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Do you recall the good old days of video game systems? Video games often took place in interesting and fantasy world that in no way whatsoever resembled our own. Those heady days are long past now. Because a great amount of video games now use real world places, events and people as their storylines and settings. Video games used to be a diversion from reality, and now, they are another window into it. And depending on the game and the person playing it, that can be a good thing, or a very bad thing.

Consider one of the most enduring and endearing video games in history: Super Mario Bros. A plumber, through accident, enters a world where he can eat mushrooms and grow and eat flowers shoot fireballs. No matter how imaginative one's imagination could be, there is simply no way that such an occurrence could happen in this world, like, for real. So, the illusion of the game remains intact.

More and more video game systems are using today's issues for today's video games. The fantasy world based video game will always exist and never become extinct on consoles like the Xbox 360. But, more and more games are using Iraq as their setting rather than a mushroom kingdom. Can you envision a 1980 game based on the Falkland Islands affair for the Xbox 360 or the Sony PSP? But, today, there are many video games using current events as a fantasy gaming world.

There are many reasons as to why more and more video games, like those on the Microsoft Xbox 360 are using reality as their fantasy. The improvement of video game graphics can makes it easier to make real world wars, conflicts and issues appear that much, more, real, on the screen. Perhaps it's easier to steal an idea from the world of today than it is to create a whole new world with plot, characters, functions, missions, etc. Perhaps it's a calculated effort to hone in on frustrated individuals who can't really join the fight: battle those terrorist creeps that you hate so much from the comfort of your own home. In the latter instance, at least, it can make for a quick way to make a quick dollar.

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

It seems that today, a gamer can watch the news, get upset and then do something about it in the real world that exists inside their Sony PSP or Xbox. Now, whether or not that contributes anything of substance at all is a subject for another debate altogether.