Life, Death, Street-Fighter

For project 2 I read "The Beach" by Alex Garland and I just wanted to share a little bit from the book on the blog. (amazing book btw) But Alex Garland relates the few moments before death to street fighter. This is taken straight from the book.



Game Over is my favourite thing about playing video games. Actually, I
should qualify that. It's the split second before Game Over that's my
favourite thing.
Streetfighter II — an oldie but goldie — with Leo controlling Ryu. Ryu's
his best character because he's a good all-rounder — great defensive moves,
pretty quick, and once he's on an offensive roll he's unstoppable. Theo's
controlling Blanka. Blanka's faster than Ryu, but he's only really good on attack. The way to win with Blanka is to get in the other player's face and
just never let up. Flying kick, leg-sweep, spin attack, head-bite. Daze them
into submission.
Both players are down to the end of their energy bars. One more hit and
they're down, so they're both being cagey. They're hanging back at opposite
ends of the screen, waiting for the other guy to make the first move. Leo
takes the initiative. He sends off a fireball to force Theo into blocking, then
jumps in with a flying kick to knock Blanka's green head off. But as he's
moving through the air he hears a soft tapping. Theo's tapping the punch
button on his control pad. He's charging up an electricity defence so when
Ryu's foot makes contact with Blanka's head it's going to be Ryu who gets
KO'd with 10,000 volts charging through his system.
This is the split second before Game Over.
Leo's heard the noise. He knows he's fucked. He has time to blurt, "I'm
toast," before Ryu is lit up and thrown backwards across the screen, flashing
like a Christmas tree, a charred skeleton. Toast.
The split second is the moment you comprehend you're just about to die.
Different people react to it in different ways. Some swear and rage. Some
sigh or gasp. Some scream. I've heard a lot of screams over the twelve years
I've been addicted to video games.
I'm sure that this moment provides a rare insight into the way people react
just before they really do die. The games taps into something pure and
beyond affectations. As Leo hears the tapping he blurts, "I'm toast." He says
it quickly, with resignation and understanding. If he were driving down the
M1 and saw a car spinning into his path I think he'd react in the same way.
Personally, I'm a rager. I fling my joypad across the floor, eyes clenched
shut, head thrown back, a torrent of abuse pouring from my lips.
A couple of years ago I had a game called Alien 3. It had a great feature.
When you ran out of lives you'd get a photo-realistic picture of the Alien
with saliva dripping from its jaws, and a digitized voice would bleat, "Game
over, man!"
I really used to love that.