->''"You Win! Advance to Level 7!"''
-->-Life

->''"POINTS!"''

'''Note''': Not to be confused with the [[{{Pac-Man}} game of the same name]]. ''Or'' the song by Buckner & Garcia.

For whatever reason, video games seen on TV never evolved past a very primitive state. Classic 8-bit games (such as ''{{Pac-Man}}''), 2D graphics, synthetic sound and music, and pixelated graphics are bleeding-edge technology.

In live action, standard practice is to render bleeping ArcadeSounds, and bounce a shifting light pattern off the characters playing. In animation, actual game graphics can be rendered, but they are seldom very sophisticated.

Characters talking about video games will similarly seem out of touch. Game environments are referenced as numbered "levels", even though only a few games still use this linear nomenclature. Likewise, the goal of every game is to [[ScoringPoints earn as many points as possible]], but this style of gameplay became increasingly rare between the [[NintendoHard early Nintendo days]] and the days of [[HundredPercentCompletion achievements]]. Games also seldom have storylines, and if they do they're [[ExcusePlot excuse plots]] like "save the galaxy from aliens". Even old Atari-style Joystick controllers still show up, periodically. Video games are also capable of starting up the moment the system is turned on. The player does not get to choose any options for the game, but is immersed in it immediately.

Furthermore, any character playing video games on TV must [[ButtonMashing mash the buttons]] randomly as quickly as possible. This phenomenon stems from the widely held misconception among non-gamers that mastering a video game is largely a matter of learning to push buttons as fast as possible. Of course, for the vast majority of games, this simply isn't true.

This trope has many root causes. First of all, in animation the characters are already primitive, so it makes sense the video game characters would be [[StylisticSuck even more so]]. Second, video games directly compete with TV as a time sink, so taking the expense of making them appear as attractive as contemporary games could theoretically ''hurt'' ratings. But most of all, though, a large portion of the audience (and the writers) simply grew up with old games with royalty-free bloops and bleeps (see SmallReferencePools).

Often when a title is a GameWithinAGame, this is either an excuse to put in an old-style game to parody the games of yore, (the shmup in ''NoMoreHeroes'') an entire embedded old game, usually as a ShoutOut to itself or its developers(''DonkeyKong64'' contained both the original ''DK'' and ''JetPac'') or simply a way to make the in-game game not look like the real game.

There is another, more straightforward reason for ''sound'' specifically being rendered in 8-bit beeps; actual games have realistic sounds intended to immerse the player (and anyone else nearby) in the game environment. Of course, if you're writing a TV show, you don't really want that -- you want viewers paying attention to the people playing the game, not the game itself. Realistic explosions, battle cries, music, and so on coming from the game would distract the audience; so everything is reduced to 8-bit beeps that won't get in the way. (For this reason, you'll often see games with realistic graphics but 8-bit sounds.) Even if it isn't, it's filtered so as to sound like it's coming out of ''really'' cheap speakers. Actual modern videogame ''music'' in particular is almost never present, since it would end up setting the mood for the scene in a way that the writers probably do not intend.

On the flip side, many people who grew up with the primitive games now play the new ones as adults, so more and more of the audience can be expected to play and enjoy modern games. That's why this trope is less common in {{anime}}, due to the cultural Japanese technophilia. In fact, many developers have taken to completely [[RatedMForMoney ignoring children as an audience altogether]]. It's also commonly averted when the parent company is trying to [[ProductPlacement cross-sell]] the games of its wholly owned subsidiary. Coupled with the falling cost of high-performance graphics technology, and this trope may be on the outs. In its place, welcome UltraSuperDeathGoreFestChainsawer3000.

Note that, for many of these examples, the characters ''could theoretically'' have a system that's modded to emulate classic games or use a different kind of controller or somesuch. However, unless this is explicitly pointed out, we can assume it's a mistake.

Somewhat related are all the stock "car chase explosion" sounds coming out of the television when a character is watching an action show, or the "completely random funny sound effects and [[MickeyMousing expressive music]], never mind if it doesn't match the onscreen action at all" when the character is watching cartoons. If you're too young to remember what ''{{Pac-Man}}'' was like on the 2600, check [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HL2p2ANFlQ4 this]] out. And [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juH2qHYX9aI this]] for good measure.

A reason for this might be that getting the rights to use non-stock sounds for video games, and even the screens of the games themselves could cause some copyright infringements.

Pushed far enough, can lead to SchizoTech.

-----
!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* Done deliberately in ''ArcadeGamerFubuki''. Fubuki's first opponent plays a joystick game while wearing boxing gloves.
* A fairly obscure example lies in the sole english-subbed episode of ''Kyou Kara Ore Wa!'', where at one point, the main character is waiting for someone, and playing early GameBoy shooter ''Solar Striker'', complete with actual footage. However, the sounds are your generic random bleeps and bloops as opposed to the actual (bleeping and blooping) soundtrack.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film]]
* In ''CharliesAngels'', ''two'' boys are shown playing ''FinalFantasyVIII'', a one-player game. Furthermore, they're just randomly mashing buttons... during a battle {{cutscene}}. While ''Pac-Man'' music plays, no less. And they're playing it on a ''[[DidNotDoTheResearch Dreamcast]]''. This, friends, is what the [[AnimationAgeGhetto Video Game Age Ghetto]] looks like.
** Oh, and to make this a ''real'' WallBanger? ''[=~Charlie's Angels~=]'' was produced by Columbia Pictures. Which is a subsidiary of... wait for it... ''SONY''.
*** Well, considering [[OlderThanTheyThink how old]] these two companies are and how at one time Columbia wasn't owned by Sony, maybe they were [[{{Anvilicious}} getting back]] [[WhosLaughingNow at their money-hungry owners]]?
* The video game-themed movie ''Grandma's Boy'' avoids most of these pitfalls and even subverts them (ex: you do hear the requisite whoops and beeps in one scene, but that's because they're playing ''Frogs and Flies'' on the Atari 2600), but still makes references to numbered levels, even when discussing fighting games and [[RolePlayingGame [=RPGs=]]], two genres which seldom if ever feature numbered levels. And let's not get started on the improbability of a game designer only having one copy of a game he created.
** RPGs usually do have numbered levels, just not the same kind.
* The films ''Rumble in the Bronx'' and ''Airheads'' featured cartridgeless Sega GameGear consoles. ''Rumble in the Bronx'' was particularly amusing, as the wheel-chair bound kid exclaims while playing the cartridge -and ''battery''-less GameGear: "Thank you for the game, uncle Jackie!"
* As does the movie ''Surf Ninjas'', though there it was a bit of a plot point.
* Two friends of the title character in ''The 40 Year-Old Virgin'' play ''MortalKombat: Deadly Alliance'' by flailing randomly on N64 controllers (a system it wasn't on). One character is even manipulating both the directional pad ''and'' the directional stick.
* In ''Elephant'', one of the characters who shoots up his school plays a game in which he shoots several identical people in the desert. (The people seem to resemble the characters from ''Gerry'', Gus Van Sant's previous film, about two guys who get lost in a desert.) The point of the game seems to be to shoot people who don't do anything but walk around.
* ''Live Free or DieHard'' has dozens of computers but no mice; at one point, the actor who played a heroic hacker reached for the area where a mouse should have been. On the other hand, the intro to the movie quite clearly shows several of the hackers playing ''{{Gears of War}}'', and one of Warlock's many screens has the same game paused on it.
* The movie ''Jarhead'' has a few lines of dialogue referring to levels in ''{{Metroid}}'', and that if you reach the tenth level, nothing happens, you just start at the beginning again. Erm, no. Unlike games broken into levels, MetroidVania games are the poster child for SequenceBreaking.
* ''Training Day'': A kid plays on a {{Dreamcast}} controller while stock 70s Arcade sound effects play in the background.
* In ''Return of the Living Dead 3'', a group of thugs are playing what's clearly ''StreetFighter II'' in a convenience store, yet it makes sounds like a 70s arcade game.
* In the live-action ''[[TransformersFilmSeries Transformers]]'' (2007), Glen's cousin is playing ''DanceDanceRevolution''; when Glen enters, he asks what level he's on, and the reply is "Six!" (Level 6 songs in ''DDR'' included ".59" and "Healing Vision" on Standard or "Max 300" on Light, prior to the expansion from 10 to 18 levels in ''DDR X''.) Then Glen pauses the game and asks his cousin to leave the room, and the reply is "Well, save my game!" (Unlike ''Amplitude'', ''GuitarHero'', and ''RockBand'', DDR doesn't have pause.)
**Considering their hacker character types, this troper assumed they were playing the DDR simulator ''Stepmania'', which is a bit more pause and 'level' friendly, since pretty much anything can be done with the program.

* ''InsideMan'' went the opposite extreme. A kid plays an ersatz ''GrandTheftAuto'' {{PSP}} game. When we see clips, the game's graphics are too advanced for the PSP, especially since at the time Sony had the CPU speed slowed down to preserve battery life. This has since been lifted.
* ''La Maquina de Bailar'' (The Dance Machine) was a film made in Spain where the plot involved a nobody winning a ''DanceDanceRevolution'' tournament in order to pay off a debt. Even with offical endorsement from Konami, many "liberties" were taken with the game - mainly that each player's whacked-out dancing didn't even attempt to correspond with the arrows onscreen (which, when shown, displayed a stepchart from another song...at the lowest difficulty...''and repeatedly missing steps''.) Not to mention that the best way to train for a DDR tournament is to take a ballet class (as opposed to playing the game instead.) Small wonder that it placed fourth its premiere weekend, falling behind the Spanish version of the [[SarcasmMode cinematic masterpiece]], ''Are We Done Yet?''
* The low-budget horror film ''How to Make a Monster'' was obviously written by someone who had no knowledge of video game development, or video games in general. A triple-A title game is being created by three programmers and a producer. Now that's an efficient developer. The programmers are in charge of "AI," "Weapons" (?), and "Music." Those are apparently the only three components to a video game. No art, no design, etc. Further, the programmers work in isolation from each other and in competition, as the best aspect of the game will earn the corresponding programmer $1 million. Sounds like a good business model. When we see footage of the industry-conquering game they're creating, it's a generic first person shooter that is years behind the times. To be fair, it does look like something three guys with poor teamwork might be able to create in a few days.
* ''GrossePointBlank'' features a kid playing an arcade game in a convenience store, but the game he's playing is ''{{Doom}} II'', which was never officially turned into an arcade game.
* ''EnemyOfTheState'' - The main character gets in trouble because he has a sensitive video file saved onto a [=PCMCIA=] memory card and he is able to watch the video on a media player shaped just like a... {{TurboGrafx}}-16 [=TurboExpress=]? Not only is the [=TurboExpress=] unable to communicate with [=PCMCIA=] but there's no way it could play video files, either.
* In ''Beethoven'', there's a scene where the brother and older sister are playing ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' together. As in simultaneously mashing buttons on their controllers, even though the footage shown indicates that they're not playing one of the "versus games" that actually allows simultaneous play. Plus, if memory serves correctly, the brother is wearing the Mattel Power Glove but uses his free hand on the "standard controller" button setup that's built into the glove.
* ''MeetDave'' has an extremely stupid example. The titular alien plays against a kid in what appears to something similar to ''FZero'' on a PS2. The kid seems to be playing correctly, but Dave just taps his fingers over the controller like a mad man, and kicks the kid's ass in the game. Granted, he's an alien unfamiliar with human video games, but there is no way that ButtonMashing on crack could help you in any racing game at all, as they don't require combos. If it were a fighting game, this might've been funny, but in a racing game it looks stupid.
* In Homeward Bound, the kids are playing StarTropics 2 together and the stepdad asks who's winning. The actual game is single-player; the NES didn't have enough video memory for co-op RPGs.
** To be fair, the movie came out around 1993, which is close to said game's release date, so this may have just been a case of DidNotDoTheResearch.
* Don't forget the horrific Police Academy: Mission To Moscow. Not only do various characters in the movie sport cartridgeless Game Boys (of the black and white variety - the color models didn't come out until 4 years later), but videos of the game in action are blatantly shot on a PC monitor, in color!
* In the Hulk Hogan movie, ''Suburban Commando'', there is a section where a kid and Hulk Hogan's character play the videogame ''Afterburner'' all while randomly yelling nonsensical crap about some space alien and phasers despite showing us some gameplay footage that shows none of those. They're also playing it very wrong.
** It's obviously an ''Afterburner'' cabinet, but they at least don't show what's on screen. Oh, and Hogan totally beats the game, as in "he defeats it and makes it surrender."
*The brief scene supposedly parodying GrandTheftAuto in ''Meet The Spartans'': Leonidas starts running in very jerky motions as he steals a car, soundtracked by 8 bit-esque sound effects and music. Although this ''is'' SeltzerAndFriedberg [[ShallowParody we're talking about here]]...
* The Lindsay Lohan movie ConfessionsOfATeenageDramaQueen had a scene in which Lohan's character plays DDR, or a DDR ripoff, against the antagonist (played by Megan Fox). They both actually ''dance in synchronous'', from the waist up and everything, nevermind the way DDR actually works.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* ''LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' created a game called [=IntenCity=], an obvious ''GrandTheftAuto'' ripoff, to create a far-out story about games causing prostitute murder -- RippedFromTheHeadlines, depending on who one asks. The game was 3D, but extremely lousy-looking. And short, for when the suspects were asked to play the game in order to measure their brain activity, the same 10 seconds of game footage was looped over and over, broken by close-ups of the suspect.
** ''SVU'', again, featured an episode centered around a fairly typical hack-and-slash dungeon crawler... and then subverted this trope like mad. The characters refer to the game having "levels", but use it to refer to levels of the game and the game hero's character level interchangeably, which does actually make way more sense than you'd expect. The sound effects correspond to the gameplay being shown -- clashing swords, monster noises, and a triumphant horn chorus straight from ''{{EverQuest}}'' for leveling up -- and it's Captain Cragen, the eldest cast member, who discovers a talent for the game and actually manages to beat it, and then uses their shared love of the game to talk to the main suspect, a kid who's obsessed with the game and has a bit of trouble telling fantasy from reality. Oh, and in one final subversion, [[spoiler:the kid ''didn't do it''. He was roleplaying the hero and tried to ''save'' the girl.]]
* ''MarriedWithChildren'' has one episode with a nerd playing an original GameBoy, mashing the buttons while arcade noises sound. When the Game Boy is broken, he pulls a second one out of his pants, immediately playing it with the same sound effects.
* In the ''EverybodyLovesRaymond'' episode "Homework", Ray and Robert are playing a fictional generic zombie {{FPS}} on {{PlayStation 2}} (mashing buttons and all). Interestingly, a few minutes later, Robert picks up the console and leaves, and we can clearly see that it was not even hooked up to the TV.
* ''{{House}}'' reprehensibly abuses this trope in one episode by showing House playing ''{{Metroid}} Zero Mission'' on his GameBoyAdvance SP... however, despite going close-up on the GBA screen several times, you very pointedly hear ''Pac-Man'' bleeps and bloops. He also makes the same mistake as in ''Jarhead'' of referring to numbered levels in a MetroidVania. Maybe people just associate 2D with levels.
** If you want to get really technical, the visuals suffer from a similar but extremely specific form of "Wrong for the sake of accessibility". In game, main character Samus can roll into a ball and download maps from statues. However, makers of the episode decided that the image of Samus being held in the claws of a big alien thing worked better as something recognizably negative (despite being something the player has to do to progress), complete with an "Oh, that's gotta hurt!" reaction shot from House.
*** Nevermind the fact that several hours of playing doesn't seem to advance House beyond the first thirty seconds of gameplay.
** In another episode, House holds up a {{Nintendo DS}} to a patient's ear to see if he can hear it. While it is quite clearly playing the Morph Ball time trial from ''Metroid Prime Hunters'' ([[AttractMode without any input from a player]], interestingly enough), we hear the stock sound effects. Maybe the writers are ''Metroid'' fans, but the sound effects guys think it's just ''Pac-Man'' with better graphics.
** During season 2 (if I recall correctly), House is shown in his office playing ''MX vs. ATV'' on his PSP, and apart from the fact he's just trying to crash into a wall instead of completing laps, the sound effects are the motor sounds from the game, the music is just cut.
** In season 3, the autistic kid hooked to his PSP is playing what looks either like a Game Gear/Master System game or a bad GBA homebrew with acid colors about a ferret bursting into flames, with the required bleep-bloops and spaztic button mashing.
** In a recent episode, this is done slightly less poorly: House is playing ''NinjaGaiden II'' on an {{Xbox 360}} with realistic sounds and button inputs. The only problem is that House seems to think that his goal is to kill the protagonist Ryu. Admittedly, as antisocial as House is, one could see him play a game just to kill the main character. It'd help if he was using the left stick and not the d-pad, though.
*** Well, considering [[NintendoHard Ninja Gaiden's reputation]], House could've just given up trying to progress and just try to find new ways to die.
* On an episode in the 5th season of ''{{Angel}}'', Spike is playing a game that's implied to be the original ''DonkeyKong'', making comments such as "Gorilla with barrels" and "Stupid plumber!", yet he is clearly holding an Xbox controller. And we doubt that JossWhedon has heard of homebrew.
** Later in that same season, [[PhysicalGod Illyria]] and [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld Drogan]] are shown playing the same system while the rest of the heroes are away, and making bemused remarks to one another about the gameplay that clearly suggest they're playing a ''CrashBandicoot'' game. What sounds do we hear coming from the unseen television screen? Pac-Man beeps and whistles.
* In an episode of ''{{Lost}}'', Walt is seen playing a Game Boy. He then tells his father, Michael that it needs new batteries. However, it's a GameBoyAdvance SP, which can only use the included rechargeable battery. You'd think that the kid would've said something to the director, until you realize that lithium ion batteries have only a few hundred charge cycles before they don't hold a charge as long.
** Bizarrely, this was averted just a few episodes earlier in "The Greater Good", where a pair of people play what is clearly shown to be HalfLife-they even discuss what enemies the crowbar works well on.
** Somewhat related: Much later on, an older Aron watches a cartoon about a train, and we hear train sound effects and music. Then the camera aims at the television and we see ''a cat and a dog'' arguing in a Chuck Jones [[LooneyTunes cartoon]]. The hell?
* In one episode of ''{{ER}}'', Dr. Kovač buys a brand new console. This is not only treated as a ridiculous and silly indulgence for a grown man and [[NewMediaAreEvil a sign of his deteriorating moral character]], but features him mashing buttons to the same stock bloop-bloop arcade sounds.
* The Australian soap opera ''{{Neighbours}}'' became infamous among schoolkids of the 90s for frequently showing one of the children playing a Nintendo GameBoy ''with no cartridge installed''. This wasn't possible until Nintendo introduced the Game Boy Advance in 2001, which could load a game into RAM from another GBA or a {{GameCube}}.
** This happened ''again'' in 2008. The child in question was ''still'' playing an old-style Game Boy.
* Harry Enfield's Kevin the teenager sketch starts as a sweet kid who spontaneously turns into a stereotypical teenager. On his thirteenth birthday, he opens a present and pulls out a Game Boy. He exclaims that "''MarioKart'' is babyish!" Heaven knows why, as ''Mario Kart'' wasn't on the Game Boy until ''Mario Kart Super Circuit'' for Game Boy Advance.
** This gets even more ridiculous when you know that ''Super Mario Kart'', the first game in the series, was released three years AFTER the Game Boy.
* Done by Feedback on ''WhoWantsToBeASuperhero''. Despite his superhero identity getting his powers from video games, when asked to name his favorite game, he said ''Pong''. However, he also mentions the ''PrinceOfPersia'' series, which is still going strong, so this may just be a nostalgia thing. (Or maybe he's just [[GenreSavvy well aware of this trope]].)
* In two separate episodes of ''{{Roseanne}}'', an [[SuperNintendo SNES]] is clearly being played, complete with actual sounds and music from the game ''SuperMarioWorld'' and using the SNES controller realistically. However, both times the games is misidentified. Mark states the game deals with "skulls and blood" while Roseanne makes a comment about saving a monkey princess, two things definitely not in ''Super Mario World''. (There are skull rafts and [[LavaPit blood-red lava]] in the Vanilla Dome; this may have lead to the confusion.) To top it off, the music in at least one of these episodes was from [[AttractMode the game's title screen]], which never occurs anywhere else in the game.
*** Interestingly, there exists a pirated NES version of ''Super Mario World''.
* The latest season of ''{{Scrubs}}'' features Turk and playing a game on the {{Xbox 360}}. The footage seen is from ''UnrealTournament'', but the show doesn't seem to be to get facts straight on anything, with the dialogue sounding more like they are playing ''{{Halo}}''. Particularly hilarious is when Carla turns out to be the best player, but her actress obviously doesn't know how to hold the controller.
** Worst of all, the characters all explicitly mention that they are playing co-op mode on the same machine, but the screen clearly shows single-player mode in progress.
** "Oh Ms. Pac-man, I would sex that bow right off your head. Eat those dots you naughty, naughty girl."
* ''Life'' had an episode where the victim was tied to drug dealing, and the detectives figure out that he managed to store files pertaining to the crime on his {{Xbox}}. So they get the victim's sister, who they see making vaguely controller-like fiddly motions in the air for no good reason, to play through ''Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones'' until she gets to Level 10, which unlocks the files. Never minding the fact that the game itself doesn't ''have'' numbered levels, the people behind the show just decided to hack up footage from the game and randomly stick "level" screens between them to denote progress. [[http://www.destructoid.com/weekend-destructainment-mainstream-media-continues-to-rape-videogames-56837.phtml View the idiocy here.]]
** Also note that not only is that [=Xbox=] not turned on, it's not even hooked up to the television.
* In an episode of some Disney TV show (''HannahMontana'' or ''[[ThatsSoRaven That's So Raven]]''), two people were playing a video game together. One person had a [=GameCube=] controller, and the other had an Xbox 360 controller. True, a PC can use both 360 controllers and USB-adapted GCN controllers, but it's unlikely that was the case.
* In a 2001 episode of the [[TheBBC BBC]] children's television program ''WATCH!'', two kids play ''[[SuperSmashBros Super Smash Bros. Melee]]'' (which had only just been released) on a "{{PlayStation}}" (actually a [=GameCube=]).
* A truly atrocious example appeared in an episode of ''CSIMiami'', where a group of killers was linked to a ''[[GrandTheftAuto GTA]]''-esque game. Apart from the usual errors regarding "points" and "levels", the detectives determine that the killers are basing their actions on the game's plot. They ask the (fortunately local) game developer for details of the plot. Said developer refuses to tell them the game's plot, citing it as a "trade secret", and states that they will have to play the game to learn the plot, which they do. Apparently, no one involved with the show has ever so much as walked into a video game store, with prominent shelves of strategy guides proclaiming "all secrets revealed!" Or heard of [=GameFAQs=].
** If that wasn't enough, at the beginning of the episode [[spoiler: a group of kids rob a bank with uzis, and one of them was shot by Delko after he tried to rape a woman for "extra points". It was later revealed they specifically picked a bank with a cop present (again, for extra points), the PR guy (yes, there was only one) encouraged them (and provided the uzis) to do it for advertising purposes, one of the suspects was found to have "gamed himself to death", and the token [[GamerChick Girl Gamer]] apparently did it to get in with the highly elitist gamers.]]
* An episode of ''WillAndGrace'' has Grace attempt to play ''DanceDanceRevolution'' across the top four of the eight buttons (it was a two-player machine). Then Jack starts dancing on the machine without ''any'' regard for the dancepad as if it registers that way. This would count as an aversion, as neither of them seem to do very well on the machine, except that the arrows still only scroll down the left side, so clearly ''someone'' didn't understand.
* Episode 6 of ''{{Dexter}}'' has his girlfriend's son pick up a PS2 controller and start playing what appears to be ''Doom'' with Pac-Man sounds over the background music from ''SpaceInvaders''.
** A Season 3 episode has the titular AntiVillain playing the PC version of ''{{Halo}}'' multiplayer... with completely foreign sound effects, including gunfire right out of Atari and an enemy "death rattle" akin to sound effects from ''{{Tron}}''.
* A ''{{Step by Step}}'' episode had the family's stereotypically nerdy son becoming a "video game addict," complete with an ending where he goes to a support group and has a psychotic episode in which he angrily screams "I ALWAYS GET THE HIGHEST SCORE!!!" before breaking down and admitting he has a problem. The game which drives his addiction (indeed the only game he seems to have ever played) is a generic looking Galaga doppelganger which was outdated looking even for the show's time.
* There's a video poker machine in multiple episodes of ''{{Sliders}}'' that produces ''{{Pitfall}}'' sound effects.
* In ''StargateAtlantis'', Weir distracts Dr. Lee by talking to him about ''WorldOfWarcraft''. This is before the first ExpansionPack, ''The Burning Crusade'', came out, and he claims to have the beta. Let us count the problems with this conversation:
## How could Dr. Lee, no matter how clueless, think that someone who had been LIVING IN ANOTHER GALAXY for a few years could possibly be playing an MMO during that time?
## The Beta wasn't available yet.
## He claimed his character was level 75. ''The Burning Crusade'' raised the level cap from 60 to ''70''.
## He says that he plays a Mage who's spec is "engineering and duelling"; um, engineering's a profession and duelling kinda happens, a mage's spec would be fire, frost, arcane, or a mix.
## Weir, who doesn't know the game, says that her character's ''race'' is a mage, and Lee doesn't catch on. Mage is a ''class'', people.
## I'm not sure just what to say about him trying to "increase his enchanter skill" and that it's "not going well." Yeah...
* ''TwoAndAHalfMen'' - Jake talks about getting his GameBoy taken away from him in school, and when he finally gets it back... it turns out to be a Nintendo DS.
** In another episode, Jake mentions that he wants to get the "new Final Fantasy game", and when he goes to a video store and gets the game, it turns out to be Final Fantasy X. Not only was the game about three years old at the airing of the episode, it clearly had the red Greatest Hits logo. And when he got home and started to play it, 8-bit music from Final Fantasy II could be heard.
** The DS one could easily be TruthInTelevision. This troper frequently refers to his DS as a Game Boy to anyone older than their mid-twenties, as they're far more likely to be familiar with that name than the current system's acronym. (See also: referring to any kind of video game as simply "Nintendo")
* ''MalcolmInTheMiddle'' - MortalKombat was discussed, and was being played on an actual console that had a version of MK on it. Although there aren't really levels in vs fighter games, just opponents that use harder AI later in a game. Also Sub-Zero has never been a final boss.
--->'''Reese''': No one believes I beat the last level of MortalKombat.
--->'''Dad''': Because that's just ridiculous. No one beats Sub-Zero!
** He could have been referring to Sub-Zero being a hard enemy in general, so that even reaching the last boss was preposterous. Of course, the whole [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard instant special moves]] deal combined with the MKWalker makes Sub-Zero [[YourMileageMayVary pretty tough in the first place]].
** It's extremely possible they were refering to 1997's Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero which actually had levels.
** Except in that game, you played as Sub-Zero, so him being unbeatable wouldn't effect whether or not the game could be beaten.
*** Unless "Sub-Zero" was the name of the game, as in "No one beats MortalKombat".
* {{Chappelles Show}} went recursive, with the narrator calling "You give me Pac-Man Fever!" a hilarious video game joke. Not to mention when he claims to know about gamers and the Playstation 2s, which he proved by doing a live-action GTA spoof with 8-bit sound effects.
* Borja, the main character from Spanish sitcom ''QueVidaMasTriste'', has as one of his main traits being a gamer, so videogames are brought often on the plot. And they manage to fall into this trope '''Every. Single. Time.''' A small sample:
**Borja buying ''ResidentEvil 5'' months before it was even released on Japan. Tame, but not the only one related to RE5, see below:
*** Another episode has a character of the day read a cheat for RE5 that went "Press X + Y for infinite [[ChainsawGood Chainsaw]]". Leaving aside things like RE5 not having a chainsaw as an usable weapon or that such an INCREDIBLY simple cheat would never be on something like a RE game (Or 99% of modern games period), Borja only owns a PlayStation3, which lacks a "Y" button...
*** And yet another episode has Borja downloading a hacked RE5 game that replaces the zombies by Chinese people ([[UnfortunateImplications uh...]]). The problem isn't that hack doesn't exist, it's that he describes it as [[UltraSuperDeathGoreFestChainsawer3000 "killing Chinese guys all the time, over and over!"]].
** Speaking of his system of choice, an entire episode is dedicated to Borja buying an XBox360 and getting really hooked with it... yet it's always called a XBox, no "360", even though they show it and they reference the Red Ring of Death. Did they think [[ViewersAreMorons adding the "360" would make our heads explode]]?
** One episode has him and [[StraightMan Josebas]] wanting to play ''MegaMan 9'' together, except it's an one-player game. Worse, Borja picks the game and takes it to play home. The problem? ''MegaMan 9'' is a DOWNLOADABLE game. And no, he didn't pick up the console, though that would have been funny.
** Another episode has Borja talking about hard ''AlexKidd 3'' was and how nobody beat it, then he does it. Leaving aside how the third Alex Kidd game was a Japan-only MasterSystem videogame and he was playing on a MegaDrive (Genesis for Americans), this turns out to be nothing but an ExcusePlot to give Borja superpowers for beating the game. Specifically, Alex Kidd's superpowers, which apparently are... Superstrength, Superspeed and Psychokinesis. Alex Kidd has ''nothing like that''. They should've just made-up the game's name, since they made-up all other details anyway...
** Near the end of the WholePlotReference episode parodying ''BackToTheFuture'' (Where [[DontExplainTheJoke they said it was like BttF over and over]]), Borja gives in the past a piece of paper to his father, telling him "If you ever have a son, buy him this on Christmas: A {{NES}} in 1980, a SuperNintendo in 1981, a PlayStation in 1982....". This is too obvious to explain it, but here it goes: None of these consoles existed at the years he was asking for them (For example, the NES, by far the oldest, came in 1983. In Japan. In Europe, where this show is located, came in 1987.) SoYeah.
** A episode has Borja playing a ''DanceDanceRevolution'' rip-off. They show the Game Over screen... And it looks like it came from an early, crappy 16-bit game. And he was playing on his PlayStation3. To add insult to the injury, there were ArcadeSounds. On a series that uses ''actual'' video game sounds (From 8-bit games like ''SuperMarioBros'', but eh) on its IdiosyncraticWipes.
** But the one taking the crown was the episode where Borja claims he can see life like a videogame (Just like [[LuckyStar Konata]]! Only worse.) The episode delves into several video game parodies, that, well...
*** First is a fighting game that looks like ''StreetFighter'' but uses the ''MortalKombat'' sounds, fatality included. They could have just used the MortalKombat interface for that.
*** Second is Borja moving in ''SuperMarioBros3'''s World-1 Map, with houses on top of the various worlds, to represent him going around town trying to buy a gift for his LoveInterest and going drinking instead. Logic says they should've used an RPG for that (Like ''Earthbound'', since it has "modern-day" graphics), but [[SmallReferencePools nobody plays RPGs in Spain]].
*** Because Eathbound was NOT released in europe,perhaps? Maybe Spain doesnt have an aversion to RPG's as much as you have FanMyopia...
*** Third was a discussion with another guy parodying ''MonkeyIsland''. ThisTroper has never played those games but it looked accurate, so we'll give it a pass for now.
*** But the one proving the writers know nothing about videogames ([[ViewersAreMorons Or think we don't]]) was the last one: Borja trying to get the aforementioned LoveInterest to fall in love with him, or at least to get in bed with her. What should that be? Why, a DatingSim, right? Or maybe a VisualNovel? Those would've fitted and [[MissedMomentOfAwesome would've been awesome]]. But instead, they used... ''TheSims''. The [[PrecisionFStrike fucking]] ''Sims''. For ''dating''. [[WallBanger What. The. Hell.]]
** And with all of this in mind...: One episode has the gall of being about Borja concluding he ''knows a lot about videogames'' (which leads to him making one with Josebas). If there was a trope for "Unintended HypocriticalHumor", this example would be there (The fact said game was a BeatEmUp, a genre that was big on the early nineties but now it's fading into obscurity, doesn't helps matters either).
* At the end of an episode of ''MurphyBrown'', Murphy mentions that she and Frank still haven't beaten ''Mario 3''. The scene comes ''so painfully close'' to inverting this trope: they both pick up NES controllers and when the game starts up, neither of them hammer on the buttons. But alas, the music that plays is not of ''Mario 3'' at all, but instead that of ''Super Mario World''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]
* Herman Li, guitarist for {{Dragonforce}}, often slips ''{{Pac-Man}}''-esque wails into his songs, referring to them in interviews as "video game sound effects". You can also see the trope in action in the band's music video for ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVoMWcOzQQU Operation Ground and Pound]]''. Note that both guitarists are actually gamers, the sequence was their idea, and Li actually owns the [=TurboGrafx-16=] seen in the video.
* Being a seasoned gamer and a lover of the classics, Lupe Fiasco purposely invokes the trope in his music video for "I Gotcha", in which he is briefly shown sitting on a couch playing Pong, 80s one-button joystick and all.
** In the song "Go Go Gadget Flow" : "All me, no ghost no 16-bit like Sega GENESIS."
** He mentions Atari a lot in his songs. Like in "Go Baby": But we go back like a set of Ataris...from baby fat til we skeletons, darling...me starring you is what it says on the marquee, so lets go give 'em a show!"
* In Chamillionaire's "Ridin'" video, the lyric goes, "Next to this new chic she like cola, next to the {{PlayStation}} controller." But the controller seen in the girl's hand is clearly an {{Xbox}} controller. See it [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8n7ncJEFuSw here]] (at 0:50).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''NoMoreHeroes'' is notable for being a video game that actually ''uses'' Pac Man Fever; it mixes exaggeratedly vintage video game beeps, chimes, and graphics with the more modern stuff.
** ''GodHand'' does the same thing, but to a significantly lesser extent.
* Justified in ''GrandTheftAuto: [[GrandTheftAutoViceCity Vice City]]'' and ''[[GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas San Andreas]]'', which take place in the late eighties and early nineties respectively.
** Kinda-sorta justified in ''{{Bully}}'', though, since the game seems to take place in modern times, but all the arcade games are 80s-esque because they're cheap (the school), stolen (the clubhouses), or nostalgic (the comic book shop).
* Complete ''[[KatamariDamacy Me And My Katamari]]'', and [[spoiler: you'll be taken to an 8-bit minigame with a blooping version of "Katamari on the Rock", with the King commenting entertainingly on the graphics]].
* ''{{Doom}} 3'' uses this trope. Apparently TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture on Mars, the only games available involve punching turkeys to death.
* The "Void Quest" dungeon in ''{{Persona 4}}'' has wall textures, sound effects and a graphics style that appear as though is an NES era jRPG (even if it is in the same 3d as the rest of the game). Yosuke acctually notes that it is "retro". The boss of the dungeon even attacks [[ShoutOut using the menu from the]] [[ShinMegamiTenseiI original Shin Megami Tensei]]
* Each of the main ''[=~Pokémon~=]'' games feature Nintendo's current home console in the player's room. However, due to the gap between the Japanese and English releases, the English version of ''Red'' and ''Blue'' featured a SNES, even though the games were released after the N64. This made even less sense in those games' GBA remakes, ''[=FireRed=]'' and ''[=LeafGreen=]'', in which the hero(ine) has an ''NES'' (as it's basically product placement for discontinued products).
** GBA also had Classic NES Series, budget Game Paks that ran an old NES game in an emulator.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* In one ''{{lonelygirl15}}'' video, the hopelessly geeky HollywoodNerd is giving all the "regular" characters training. For the PlayfulHacker who is the only one who finds him {{Beautiful All Along}}, it is revealed that her training is in... what's this? ''{{Frogger}}''? ''{{Centipede}}''? Aren't these... ''video games''? How is ''this'' training?! But, as he is a TricksterMentor, this is shown to be just what they needed to give them the edge. Of course, playing is done by holding a Jakks Pacific TV Game, a self-contained AA battery-powered device with only composite inputs for televisions, up in front of a (shown from behind) laptop and saying "Look out for the ghost! Turn right! OH MY GOD!"
*''HomestarRunner'' intentionally uses this trope, as Strong Bad seems to have an outdated understanding of technology. He regularly references Atari and NES-style games as if they were the latest thing. However, references to later systems such as the SegaGenesis and the {{Nintendo 64}} have appeared in the series.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comic]]
* {{Narbonic}}, oddly, has [[http://www.webcomicsnation.com/memberimages/100502.jpg Atari-style joystick]] ''{{Quake}}''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''KimPossible'' defines video gaming as a favorite pastime of several characters, but all the games depicted on-screen are extremely old-fashioned. The only exception is a sophisticated {{MMORPG}} called "Everlot", which is at the center of a whole episode's plot; scenes in the game are rendered in a [[ArtShift different style]] but not a noticeably primitive one.
** In some episodes, video game sounds are clearly from ''SuperMarioBros.''
* ''{{Futurama}}'' [[LampshadeHanging hangs a lampshade]] on this, with characters playing a dead ringer for the original Game Boy with ArcadeSounds... in the year 3000.
** Of course, they also have the episode where Fry wishes life were more like a video game...only to have it resemble arcade games from the 70's, even though Fry came from 1999.
* Early in the first ''[[TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutron Jimmy]] [[TheFairlyOddParents Timmy]] [[CartoonCrossovers Power Hour]]'', Timmy is seen playing a video game called "[[UltraSuperDeathGoreFestChainsawer3000 The Decimator]]". It's in [[ArtShift 3D]] (foreshadowing the game's role to the plot, as it comes into (sorry) play in Jimmy's universe) but played on a "Game Buddy" (guess what handheld it is based on) and comes on a CD. Everything else in the screen is animated in standard ''FairlyOddParents'' ThickLineAnimation. And speaking of the game itself, Timmy downloads the game's files into Goddard, turning him into a killer humanoid robot who blows things up to progresses through levels (in both definitions, as he grows in size and consequently, takes on tougher subjects to a point where he indirectly menaces Retroville by targeting a factory)
* ''DannyPhantom'' features Danny playing a game called "Doomed", a game that's part ''{{Tron}}'' homage, part {{FPS}}, and still (just like ''Doom II'') uses the numbered level system. Not to mention the fact that it's a leveled online game ''which apparently gives the winner access to the internet, despite being online in the first place'', making it the equivalent of a needlessly complicated firewall.
* The arcade game in the ''{{Rugrats}}'' episode ''Diapers and Dragons'' seems to be a sidescrolling platformer (from what's shown before we go into DeepImmersionGaming) with ''SuperMarioBros'' style music (and the objective is, of course, SaveThePrincess). A bit more advanced than the usual Pac Man Fever, but still, in 2003? (And, of course, the babies are able to play it quite well by hitting buttons at random, but if the babies ''couldn't'' achieve things babies normally can't by hitting things at random, it wouldn't be ''{{Rugrats}}''.)
** Of course, considering that no one ever ages in that show anyway (made absolutely ridiculous when baby Dil was conceived at the end of one season and born in the feature film released before the next season began -- but the babies are ''not'' one year older when the new season picks up), we might presume that it's ''not'' 2003, but rather 1991, when the show debuted. At best, that's the dawn of the 16-bit era.
* One egregious example appeared on an episode of ''TheSecretShow''. Everyone was buzzing about the popular new game system, "The Hand." It was simply a vat of "nano-goo" that users dipped their hands into, causing the goo to harden around their hands and turn them into portable game systems and controllers. Despite the ludicrously advanced technology the system is based on, it makes references to linear levels and only seems to play one built-in game. Single-game consoles weren't even made between the '70s and 2001, when JakksPacific introduced Plug and Play TV Games.
* Partially subverted in ''TheVentureBros'' season 1, episode 10 "Are You There God? It's Me, Dean" with Pete White playing what can be inferred to be "Grand Theft Auto III", due to the graphics on screen, realistic sound effects and Pete making references to doing "a drive-by mission for the Yardies" and being able to see player stats by pressing the Start Button...on what looks like a Nintendo64 controller.
* ''FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'' occasionally features Bloo playing a video game that looks and sounds exactly like the Atari game ''Asteroids'', and trying to beat other people's high scores. Somewhat justified in that the world of Fosters clearly isn't the world we know, but then again, Frankie has a modern computer and they do have their own versions of eBay and [=YouTube=].
* In an episode of ''AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'', Robotnik is shown fiddling with some machine controls while sounds from the first ''SuperMarioBros'' are heard. Amusing considering the [[ConsoleWars console war]] of that time.
** The same company who made the ''SuperMarioBros.'' cartoons made [=AoStH=], so it's also pretty much justified.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Hard to pull off a real life example, but: ''PennyArcade's'' stock promotional shot of the two creators deliberately invokes this tropes, showing Krahulik and Holkins flailing around on a couch, pretending to play a game. Holkins is holding a PSP as if it's a controller, which isn't so bad because some [=GameCube=] games could use a GBA as a controller, but Krahulik is holding an Xbox 360 controller ''upside down''.
** Actually, apparently he actually DOES hold his controller upside down. Read [[http://www.penny-arcade.com/2008/10/8/ this news post]] (fourth paragraph of Tycho's post).
* Look no further than the box cover of the AK Rocker gamer chair for a prime example of this: A family of three (dad, son, daughter) are all on the titular chairs playing a game together...with an Xbox, Nintendo 64 and Dreamcast controller, respectively, and the Xbox controller is being held upside-down. Of course, it also depicts another family playing games cosplaying as ''Vikings'', so take that as you will.
** [[http://www.blogcdn.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2006/06/marketinggonebadcqh.jpg Here]]'s a pic.
* And then there's [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9COTOUH4qU this commercial]] for becoming a game designer. Parodied by ''Three Panel Soul'' [[http://threepanelsoul.com/view.php?date=2008-06-04 here]].
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_QNdPcYzPw This]] news announcement about [=GTA4=], on RAI (the Italian national broadcasting company), featuring a guy furiously mashing random buttons DURING THE TRAILER. Obviously, they're talking about the game in "Seduction of the innocents"-like terms, because [=GTA4=] doesn't have [=RE4=]-style interactive cut scenes.
* A print commercial for ''[[CrashBandicoot Crash: Mind Over Mutant]]'' shows two kids playing the game with a GameCube Controller. Note that when Radical Entertainment took over the ''Crash'' franchise (''Mind over Mutant'' being their second game), the [=GameCube=] was long dead. And the Wii version of said game does not support [=GameCube=] controls.
* ''Fruit By The Foot'' once struck a promotional deal with Nintendo to put gameplay tips for ''Nintendo64'' games on the snack's cellophane wrappers. The commercial showed two teenagers grown old, with one who's been waiting 62 years for his friend to finish playing. He's supposedly been using the snack's hints to keep from losing for all these years...but he's playing ''{{Banjo-Kazooie}}!'' If the tips are so useful, why hasn't he ''beaten'' it by now? Answer: nobody involved with this commercial got the memo that video games aren't about playing until you lose for a high score anymore, and actually have endings. It's even worse for the next commercial, where he's playing ''[[SuperMarioBrothers Mario Party 2]]'', which not only has an ending, but is specifically designed to be ''a multiplayer game.'' Why can't they both play at once?
[[/folder]]

!!Exceptions:

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* Episode 28 of ''KeroroGunsou'' shows Natsumi playing a game that's obviously supposed to be the first ''Dobutsu no Mori'', better known in the states as ''AnimalCrossing''. A much later episode shows kid Keroro playing what is clearly ''SuperMarioBros'', and few episodes after that, we get one about the characters entering a RPG that is very clearly a ''DragonQuest'' parody.
* The anime ''Shigofumi'' does a wonderful subversion of this trope. In ep 10, a young girl, obsessed with playing a very accurate--though genericized, of course--depiction of ''AnimalCrossing'', bonds with a thirty-something otaku, pondering the meaninglessness of his life after a cancer diagnosis, over the game [[spoiler: which the otaku, in fact, designed and programmed most of]]. The video game is shown to be a form of communication and a means to establish a friendship, rather than the hobby of pathetic shut-ins and socially maladjusted weirdos.
* ''{{Genshiken}}'' gets around this through judicious ProductPlacement: the characters play real video games spliced into the animation, most notably the then-latest ''GuiltyGear'' title, ''Guilty Gear: Isuka''. Ohno, the resident CosplayOtakuGirl, cosplays one of the characters.
** The opening sequence, in fact, features a clip of Sol Badguy performing a simple combo... and the music is timed to match the move.
* ''LuckyStar'''s video games are often fairly accurate parodies of real games; unsurprising, since one of the main characters is a game {{otaku}}.
** The OVA goes one-up with an RPGEpisode rendered in full 3D with (of course) lots of snarking about various game mechanics. For an idea of how convincing it is, just go count the number of Youtube commentors saying that they'd play it if it were real.
* Vaguely averted in ''HayateTheCombatButler'', where the LampshadeHanging is Nagi deliberately trying out an old ''DragonQuest'' lookalike (which is probably older than she is) and lacks any nostalgia factor for the old game.
** The manga has a ''different'' ''DragonQuest'' reference (Well, reference... more like [[RPGEpisode half of Volume 6]]).
* In ''CowboyBebop: TheMovie'' (which takes place in the future), the hacker Lee Sampson seems to spend a lot of time playing updated versions of old 1980s 8-bit games. However, this is explained by Lee, who voices contempt at modern games and idealizes the games from the early days of hacking.
** "[[{{Narm}} Will you... press my... reset button?]]"
* In a late {{Manga}} chapter of ''[[RanmaOneHalf Ranma 1/2]]'', Ranma and his childlike teacher Hinako play what is obviously ''StreetFighter II'' on Hinako's Super Famicom, with Ranma's Ryu easily beating Hinako's Chun Li. This chapter was published circa 1994, during ''Street Fighter II'''s heyday; amusingly, several ''[[RanmaOneHalf Ranma 1/2]]'' fighting games were also released during this period.
* ''OuranHighSchoolHostClub''. In a flashback, the twins Hikaru and Kaoru are playing (well, ''one'' of them is playing) a game on what is clearly a Game Boy Advance--but when we see the screen, the graphics are comically low-rez, looking more like an LCD Game & Watch. In a later flashback, they're now playing on a DS.
** Maybe they were playing ''Game & Watch Gallery 4'' on that GBA.
* ''Kure-nai'' has [[TokenLoli Murasaki]] playing on (and breaking) a DS, and the game is shown to be ''[[TheLegendOfZelda Phantom Hourglass]]'' (Though this editor thinks it looked more like ''Wind Waker'', but pretty close).
* In one of the final chapters of the ''MaiHime'' manga, Nagi is shown playing a DS when the heroes confront him. He's even wearing headphones and using the stylus.
* ''GreatTeacherOnizuka'' is frequently seen playing a Playstation (modern when it was made), and both made reference to ''WildArms'' and showed footage of ''ApeEscape''.
**Which I would like to add was being played with the original non-dualshock playstation controller Ape Escape was one of the first games to require an analog stick.
**He is also seen to be playing Resident Evil 5 in side-story Shonan 14 Days, even though the story technically happens within the continuity of the original GTO. Onizuka also owns a PSP. Somehow.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film]]
* ''Film/TheWizard'', a film which could best be described as a [[ProductPlacement 90-minute Nintendo commercial]], featured genuine footage of ''SuperMarioBros 3'' several months before its release. It ''still'' managed a number of inaccuracies, however (like saying a character's reached the third level of ''TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'', but showing footage from the ''first'' level, or one of the main characters getting 50,000 points in Double Dragon ''by mashing buttons during the opening cutscene'', or the "arcade" machines often being obvious NES games), so the movie is only a partial exception.
** The arcade machines playing NES games could be [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayChoice-10 Playchoice-10]] machines.
** There's also the bit where someone comments on Jimmy getting so far in ''Ninja Gaiden'' without taking a hit, when the screen we see shows a couple notches off his health bar.
*** He even keeps playing after Haley sets a magzine down over 90% of the screen, though that could possibly be because he's retarded.
* Similarly, in Simon Pegg's ''ShaunOfTheDead'', playing ''TimeSplitters'' (appropriately a UK-developed shooter game) on a [=PS2=] is depicted accurately, aside from a "Player 2 has entered the game" voiceover narration added for the audience's benefit.
** Admittedly, Simon Pegg is a [[OneOfUs massive videogame nerd]], as any typical episode of ''Spaced'' will show you...
* ''TropicThunder'' had Matthew McConaughey playing Wii Sports.
* ''ReignOverMe'' features ''ShadowOfTheColossus'' extensively. The original plan was to go with this trope, but the film's editor insisted on the aforementioned game, for character reasons.
** They did refer to it as "''Shadow'''s''' of the Colossus''", however.
* The film version of ''NightWatch'' had the BigBad predict the future using ''fighting games''.
* The Mexican film ''Duck Season'' is very accurate in depicting two 14-year-old boys playing ''{{Halo}}'', with the TV even announcing "Slayer", the typical versus mode in the game, as they begin. The only unrealistic detail is the improbably frequent rate, based on the sounds, at which their characters seemed to die.
* The 1996 movie, ''Swingers'', featured the characters arguing over ''NHL Hockey '94'' on the Genesis. They even referred to the lack of fighting in that version of the game, but that's made up for by being able to make Wayne Gretzky's head bleed.
** The actual game they were playing is ''NHLPA Hockey 93''.
* In ''{{Disturbia}}'', we see Shia [=LaBeouf=] play a bit of ''G.R.A.W.'', complete with accurate graphics, sound, and on an Xbox 360, one of the systems this game was released on.
** This trope is still in play, since he's playing a mission from the single-player campaign, when he's depicted as playing on Xbox Live.
* The video game horror movie ''Stay Alive'' was quite accurate in its name-dropping, likely because they hired ''{{Gears of War}}'' developer [=CliffyB=] as a consultant.
* While the game shown in the beginning of ''Film/{{Big}}'' was fictional, it was an extremely accurate representation of a common genre of game at the time the movie was made.
* ''LostInTranslation'' has a scene set in an arcade game center in Japan; some of the games shown are ''Taiko no Tatsujin'' / ''Taiko Master'' and ''Pop'n Music''; someone does a ''freestyle routine'' on the ''Pop'n'' machine, which this Bemani fan found impressive.
* In ''FourChristmases'', a character is playing a game in one scene, and sounds from the classic ''DonkeyKong'' are heard... and then it is shown that he is playing with a Wii Classic Controller, meaning that he actually ''is'' playing ''Donkey Kong'' on the Virtual Console.
* ''The Score'' has the main character (RobertDeNiro) phone someone who is shown playing ''{{Quake}} III Arena''. At one point the kid pauses, so it's assumed that he's cursing bots, not humans (or the pausing would invoke this trope).
* The titular video game in ''SpyKids 3D: Game Over'' uses levels and has no apparent storyline, but does at least ''look'' like a 21st century video game with [=3D=] graphics and so forth. On the DVDCommentary, RobertRodriguez says he had his sons play a lot of video games for him as research. Needless to say, this made them think he was the coolest dad ever.
* ''The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters'' is a documentary about ''DonkeyKong'' world records. Very obvious subversion here, with a dash of SeriousBusiness and hot sauce.
* Towards the beginning of ''{{Zathura}}'', the younger of the two brothers is shown playing ''[[JakAndDaxter Jak]] 3'', not only with the relevant music and sound effects, but also showing him controlling it properly (i.e., he was actually playing the game).
** No surprise - ''Zathura'' was produced by Sony company Columbia Pictures, making this ProductPlacement as well.
* In one of the ''ThreeNinjas'' one of the main characters is seen playing Super Mario Bros 3 on an NES in his room.
* Jim Carrey was actually [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxX0KG2DcYc taught to play DDR for this scene]] in ''Yes Man''. For the more savvy players reading:
** You can see him pull off some crossovers at 13 seconds in.
** He's playing an actual DDR song, and a Konami original, to boot ("Hana Ranman," aka "Flowers")
** He's playing on Expert difficulty, and has at least a 100 combo going when the camera shows the screen.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* In ''[[AlexRider Stormbreaker]]'', Alex gets a modified Game Boy Color and cartridges that not only have the games themselves but also provide the modified GB Color with useful functions. Two of these games, ''[[{{Gradius}} Nemesis]]'' and ''Bomber Boy'' (aka ''Atomic Punk'' in the United States), are actual Game Boy titles. Sadly though, Alex never uses the game parts of the cartridges.
** In ''Skeleton Key'', he gets a Game Boy Advance with a {{Rayman}} game that doubles as a Geiger counter.
* In ''HarryPotter and the Goblet of Fire'', Harry mentions that Dudley broke his [=PlayStation=] (and comments about Dudley playing UltraSuperDeathGorefestChainsawer3000 games). Given that he was writing that in the summer of 1994 and the system would not be available in Japan until that December, nor in Europe until September of the following year, JK Rowling admits she [[WritersCannotDoMath screwed up with the numbers]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* ''MalcolmInTheMiddle'' was very current with its representation of ''TheSims'' as [[BrandX "The Virts"]].
* In Episode Five of ''{{Primeval}}'', Connor plays ''TheElderScrolls IV: Oblivion'', with graphics taken from the game, on an {{Xbox 360}}.
* In ''Series/{{Heroes}}'', in a bit of ProductPlacement, Jessica and Micah are seen playing ''Heavenly Sword'' on the [=PS3=]; a game which, at the time of the airing, was yet to be released.
* In ''{{Spaced}}'' Tim is clearly shown playing ''ResidentEvil 2''. Actual footage of the game is shown, he holds the controller normally, and actual sound effects and music from the game is used. The RPD lobby music from the game is even used for that episode's title sequence. In the commentary, Simon Pegg, who played Tim, says that he was actually playing the game even when the camera didn't show the screen, because he and director Edgar Wright were sick of the above trope. He also plays many other games, including ''{{Tekken}} 2'', ''TimeCrisis'', and ''TombRaider'', which sometimes intrude into the 'real' world.
** In a display of doing the research, when Daisy said something while Tim was playing, Tim ''pressed the pause button'' before turning to speak to her.
*** Also, Daisy has a go at Tekken one of episodes. She is convincing as a non/infrequent gamer who, in willing the character to obey her commands, embellishes each button-press by shouting "Kick!" and jerking the controller to the side.
* Despite being released in the early 90s, ''[[ParkerLewisCantLose Parker Lewis Can't Lose]]'' was brilliantly in touch with video games. This mostly related to cameos (Mario games, mentioning ''AlteredBeast'', showing Sega and Nintendo logos in shops), but one episode focused a lot more on them dealing with Jerry's addiction to video games. While still having a lot of humour, it still took on the issue sensibly and intelligently, and ended in a way that showed that the writers had more insight into what video games were about then the vast majority of TV creators, then or since.
* Sitcom ''TheBigBangTheory'' includes a number of stereotypical geeks who play stereotypical games -- most notably, ''WorldOfWarcraft'' and ''{{Halo}}''. Both are depicted reasonably realistically (though the super-weapon Sheldon ninjas in one ep doesn't actually exist in ''[=WoW=]''). They do their research.
** In episode three of the second season, Sheldon shows Penny the {{MMORPG}} ''AgeOfConan'', to which she becomes addicted. The game as well as the behaviour of the players ("I'm AFK", level meaning character-level, enchanted armour etc.) is very well-depicted, with the RuleOfFunny exception that, at the end, the characters mouths' moved in sync with what the players spoke over their headsets.
** In another episode, the characters are playing Boxing in ''WiiSports'', complete with look-alike Miis.
** And in yet another episode, Sheldon plays Mario 64 ''on an emulator on his laptop.'' They even used accurate sound effects: when Sheldon pauses the game to talk to someone, they use the actual pause sound from Mario 64. How many non-geeks do you know who know what an emulator is?
** On the other hand, playing ''Halo'' apparently consists of rotating the analog stick as quickly as possible while hitting buttons at random.
** On the other end of the scale, in another episode they plan to play ''{{Zork}}''.
* ''VeronicaMars'' has characters playing video games that are recognizable as ''{{Gears of War}}'' and ''MarioKart'', although they are generally button mashing and are playing ''Gears'' on an original Xbox, a feat no mere mortal could accomplish.
** A Season One episode took the research even further; in order to reveal the fraud of a couple of game programmers, Veronica lured them in with promises to see "the new Matrix Online" before it was released. When the episode was aired, ''MatrixOnline'' was both still yet to be released and also anticipated.
** It was distracting, though, that three people were gathered around, controllers in hand, to play what looked like a single/first person shooter. Also the fact that in the middle of the game Veronica was able to pick up a controller and start button mashing immediately.
* ''[[{{CSINY}} CSI: NY]]'' had an episode, "Down the Rabbit Hole", using ''SecondLife''. [[spoiler:Where an assassin uses the program to get to her targets.]] However, just like ''SouthPark'', some of the things shown on the show are misleading to what is possible to do in-game.
* ''{{NCIS}}'' featured an episode where the team was protecting a particularly Gibbsian preteen boy. To amuse him, [=McGee=] provided him with and accurately named a NintendoDS. Only problem? Judging by the sounds, the kid in question was involved in an intense and gripping session of Pictochat. The DS was brand new however, putting it at the point where pictochat get used before it is forgotten.
** ''NCIS'' was generally good with game technology. All (at the time of broadcast) current gen consoles and handhelds got namechecked.
** In an episode [=McGee=] sat in what is essentially the NCIS command centre, playing ''UnrealTournament'' with the boy he was guarding.
** However, in an episode where a sailor is playing out his MMORPG in real life, Abby hacks the game to get his account name by [[WallBanger storming the castle.]]
* ''TheDeadZone'' featured a subversion that would have been remarkable if it hadn't smacked of blatant ProductPlacement. A Christmas episode featured as its B plot Johnny Smith's quest to get his son a copy of ''Ratchet: Deadlocked'', which is not only a very real game, but we see the game and its immediate predecessor ''RatchetAndClank 3: Up Your Arsenal'' actually ''played'' in the episode.
** ''TheDeadZone''? Sounds [[FridgeLogic suspiciously]] [[CaptainObvious similar]] to "Dreadzone",[[ConspiracyTheorist dosen't it?]]
* There is a brief but surprisingly accurate shout out to ''SecondLife'' in the fourth season of ''TheOffice''.
* Nicely averted in an episode of ''{{Psych}}''. In order to get on the good side of another police officer, a detective heads to her house on Thanksgiving with the gift of a NintendoWii that he got as seized property during a recent drug bust. He proceeds to play Boxing in ''WiiSports'' accurately with the woman's young cousins, using the punching motion controls and even getting too into it and having the kids complain about how good he was.
* One episode of ''TheSuiteLifeOnDeck'' features several of the characters getting involved in a social MMORPG, similar to IMVU and the like; when footage of the game is shown, it's done in CGI, but not in a noticeably primitive way, and despite the lack of a HUD it could probably pass for a real game. There's even a ShoutOut to ''CaveStory'' at one point.
* ''{{Chuck}}'' has the titular character and his friend play ''GearsOfWar''; in another episode they play ''CallOfDuty 4'', complete with [[ProductPlacement blatant]] [[StuckOnBandAidBrand name dropping]].
** The episode "Chuck vs. Tom Sawyer" was a mixed bag. The actual play of ''MissileCommand'' was realistic, but its knowledge of how the game worked was deeply flawed. The "killscreen" referred to by the characters is actually more of a NonstandardGameOver. And the programmer and company responsible for the game were portrayed as East Asian, whereas Atari and programmer Dave Theurer were both American.
* In Season 2 Episode 9 of ''KnightRider'' ("Soul Survivor"), the main character plays the new-at-the-time ''{{Pac-Man}}''.
* A recent episode of ''NewTricks'' had Jack Halford speaking to some college guys about the murder of an old flatmate of theirs. Throughout the discussion, they're playing a generic ''PointBlank'' clone on a Wii using the Wii Zapper. All the sounds, movements, etc matched up, although oddly enough the pub at the end of the episode just happens to have an arcade cabinet with the exact same game on it.
* In one Episode of ''[[LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit Law and Order: SVU]]'', the team has to investigate a game that looks a lot like ''SecondLife''. Turns out that the killer they're looking for has made a replica of one of his earlier killings in said game. It's on the side of a lake, and they need to find the real world-cabin, so Olivia has to yell at the owner to [[{{Narm}} "Turn on the sun!"]] in order to determine which side of the lake. He actually hesitates before deciding between catching a serial killer and inconveniencing his players. Apparently ''[=L&O=]'' doesn't have Google Maps.
* In an episode of ''{{Threshold}}'', Lucas plays ''{{Halo}}'' in an unused conference room, having apparently brought his {{Xbox}} with him to Threshold. Molly comes in and surprises us with her video game savvy by giving him a tip on killing Jackals. Apart from footage that shows what is clearly multiplayer action, the game is portrayed accurately.
* A Canadian TV show called ''{{JPod}}'' (based on a book of the same name) was really good at inverting this trope. The series takes place at a game developer called Neotronic Arts (the developer is nameless in the book, but it's made clear by some dialog and descriptions that it's supposed to be Electronic Arts) where a small group of programmers are working on a skateboarding game (at the time the book was originally published, EA had announced that it was working on ''Skate''). Throughout the show, characters are seen playing an Xbox 360 (and properly, too. The game they're playing is ''Halo 3'', complete with split screen and everything), and there are multiple shots of a Wii in the background. Anytime the game the characters are working on is shown, the rough look of it is explained away by saying that it's still in development and it won't look like that when the game is finished.
* ''TheITCrowd'' averts this in the episode "Men Without Women", which opens with Moss and Jen playing ''GuitarHero 2''. Music and sound effects from the actual game are heard, actual footage is shown and they appear to be playing correctly. Another character, Moss, incorrectly asks which "level" they are playing, although he later comments that he dislikes the game, so his ignorance may be excused, and the comment is shortly reference by Roy correctly refering to a Guitar Hero level as a "gig". [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4f88zIt6kyA]]
* In Da KathAndKim Code, a Vatican City version of GrandTheftAuto is shown. It's surprisingly accurate, featuring a similar HUD and box-art, and appropriate sound effects. The graphics are also quite close, while obviously being fairly low-quality compared to the real games, they're nevertheless in the same style and about as good as you'd expect from a 10-second clip specially made for the show.
* Somewhat averted on a [[http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-november-2-2004/indecision-2004---behind-the-curtain clip]] from the Daily Show during their coverage of the 2004 Presidential election. While Rob Corddry is ''way'' too enthusiastic about it (and his controller isn't the one controlling the actions onscreen); they do correctly identify the game, ''[[Halo]]'', though muted, the sound effects are indeed from the game, and they even correctly identify the gun being used.
--> '''Rob Corddry''': Where's your Alien Plasma Rifle know, bitch?!
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* Parodied in [[http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=060219 this]] ''SluggyFreelance'' strip. Kada refers to the game as "Super Graphical 3D Battle Area In 3D(tm)" and the game options offer everything from "battle smells" to "[[EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys monkeys]]", but what we actually see on the holographic screen looks like crude black-and-white 8-bit graphics - specifically, arcade classic ''Berzerk''.
* ''Digital Unrest'' has had a couple of cracks at this trope: [[http://www.digitalunrestcomic.com/index.php?date=2008-05-12 Here]] and [[http://digitalunrestcomic.com/index.php?date=2007-06-18 here]].
* ''MegaTokyo'' makes lots of references to gaming technology that does not (yet?) exist in the real world, such as the PlayStation 4, [[DanceDanceRevolution Mosh Mosh Revolution]] ("Tohya, what's a mosh?") and a RobotGirl accessory for DatingSim games.
** Early in the strip's run (2001) characters are seen wearing PlayStation 3 paraphernalia, including a jacket with the line "Live in your world, Die in mine." parodying a Sony ad campaign of the time.
*** Said character has been updated to feature a [=PlayStation=] 4 jacket. Sony developers in both cases were talking about developing said sequel consoles right as the current consoles were about to be released.
* {{Lampshaded}} in [[http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20081122.html this strip]] from ''TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob.'' Bob just isn't a very "state-of-the-art" kind of guy.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* The ''SouthPark'' episode "Make Love, Not Warcraft" revolves around the real-life {{MMORPG}} ''WorldOfWarcraft'', complete with plenty of gameplay footage (part of it was {{Machinima}}). Blizzard lent a lot of assistance to make the episode (they're apparently big ''South Park'' fans, but then again who isn't?) The episode, however, has many intentional inconsistencies compared to the real game -- although, in a reverse example, [[{{Defictionalization}} Blizzard actually put some of the content from the episode into the game after the episode aired]].
** Not to mention the ''GuitarHero''-themed South Park episode, which depicted Stan and Kyle as being the first ever to reach "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Sbdq4AF3Fc one million points!]]".
** Episode 1214, "The Ungroundables", had the kids playing the PC version of the recently released ''CallOfDuty: World At War''. It also included a reference to the "Flak Jacket Glitch", where a player using the Flak Jacket perk, which normally reduces damage taken from explosives, could not be insta-killed with either the combat knife or bayonet.
** In a recent episode, the boys are seen playing Lady GaGa's "Poker Face" on Rock Band, despite the fact that song is not currently available as DLC.
* The male characters on ''TeenTitans'' would frequently play video games in their downtime, which sported the same look as the animation in the show. In one episode, they were clearly playing ''{{F-Zero}}''. On the other hand, one episode had Robin playing a ''{{Galaga}}''-style shooter and totally flipping out because he beat Cyborg's high score. ''Wow''.
* Played with in an episode of ''{{Arthur}}''. Near the end, Arthur and company are playing a video game that touts itself as one of the best ever - up to and until the actual gameplay. SEE! 16-bit graphics that would look primitive on the early SNES! HEAR! 8-bit early NES-style music! WITNESS! Gameplay that would make ''Action 52'' look fun! The general consensus among the characters is obviously along the lines of "what am I looking at?!".
* The depiction of games on ''TheSimpsons'' throughout the show's run have usually been ''close'' to current, although the show's long history means that the early seasons would appear to suffer from this trope if viewed today.
** The game played by Bart and Homer in "Moaning Lisa" (1990) is similar to ''Mike Tyson's Punch Out'' (1987).
** "Bonestorm", as depicted in "Marge Be Not Proud" (1995), is named after ''BloodStorm'' and parodies ''MortalKombat''-style games. [[SuperMarioBros Mario]] and [[SonicTheHedgehog Sonic]] also appear in the episode.
** However, it stumbles into the trope ''[[RuleOfCool spectacularly]]'' in "Yokel Chords" (2007). Therapist Dr. Swanson attempts to gain Bart's interest with the popular video game "[[UltraSuperDeathGorefestChainsawer3000 Death Kill City III: Death Kill Stories]]". (Bear with me here...) Dr. Swanson and Bart [[ButtonMashing button mash]] furiously, Bart jerking the controller from side to side like an angry chimpanzee, playing what is apparently a fighting game. A martial artist and cyborg fight each other for a while, and both are dispatched by a sudden ninja attack for some reason, who is then nuked for some other reason. The announcer says "You have ended all civilization on Earth. Level 1 complete!"
** TheMovie goes the other way: Homer plays ''Grand Theft Walrus'', in a convenience store, ''on an arcade machine''. ''In Alaska.''
** Another episode had Lisa becoming addicted to "Dash Dingo", an obvious homage to ''CrashBandicoot'' which was released at the height of that series' popularity on what was clearly a PlayStation.
** And then there was an entire episode inside an {{MMORPG}} and many of the townsfolk were playing it. They had plenty of jokes like how silly it is to accept quests from strangers, Bart being a kid IRL but [[ADarkerMe really powerful in the game]], Moe wondering why he is paying $15 a month for this, etc. Granted, there were also departures from realism, but they were not greater then the show's usual departures from realism of [[MundaneFantastic the "real" town]] in comparison to real life.
*** Overall, the depiction was pretty accurate and faithful, even complete with a {{HUD}} display accurate for [=MMORPGs=]. What's strange though, is that people in real life knew who each other's avatar equivalents were, perhaps because their avatars were identical to their real-life selves and even their personalities (Moe being the ButtMonkey in the above example, for example).
** And then there's the DangerouslyGenreSavvy TheGame, which also for the most part avoids TheProblemWithLicensedGames (fortunately).
* In the "Chicken Ball Z" episode of ''TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'', it is easy to recognize the game Billy was playing on his handheld by the sound effects -- it's ''WarioLand II'', probably one of the later levels, based on the music. Billy calls it something different, of course, and no visuals are shown.
* In an episode of ''ThePowerpuffGirls'', the Mayor is playing what is clearly ''TheLegendOfZelda: Ocarina of Time'' (albeit so badly that he accidentally kills his own fairy), which was a fairly recent release at that point.
** Another one from ''Powerpuff Girls'': in "The Powerpuff Girls' Best Rainy Day Adventure Ever", Blossom seeks out the other two after a long-since abandoned game of hide-and-seek and finds them playing what is obviously ''Pitfall'' on a console that closely resembles the {{Nintendo 64}}.
** In one scene a TV screen displayed a picture and played noise that was more or less pulled directly from one of the TV's in the GameCube release of AnimalCrossing.
* In ''{{ReBoot}}'', the games that periodically threatened the characters were generally believable and fairly current for the time, though they generally used NoCelebritiesWereHarmed versions.
* The beginning of ''ToyStory 2''. While the graphics are every bit as advanced as the movie's animation ([[FakeOutOpening and intentionally so]]), the "game over" screen puts very oldish video game music with just the two words "GAME OVER". Also, the system being played looks a lot like a SuperNintendo.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Other]]
* ''TheGuild'', consisting largely of references to a game similar to ''WorldOfWarcraft'' (by a writer who [[OneOfUs was addicted to it for several years]]) obviously averts this for the most part. It seems like it falls into this trope, though, with Tinkerballa, who's constantly playing a NintendoDS with old-school ''SuperMarioBros.'' sounds. Except it doesn't, because one of the most popular games for the DS is actually ''The New Super Mario Bros.''
* There's a battery commercial that features a kid playing what looks to be a (fictional) Game Boy Advance fighting game against his grandpa, and defeating him over and over - until his batteries start dying on him, allowing his grandpa to turn the tables. The notably true-to-life moment comes when we see the grandpa's character continuing to land sorta-registered blows even as his opponent falls, which seems to indicate that ''someone'' on the team, at least, was doing their homework.
* Parodied in ''{{Foxtrot}}'' when the mother demanded to see the videogames Jason played. Her first response is, "why is [[DonkeyKongCountry that monkey]] [[GoombaStomp jumping on someone's head]]?" Foxtrot, much like ''{{Zits}}'', is more accepting and aware of technology than most comics.
** Early strips featured both Jason and Peter playing ''SuperMarioBros''., Jason bringing a Game Boy on a family trip, and the release of the SNES. Also, one recent sunday strip has Jason attempting to get a copy of ''SuperSmashBros. Brawl'', and he regularly plays ''[[WorldOfWarcraft World Of War]][[strike:craft]]Quest''.
** And let's not forget Jason's LongList of then-recent game releases (complete with TakeThat at ''DukeNukemForever'') in a later strip.
* MadMagazine's "The Lighter Side Of" often features kids who are playing video games on consoles that vaguely resemble actual ones. However, one strip shows a girl eagerly grasping the controller while the disk door is open.
* There is a '''porn''' video where a girl is distracted by her boyfriend while playing Warcraft 3 (with the proper sounds). Of course, this is a RealLife style video.
[[/folder]]

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