Game Boy Advance around the world
by Blake Snow 
{ Oct 23rd 2006 at 3:25PM }
Some little tyke on Flickr is seeing how many world-famous locations he can visit while playing his Game Boy Advance devoid of facial expressions. The dude's "work in progress" has been all over including England, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, and Germany. Watch him scoff at world travel in favor of the digital realm. "Hey look, kids! Big Ben! Parliament!" (Kid glances then quickly returns to his game of Pokemon).
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
benjamin @ Oct 23rd 2006 3:29PM
Isn't it likely that they're just 'shopping this kid into these pictures?
aerial_daredevil @ Oct 23rd 2006 3:33PM
It could be possible that the kid is photoshoped - but the shadow & light seem authentic.
Remember its not the kid that is taking the picture - his parent(s) are. I doubt this idea came from the kid.
Nytemare @ Oct 23rd 2006 3:57PM
That picture defines child gaming to a T :)
MC Hampster @ Oct 23rd 2006 3:38PM
Great European Vacation reference.
erica. @ Oct 23rd 2006 3:49PM
this is funny cause everytime my family went somewhere they always yelled at to put done my gameboy and get in a picture.
David @ Oct 23rd 2006 3:45PM
Yeah I can make a pretty good picture up of me sitting on Mars playing my GBA.
Paul Gale @ Oct 23rd 2006 3:52PM
Cool story seeing the Game Boy Advance go around the world with the kid. I did a bit of traveling this summer too in Europe, and took my GBA and DS Lite along for the ride. Fortunately I did take some pictures as well. :)
Paul Gale
1up.com
brogan @ Oct 23rd 2006 3:45PM
still better than playing during dinner in Restaurants like many of these kids do .
what the betting the kids all like "but why can't i have a ds?" and his dad's going "because that would mess up the concept
philip @ Oct 23rd 2006 6:38PM
"England, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, and Germany".... and Scotland.
I think it's 'shopped as well.
MMurdock @ Oct 23rd 2006 3:51PM
"what does this topic have anything to do with Second Life? I swear, you people treat Second Life like it doesnt even exist."
Whats Second Life? =)
Antipilor @ Oct 23rd 2006 3:53PM
These looks shopped, I can tell from some of the pixels and seeing many shops in my time.
Gabriel @ Oct 23rd 2006 4:01PM
#10 : Care to elaborate? They look real to me... and i've seen «many shops in my time» ;-)
kiwi @ Oct 23rd 2006 3:59PM
To #10:
Exactly what pictures do you think are photoshopped? I thought they might be at first as well, but looking at the pictures, the poses the kid is in are all different and the shadows and lighting would be VERY difficult to photoshop.
It isn't that absurd an idea to take a pic of the kid playing the DS in these places... I doubt they visited these landmarks just to take a pic of the kid.
Vlad @ Oct 23rd 2006 4:05PM
part of me thinks this is totally awesome, and part of thinks is just awful and revolting. I mean, all these amazing places (are his parents diplomats or something?) and he's not even paying attention or appreciating them. but I guess that's true with all little kids.
GlitchCog @ Oct 23rd 2006 4:07PM
kiwi and Gabriel, I think the correct response to your questions is that you need to "lurk moar."
Gnac @ Oct 23rd 2006 4:09PM
Go back to 4chan, Glitchcog.
kiwi @ Oct 23rd 2006 4:11PM
#14: Like I said in my other post, I doubt the kid just happened to be playing the GBA while they were there and the parent decided to take a picture. It seems like a very posed thing, and possibly a "statement" on the very thing you mention, that kids might rather play a video game than appreciate these landmarks.
But I highly doubt it was a "oh there he goes again, let me take a pic!" kinda thing.
Chris Lawton @ Oct 23rd 2006 4:37PM
First off, I'd like to applaud Joystiq for the National Lampoon's reference. Very nice.
On the matter at hand, I agree with Kiwi. It looks like they were all posed. Probably to make a statement or something. As it is, I know, personally, I would love to go to all of these places and play video games.
Of course, I think I'd be more interested in the attraction than this kid seems to be. I wonder if he actually took in the attraction after the picture was taken. Maybe they visited a gift shop, or something.
Fish @ Oct 23rd 2006 4:38PM
Kids of that age for the most part wouldn't appreciate the landmarks. They might appreciate the overall value of being taken on a European tour, but I highly doubt they care about the Druids or that Big Ben is actually the name of the gi-frickin-gantic bell.
It could be a statement, or it could just be an older brother with a digi. Less likely though, it's been pchopped. The shadows on the boy match the background shadows perfectly (usually the best indicator of believable pchopping)
Dignan17 @ Oct 23rd 2006 5:12PM
1- Ditto on the nice European Vacation ref.
2- These aren't photoshopped. The kid's uncle is on a message board I frequent. He asked us all to digg the story.
3- He said that some of the photos are staged. However, it started out that in all these family vacations, the kid never put down his SP, and you'd see him playing it in front of all these famous sites. So now they have him pose when they visit someplace.
4- geez, they could at least give him a DS
@Fish
You're right. Most kids that age wouldn't really appreciate the sites. My parents took me to all those places when I was about that age, and I don't remember a thing. I would say, though, that those types of experiences can mold a kid into a more worldly, experienced, well-rounded person. And a lot of the time, I think little bits of those experiences are retained, enough to make it entirely worthwhile.
But still, I think bringing a Gameboy along is great. A lot of the experience of travel can be boring.
Robbie @ Oct 23rd 2006 5:14PM
I actually used to work with this kids dad and still work with his brother. These are actually real photos from each location. Granted they are posed, as the father admits, in the Digg ,
posting, nevertheless still pretty cool. He has actually made YouTube as well <
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebzLb_xD5I4>
Robbie @ Oct 23rd 2006 5:15PM
Sorry..my Digg link got cut out..lets try this one..
Ron Smith @ Oct 23rd 2006 6:59PM
parents, this is why you should beat your kids. He is just begging for an upper cut right now.
R.U.Sirius @ Oct 23rd 2006 8:36PM
Hm...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pkh5opBp6K4
Ripp-Off anyone?
-R.U.Sirius
Superdotman @ Oct 23rd 2006 10:10PM
Whoa, that GBA SP is huge!
"Watch him scoff at world travel in favor of the digital realm. "Hey look, kids! Big Ben! Parliament!" (Kid glances then quickly returns to his game of Pokemon)."
Isn't that a bit generalistic, automatically assuming he's playing Pokémon just because he's younger than you? I thought Joystiq had higher standards. For shame.
Joseph Villalobos @ Oct 23rd 2006 10:44PM
How cool! KUDOS!
admangreendog @ Oct 24th 2006 3:40AM
@10 "These looks shopped, I can tell from some of the pixels and seeing many shops in my time."
Well from that incredibly succinct arguement, I must admit i'm 100% convinced..
Is it so hard for you to imagine that the kid has been on a few holidays with his parents??
I think you'll find most English families go on foreign holidays quite often.
dufus