History WritersCannotDoMath / VideoGames

** One ([[TakeYourTime supposedly]]) timed event gives you 24 hours to live. A helicopter takes you from one location (Liberty Island) to another (Hong Kong) in a trip that is based on context to be less than eleven hours (23 hours left before the flight, twelve hours have passed a decent amount of time after it). Google Maps gives the distance between the two at 8,047 miles, and the max speed ever recorded on a helicopter was 249.1 mph. To make the trip the helicopter in question would need to go over 730 MPH (almost three times the record) without stopping.[[note]]In the real world opinions are divided on whether this would actually be physically possible, even given superior materials like Deus Ex nanotech; if it is, the helicopter wouldn't look anything like the relatively-conventional Dibbuk.[[/note]]

** Eleanor Lethe's age is given as 54 in supplementary materials, but everything about her in-story would make more sense if she was at least in her mid-sixties, taking into account her apparent age, twenty-something granddaughter, and [[spoiler:Alzheimer's diagnosis, which is far more common in one's mid-60's.]]

* ''VideoGame/MidnightSuns'': The game takes place in the early 2020's, but whenever Magik and Nico clash with the older characters, they constantly call them "boomers" even though none of them actually fall within the Baby Boomer age range. And when Magik [[OddFriendship bonds with]] Captain America, it's implied that she's aware it's a specific generation and not just a slur for "middle-aged." Of the older heroes that have thus far aged normally--Captain Marvel, Dr. Strange, Hulk, and Iron Man--they appear to be in their 40's to early 50's; this would place them firmly within Generation X or even older Millennials.

* ''VideoGame/Persona3'': A throwaway line refers to Baofu from ''VideoGame/Persona2'' as "a man in his 30's". Baofu was born in 1967, and ''Persona 3'' takes place in 2009, making him 42 at the time.

*** Sojourn was stated to be 47 years old, which seems reasonable... until one reads [[AllThereInTheManual her character novel]], which has many scenes taking place during the [[RobotWar Omnic Crisis]] "28 years ago", and states that at the time, Sojourn had been in the Canadian Army "for four years", which meant she would have enlisted [[ChildSoldier when she was fifteen]] (which is ''completely illegal'', as the Canadian Army only accept recruits that eighteen or older) and had some [[TeenPregnancy troubling implications]] with Sojourn's twin sister having a five years old daughter at the time. Two weeks later, Blizzard realized their mistake and bumped Sojourn's age to '''51'''.
*** Hammond[=/=]Wrecking Ball, a hamster that was genetically modified to be bigger (making him the size of a small dog) and smarter (he is a very skilled mechanical engineer), is 16. Even assuming that the genetic enchancements doubled or tripled his lifespan compared to normal rodents, he should still be dead (normal hamsters have an average lifespan of 3 years, so Hammond is more than ''five times'' as old as a common gerbil).

*** Sojourn is stated to be 47 years old, which seems reasonable... until one reads [[AllThereInTheManual her character novel]], which has many scenes taking place during the [[RobotWar Omnic Crisis]] "28 years ago", and states that at the time, Sojourn had been in the Canadian Army "for four years", which means she would have enlisted [[ChildSoldier when she was fifteen]] (which is also, by the way, ''completely illegal'', as the Canadian Army only accept recruits that are legal adults, that is to say eighteen or older).

** Hammond[=/=]Wrecking Ball, a hamster that was genetically modified to be bigger (making him the size of a small dog) and as smart as a human scientist, is 16. Even assuming that the genetic enchancements doubled or tripled his lifespan compared to normal rodents, he should still be dead (normal hamsters have an average lifespan of 3 years, so Hammond is more than ''five times'' as old as a common gerbil).

** When she was revealed as the 27th hero (on the 28 February 2018), Brigitte's official bio was put on the site showing her as 28 years old. This goes quite at odds with an earlier teaser for the same character [[note]]Telling that Mercy would come to see if the newborn Brigitte was doing well and check on her father[[/note]] which would make Mercy a member (or at least, a known friend/visitor) of the organization at the ripe age of nine years old. According to the lead writer, the age put on site was something he came up with at first and forgot to update when writing the teaser. The age was later changed to 23, making Mercy 14 at the time of her birth, which while [[TeenGenius impressive]], is at least more believable.

** There are so many Writers Cannot Do Math moments with dates in Deus Ex that it's difficult to tell when it's supposed to be. Guesses have ranged between 2045-2065. 2052 does seem to be the most consistent, however, and is the one used by the sequel.

* Trying to determine the age of Big Boss from ''Franchise/MetalGear'' is a bit of a nightmare thanks to [[SeriesContinuityError inconsistent dates and ages]]. ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker'' in particular has Zadornov -- a Russian spy who apparently has done research on John -- claim that Big Boss will be "dead at 39, just like [[UsefulNotes/CheGuevara El Che]]" as he points a gun at him. The game takes place in 1974, so this would put Big Boss's birthday in 1935. However, prior canon certified that Big Boss was a Korean War veteran and a member of the Green Berets before he ever even met the Boss (John claiming to be older than 15 would be an obvious lie to the special forces). Before that came commentary and promotional material for ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'', which established him as being in his 30s in 1964, which would be a bit more believable -- except it was ''also'' stated early in ''VideoGame/{{Metal Gear Solid 2|SonsOfLiberty}}'' that he was in his late fifties when the Les Enfantes Terribles project was underway, which was in 1972, just eight years after ''[=MGS3=]''. Liquid's comment about Big Boss being in his 50s when they were cloned came from an earlier lore document, where Big Boss was the son of an American soldier stationed in Hawaii -- that version of Big Boss was born in '''1922''', far older than the previously listed dates. The retcon about him being in his 30s likely came about from wanting John to be younger than The Boss, because it would be awkward for a disciple to be the same age as their mentor (plus they can't do mother-son symbolism if John is the same age). Whatever the reason for the changes, Big Boss's age is a lore nightmare.

* ''VideoGame/Persona3'': A throwaway line refers to Baofu from ,''VideoGame/Persona2'' as "a man in his 30's". Baofu was born in 1967, and ''Persona 3'' takes place in 2009, making him 42 at the time.

* ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' revealed its 27th hero (on the 28 February 2018), Brigitte. Her official bio was put on the site showing her as 28 years old. This goes quite at odds with an earlier teaser for the same character [[note]]Telling that Mercy would come to see if the newborn was doing well and check on her father[[/note]] which would make Mercy a member (or at least, a known friend/visitor) of the organization at the ripe age of nine years old. According to the lead writer, the age put on site was something he came up with at first and forgot to update when writing the teaser. The age was later changed to 23, making Mercy 14 at the time of her birth, which while [[TeenGenius impressive]], is at least more believable.
* ''VideoGame/Persona3'': A throwaway line refers to Baofu from ''VideoGame/Persona2'' as "a man in his 30's". Baofu was born in 1967, and ''Persona 3'' takes place in 2009, making him 42 at the time.

* Trying to determine the age of Big Boss from ''Franchise/MetalGear'' is a bit of a nightmare thanks to [[SeriesContinuityError inconsistent dates and ages]]. ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker'' in particular has Zadornov -- a Russian spy who apparently has done research on John -- claim that Big Boss will be "dead at 39, just like [[UsefulNotes/CheGuevara El Che]]" as he points a gun at him. The game takes place in 1974, so this would put Big Boss's birthday in 1935. However, prior canon certified that Big Boss was a Korean War veteran and a member of the Green Berets before he ever even met the Boss (John claiming to be older than 15 would be an obvious lie to the special forces). Before that came commentary and promotional material for ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'', which established him as being in his 30s in 1964, which would be a bit more believable -- except it was ''also'' stated early in ''VideoGame/{{Metal Gear Solid 2|SonsOfLiberty}}'' that he was in his late fifties when [[CloningBlues the Les Enfantes Terribles project]] was underway, which was in 1972, just eight years after ''[=MGS3=]''. Liquid's comment about Big Boss being in his 50s when they were cloned came from an earlier lore document, where Big Boss was the son of an American soldier stationed in Hawaii -- that version of Big Boss was born in '''1922''', far older than the previously listed dates. The retcon about him being in his 30s likely came about from wanting John to be younger than The Boss, because it would be awkward for a disciple to be the same age as their mentor (plus they can't do mother-son symbolism if John is the same age). Whatever the reason for the changes, Big Boss's age is a lore nightmare.

It may be the case that originally, Jak was several years older than Keira. Upon being flung into the future, Keira may have been deposited a few years earlier in time than Jak and Daxter. This would effectively have "shortened" their age difference.

* ''VideoGame/MidnightSuns'': The game takes place in the early 2020's, but whenever Magik and Nico clash with the older characters, they constantly call them "boomers" even though none of them actually fall within the Baby Boomer age range. And when Magik [[OddFriendship bonds with]] Captain America, it's implied that she's aware it's a specific generation and not just a slur for "middle-aged." Of the heroes that have thus far aged normally--Captain Marvel, Dr. Strange, Hulk, and Iron Man--they appear to be in their 40's to early 50's; this would place them firmly within Generation X or even older Millennials.

* ''VideoGame/MidnightSuns'': The game takes place in the early 2020's, but whenever Magik and Nico clash with the older characters, they constantly call them "boomers" even though none of them actually fall within the Baby Boomer age range. And when Magik [[OddFriendship bonds with]] Captain America, it's implied that she's aware it's a specific generation and not just a slur for "middle-aged." Of the heroes that have thus far aged normally--Captain Marvel, Dr. Strange, Hulk, and Iron Man--they appear to be in their 40's to early 50's; at the time of the game's release this would place them firmly within Generation X or even older Millennials.

* ''VideoGame/MidnightSuns'': The game takes place in the early 2020's, but whenever Magik and Nico clash with the older characters, they constantly call them "boomers" even though none of them actually fall within the Baby Boomer age range, and when Magik [[OddFriendship bonds with]] Captain America, it's implied that she's aware it's a specific generation and not just a slur for "middle-aged." Captain Marvel, Dr. Strange, Hulk, and Iron Man[[note]]The other older characters--[[PlayerCharacter the Hunter]], Blade, Captain America, Caretaker, and Wolverine--are OlderThanTheyLook due to their aging being suppressed by various means, with Blade being the "youngest" at 100ish[[/note]] appear to be in their 40's to early 50's; at the time of the game's release this would place them firmly within Generation X or even older Millennials.

** Eleanor Lethe's age is given as 54 in supplementary materials, but everything about her in-story would make more sense if she was at least in her mid-sixties, taking into account her apparent age, twenty-something granddaughter, and [[spoiler:Alzheimer's diagnosis, which is far more uncommon in under-65s.]]

** One class question asks you how many colors are needed to color every region of an area with no two adjacent regions being the same color. In a general case, the answer is four, commonly known as the four color theorem. However, the area displayed to illustrate the question happens to satisfy the more restrictive conditions for the two color theorem, and [[https://i.imgur.com/17AQqyh.jpg can accordingly be colored with just two colors.]][ [AmbiguousSyntax The text doesn't make clear whether the question is referring to the map depicted or the general case]], making the question much harder than it ought to have been. The answer deemed correct is "four", incidentally.

** An early line in [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater MGS3]] claims that it took two weeks and more than 600 miles for Sokolov to get from OKB-754 in the USSR to Berlin, and left the good doctor exhausted. 600 miles east of Berlin only puts you as far as Minsk, barely across the Soviet border. Since Tselinoyarsk could be reached from Pakistan without violating Soviet airspace (presumably via the Wakhan corridor), that puts it somewhere in modern day Tadjikistan, at least 3000 miles from Berlin. This crosses over with ArtisticLicenseGeography of course.

** One class question asks you how many colors are needed to color every region of an area with no two adjacent regions being the same color. In a general case, the answer is four, commonly known as the four color theorem. However, the area displayed to illustrate the question happens to satisfy the more restrictive conditions for the two color theorem, and [[https://i.imgur.com/17AQqyh.jpg can accordingly be colored with just two colors.]][[AmbiguousSyntax The text doesn't make clear whether the question is referring to the map depicted or the general case]], making the question much harder than it ought to have been. [[spoiler:The answer deemed correct is "four", incidentally.]]

* In ''VideoGame/BanjoTooie'', there is Super Stash Deluxe, a safe who claims to have a four-digit, infinite-combination lock. Kazooie calls Super Stash out on this fallacy, stating that four digits would only allow for 10,000 combinations (0000-9999). This would be true, except that Super Stash's dial only contains the numbers 1-9, and lacks a 0. [[note]]Without a 0, Super Stash could only have a total of 6,561 different combinations.[[/note]] This may have just been an oversight on the artists' part, though.

** Brandi Broke starts ''[=TS2=]'' pregnant with her third child by her late husband, who has her husbands genetics and is recognized by the game as his. Yet her husband died before her second child was born, meaning he somehow sired the third one after he died. In-game, the third child isn't actually his son. The baby is always a boy because Brandi is pregnant with herself, and a character who is pregnant with themselves always has an opposite-sex child.

* In ''[[VideoGame/BanjoKazooie Banjo-Tooie]]'', there is Super Stash Deluxe, a safe who claims to have a four-digit, infinite-combination lock. Kazooie calls Super Stash out on this fallacy, stating that four digits would only allow for 10,000 combinations (0000-9999). This would be true, except that Super Stash's dial only contains the numbers 1-9, and lacks a 0. [[note]]Without a 0, Super Stash could only have a total of 6,561 different combinations.[[/note]] This may have just been an oversight on the artists' part, though.

** In ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire'', the Pokemon Wailord, the largest Pokemon in the game, has a weight that doesn't seem to match it: Wailord is 14 metres high, and weighs 398 kilograms. Both these numbers are ''big'', but its weight isn't ''nearly'' as high as it should be, even taking into account the fact that Wailord is also partly based on a blimp. As its official description states, it's roughly the height of a 5 story building, but seeing as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_body_weight the average human weighs 62 kg,]] it weighs less than a group of 7 people. Actual whales are smaller yet weigh ''at least'' a few tonnes. Calculating Wailord's density shows that it's not much higher than that of ''air''. This may be intentional, considering its "Float Whale" category, yet the Pokédex claims it can dive thousands of metres beneath the ocean.
** Tauros, a bull Pokemon that stands at a little more than two thirds the average height of a real life bull, somehow weighs less than ''one tenth'' what real life bulls weigh on average.

*** Maybe Kaneshiro decides to [[FridgeHorror "collect" earlier than scheduled]], due to the obviously unfeasible nature to pay off a debt that big by then?

*** Maybe Kaneshiro decides to [[FridgeHorror "collect"]] earlier?