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Thursday, July 11, 2002

Video Game Simulation Matchup of the Day

It was the oddest thing! I was playing NHL 2002 for the Playstation and had a match up of Minnesota Wild vs. the Pittsburgh Penguins. With less than 1:30 left in the game and the Wild on a power play down 5-3, Jim Dowd had the puck in the Penguins zone and from the top of the key, just somehow started skating in circles. This stunt effectively run out the last few remaining seconds to their Power Play and with it their hopes of mounting a comeback. I shouted, "Shoot it!" to imitate a fan sitting there in real life. Straka eventually sunk the "empty netter" for the Penguins to win 6-3.

This isn't the first odd glitch that I've seen the computer simulate. Another odd moment a while ago was when between periods the Rink PA announcer had given a warning to the fans (and presumably to the gamer) that "the puck could enter the stands at anytime, so be alert." This wouldn't be so bad if it had not zoomed in on #21 Espen Knutsen and Team Norway leaving the bench going back to the locker room for the 2nd Intermission. I'll remind you that it was Knutsen's blocked shot that went into the stands that claimed the life of a young Columbus Blue Jackets fan. Don't you find that eerie? A computer game and the programmers that made the game with no premonition of the tragedy, somehow later have everything line up for an insensitive twist of irony? What are the chances of a close-up of Knutsen and that random voice over at that time?

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