I like it when games leak into the real world. While the thing that’s most valuable to me about playing is the lack of reality - I already have enough of that to keep me busy - I find it immensely pleasing when they reach out of their totally virtual, fictional, insubstantial worlds and make real things happen. I like it when Eternal Darkness makes me jump off the sofa to re-plug my spookily unplugged controller, or when Metal Gear makes me feel like a chump for not picking up a CD case. It’s not so much about merchandise - although I’m a sucker for that too - but about things that cross the divide and become real in the process. I’d like to put my hand on my heart and say that I wouldn’t fork out 4000 yen for a Final Fantasy potion, but given a bad enough day I would, and I don’t doubt for a moment that it would revive me. Assuming I wasn’t poisoned or turn to stone or anything.

So here are this week’s favourite bits of game leakage. The first is a stunning map of the first version of Zork. Keen-eyed Zork fans will notice there are locations there from all three Zork games, and that it’s dated before Zork’s original release. That’s because this is the map of the original, non-commercial game, sometimes known as Dungeon, which permeated across university mainframes from its birthplace at MIT in 1977. There’s a nice telling of the story of its creation, and of the founding of Infocom, here. The original PDP-10 version was too hefty for home computers of the time, so the game was split into three installments. This map, by Steven Roy, presumably a student fan at the time, sums up everything I love about games and everything I hate about Zork.

Too old for you? Then how about this marvelously impractical idea to have your car project hologramatic chevrons onto sharp curves, based on data from your GPS? And why stop there? Why not have Forza’s colour-coded racing line projected in front of you to help judge your speed? Why not have the GPS linked into automatic weather station feeds so it can alter the optimum speeds according to real-time reports of rain or frost? Why not have a combo-meter monitoring how ecologically you’re managing your gear changes? Please, no puncturing my enthusiasm with anything as prickly as common sense.

And if that picture is reminding you of something, then you might be glad of a link to Aram Batholl’s Speed, which is what it reminded me of - that real-world installation of Need For Speed’s chevrons on a street in Berlin. And if that’s reminding you of something, then you might be glad of a link to Benedict Radcliffe’s wireframe Impreza, which is what it reminded me of. Beyond that you’re on your own.

Addendum: Alright, fine - even I admit there are times when game-leakage can be a decidedly bad thing.