came around to take down the initials of high scorers at Space Invaders, Asteroids, and Defender.)"

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/hoaxes/roundup.asp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polybius_%28game%29

[rbudrick]

No. According to Snopes.com:

"No arcade game called Polybius induced amnesia, caused gamers to wake up screaming in the middle of the night, or attracted the attention of mysterious 'men in black' who periodically came to collect records from Portland-area machines. This one is just a gag someone invented several years ago which has now become enshrined on the web, another version of the conspiracy rumors involving military intelligence agents visiting arcades to collect stored information from game consoles which date to at least the early 1980s. (Back then we were supposed to watch out for men in black who came around to take down the initials of high scorers at Space Invaders, Asteroids, and Defender.)"

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/hoaxes/roundup.asp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polybius_%28game%29

Yes, but I don't think Snopes read the interview with Steven Roach:

http://bitparade.co.uk/modules/articles/article.php?id=21

He's mentioned in the wiki, but like many wikis, it leaves a shit ton to be desired.

-Rob

[rbudrick]

http://www.retrogamer.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=868&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=polybius&start=0

A very interesting thread where Steven Roach answers more questions.

Around page 6 or 7 though, things start to get a little fishy when it is revealed several posters, including Steven Roach, were coming frm the same IP address. Some argue that this is a common tactic people use to simulate other people in order to help prove your point more. Apparently, this is a tactic used by people who are legitimate and fake alike. So, while it may make Steven a little fishy, it does not mean he was lying.

There is no doubt, though, he makes his case INCREDIBLY well. Almost too well played, if it is a hoax.

I'm sure someone could easily search Portland area court records and/or newspapers for validity.

-Rob

[POLYBIUSLIVES]

HTTP://WWW.POLYBIUSLIVES.COM

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