Leafy Times » 21,214 Bullets vs. 1 Pack of Cigarettes

My brother and I are gamers. Sure, we’re quickly becoming old skewl gamers. But I prefer to call us “original gamers”. We grew up on Mario Bros and Saturdays spent at the arcades with a pocket of quarters playing Gauntlet and Xenophobe. This past week, I’ve played (and completed) a phenomenal game called Bioshock. If you haven’t heard here, here, here, here, here, or here, it’s going to be the ‘Game of the Year’. And I completely agree. It’s the best game I’ve played since Knights of the Old Republic.

Bioshock contains lots of tobacco references. There are billboards advertising cigarettes, there are boxes of Habana Especial cigars throughout, and I even found two walk-in humidors (see pics below). And like many games before it, you can smoke cigarettes…for a price. You’ll take a hit in the health bar. I calculated that if you smoked about 20 cigarettes you would keel over and die. I just don’t get this. At first, I think it’s cool that you can even commit in-game smoking. It’s almost cute that you lose a little health when doing it. But I must ask, what message is the gaming industry trying to send us? I can take 21,214 bullets to the face, but a few smokes will kill me? I can fall 9 stories and walk away without a scratch. But a cigar will kill me? If I smoke, as long as a first aid kit is handy, I can cure cancer?

I’ve never seen any other group in the entertainment industry treat smoking this way. When Bruce Willis lights a cigarette at Nakatomi Plaza in Die Hard, he doesn’t start coughing uncontrollably and die. The terrorist don’t win because he finds a pack of Marlboros. When shot, he bleeds.

I’m not a crazy nut who wants to change the gaming industry. I’ve just always found it ironic that a few cigarettes can kill you, but you can survive grenades, flamethrowers, and hundreds of enemies in games. The way things are headed, I imagine smoking will be banned from video games soon anyway. Which will be another rant…

For now, enjoy these shots I took of the tobacco goodness from the fantastic Bioshock: