A Gamer Guide to Battling the Summer Doldrums
Computerspielemuseum
Karl-Marx-Allee 93a, 10243 Berlin
Phone: +49-30-60988577
E-mail: service (at) computerspielemuseum.deBerlin's Computer Game Museum is a really great reason to choose Europe as your summer holiday destination (if you need a reason) as it is packed with exhibits that include the very early history of gaming right up to the modern day games we are playing -- and loving -- right now!
Open from Wednesday to Monday 10 am -8 pm (the Museum is closed on Tuesdays), lucky visitors may arrive during one of the special events that are held throughout the year at the museum -- their description of the regular event Play the Originals includes:
A visit in the Computerspielemuseum is a journey in time leading up to the gaming man of the 21st century, now with a chance to play more games on original machines. Starting now, it is possible to play on two original Amiga computers every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 10 am - 7 pm. These stations will be supervised by an expert, ready to answer all questions regarding the legendary Amiga platform and its games. Come and see for yourself how the Amiga changed the gaming world as we know it!
Left: Andreas Lange, the curator of the museum sitting with Ralph H. Baer (right) father of home video games.
You may get lucky and visit when someone famous or important is on the premises -- for instance in June 2006 Ralph H. Baer -- the father of home video games -- visited the Computer Games Museum (photo above by Computerspielemuseum).
Game Tourism
A phenomenon growing in popularity in the past few years is Game Tourism -- with gamers picking the cities from their favorite games as their holiday destination, a printout of all of the notable locations from the games in hand.
While the city featured in some games is very obvious and easy to figure out, the developers in some games preferred to pick and choose landmarks, buildings, neighborhoods, and locations from a number of different cities -- often geographically distant -- to maximize the eye-pleasing nature of the building architecture and the area. Games like Mafia II are a fine example of that trend, and while you can visit the locations depicted in the game, your holiday would include time spent in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston and Detroit!
Some of the more obvious destinations that are more easily managed and economical include:
Los Angeles: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, L.A. Noire.
Los Vegas: Duke Nukem Series, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
Miami and Fort Lauderdale: Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.
New York City: Batman Series, Grand Theft Auto, Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto IV, GTA Chinatown Wars, GTA Liberty City Stories, Lego Batman, Spiderman Series.
Any GTA IV tour of NYC has to start with a visit to the Met Life building (the "Get A Life" building in the game), followed by a trip out to the Statue of Liberty where, sadly, the Heart of New York does not stand beating inside.
Gamers unfamiliar with the real-life versions of the in-game areas will find this translation a very useful tool in planning out their visit to Liberty City!
Central Island
-- Island City (Lower Manhattan or Midtown Manhattan)
-- Island Height (Washington Heights)
-- Middle Park (Central Park)
-- Nolaw (Inwood)
East Side
-- Brocklyn (Brooklyn)
-- Brocklyn Docks (Brooklyn Navy Yard)
-- Estoria (Astoria)
-- Kings (Queens)
-- Tellberg (Williamsburg)
Minor Islands
-- Law Island (Ward's Island and Randall's Island)
-- Nixon Island (Roosevelt Island)
North Side
-- Brix (Bronx)
West Side
-- Eaglewood (Englewood)
-- Fort Law (Fort Lee)
-- Guernsey City (Jersey City)
-- Hackenslash (Hackensack)
-- New Guernsey (New Jersey)
-- Schlechberg (Guttenberg)
San Francisco: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
Shanghai: Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days.
Sydney, Australia: The Matrix Series.
The list above should easily get you started -- so pick your favorite game that is based on a real-world location and start to Google! One of the most interesting approaches to video game tourism is trying to find hotels to stay in that are featured in your favorite game -- but if you are going to give it a shot you will want to grab a couple of different tourist and travel guides for the city in question, and then replay the game with the eye of a tourist over that of a gamer, taking in the details like buildings and streets that normally would simply fly-by as you played!
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