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Rail gun hits mark with gamers
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Dahlgren's railgun testing has science fiction links
By COREY BYERS
Date published: 2/1/2008
The railgun may be the Navy's weapon of the future, but many video-gamers are using it to defend their virtual selves today.
Railgun technology has been featured in popular games such as Quake II, in which players can choose weapons for combat. In a 2006 listing by Game trailers.com, a handheld railgun was ranked seventh on the list of the 10 favorite video-game weapons.
Mark Daniel, a self-described gamer from Fredericksburg, said the weaponry in video games can be almost as much of a draw as the characters or story line. He said it's "cool to see technology can be influenced by science fiction, video games and movies."
"Every time they have a new idea for a weapon in a video game you get a lot of hype about it," he said.
Indeed, a Free Lance-Star story on the railgun last year drew more than 300,000 hits online.
Unfortunately for railgun fans, it was beaten out by less realistic weapons on the top 10 list. Red turtle-shell projectiles in the Mario Kart series ranked No. 2.
Maybe the military will next take note of Mario's reptilian defense.
Corey Byers: 540/735-1976
Email: cbyers@freelancestar.com
Date published: 2/1/2008
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