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Video Gaming Makes for Hit Japanese Reality TV Show

by Terrence O'Brien on October 30, 2007 at 03:40 PM



Don't ever let anybody tell you playing video games all day won't get you anywhere... at least not if you live in Japan. Game Center CX is popular Japanese reality TV show staring Shinya Arino, who, clad in a light blue workman's suit, plays through classic, and mind bogglingly difficult video games.

Arino has played everything from well know titles like 'Super Mario Bros.' and 'Galaga' to obscure Japanese-only releases like 'Totsugeki! Fuuun Takeshi Shiro.' Arino sits at a plain, if messy, work desk and attempts to beat the games in one sitting. Arino is promoted or demoted at the fictional 'Game Center CX' company based on his performance.

The show has even spawned a wide variety of licensed products, from coffee mugs to wonderfully ironic "action" figures, and even a deliciously meta video game about a guy who plays video games. The latter is for the Nintendo DS, and sadly as is usual with these quirky titles will probably never see a US release.

From Boing Boing and Wired

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Tags: Big in Japan, BigInJapan, game center cx, GameCenterCx, japan, only in Japan, OnlyInJapan, reality tv, RealityTv, shinya arino, ShinyaArino, tv, video games, VideoGames

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