Do you recall the good old days of video game systems? Where cute, harmless and completely unbelievable and mythical characters would tackle zany adventure in make-believe worlds far away from our own? Those days are long gone, now. In today's video game world, many games made for the Playstation Portable use the real world and all its issues as their creative fountain from which to drink. Video games used to be a diversion from reality, and now, they are another window into it. Depending on your vantage point, that can be very good or very bad indeed.

Consider one of the most enduring and endearing video games in history: Super Mario Bros. A plumber falls through a pipe and enters a world where he must rescue a princess, defeat and evil monster and navigate a world full of mushrooms, blocks, question marks and goombas. No matter how imaginative one's imagination could be, there is simply no way that such an occurrence could happen in this world, like, for real. So, the illusion of the game remains intact.

More and more video game systems are using today's issues for today's video games. Now, there are always a dearth of video games that are still fantasy based, and there always will be. However, you are more than likely to discover a game that takes place in the deserts of the Middle East rather than the Kingdom of Mushrooms. Could you imagine a video game in the early 1980s based on the Cold War? But, today, there are many video games using current events as a fantasy gaming world.

There are many reasons as to why more and more video games, like those on the Microsoft Xbox 360 are using reality as their fantasy. The improvement of video game graphics can makes it easier to make real world wars, conflicts and issues appear that much, more, real, on the screen. It could be that developing a video game based on the battle in Afghanistan is easier to develop than starting a game from scratch with new characters, settings, storylines, etc. It could simply be an easy way to reach frustrated gamers who want to participate in the real world fight, but simply can't or won't. In the latter instance, at least, it can make for a quick way to make a quick dollar.

Before, video games used to be an easily defined line between escape and realism. On one side, was life and the real world with all its problems and ailments, most of which you can't control. Video games, like the Microsoft Xbox 360, allow you to be the ultimate ruler of the universe contained within. Idea: why not combine the two, and give a video game player the complete control that video games provide into a real world situation in which otherwise, they feel powerless?

It seems that today, a gamer can watch the news, get upset and then do something about it in the real world that exists inside their Sony PSP or Xbox. The merits of such a union is a matter for another debate altogether. By: Ian Hewitt

yea i remeber now look @ these games i say the next step for the gaming industry is virtual reality because i don think graphics can get any better then ps3