Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Crouching Tiger, Limping Dragon

There is a video game where you're an American cop, ridding Japan of predominantly Chinese gangsters. You stand on a mat and under a bar, and the game detects your movement. When the gangsters shoot at you, it gives you cues like "HIDE," complete with arrows. It's pretty cool -- you dart behind telephone poles, walls, cars, trash cans and whatnot, in order to reload your gun and take shelter. Fooling the sensors doesn't work (I tried) -- you really do have to squat, bend, and crouch to avoid getting shot and ending the game.

It took me 22 minutes to complete the 7 courses, round up all the crime lords, and learn that it counts against your score if you accidentally hit a police officer or innocent bystander. Then I got uber-competitive with myself and wanted to beat my own best time. And I did: I got it down to 21 minutes, then 20, then 19 minutes. So in all, I got a good 2-hour squat-bend workout.

Which means that, for the second day in a row now, walking is extremely painful.

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