The Lives And Times of Speed Runners

1up.com has a feature looking into the high stress world of game speed running. Primarily a history of the sport, they start with Doom and Super Mario Bros. and walk us forward to sequence breaking runs through Metroid Prime. From the article: "While there are plenty of real-world time-based challenges, speed running stands apart thanks to its virtual nature. You'll never tune in to a track meet and see competitors taking shortcuts across the grass, but that's essentially the modus operandi of video game speed runners. Similarly, you'll never see athletes exploiting flaws in reality to jump further or to warp themselves ahead in the race. Again, that's something that can only be done via video games. While speed running has been acquiring a serious head of steam over the last few years, its origins can be traced back to one game in particular: id Software's late 1993 bombshell of an FPS, Doom. "

Comments

Am I the only one...

[madaxe42]

...who just had an image of people smuggling amphetamines?

Sport?

[eXtro]

I guess it's just as much a sport as seeing how many hotdogs you can eat.

Oh wait, that's not a sport either.

Re:You mean like "The Wizard"

[Anonymous Coward]

that late 90's flick with Fred Savage

You misspelled "commercial".

Speed runners frist psot!

[tod_miller]

frsit psot!!!!!!11

Now I have to post the demo!! :-) I don't think I have ever speed played except in actual racing games... hrm :-)