Crackdown shows up in Psych, writers obviously not familiar with video games
by Xav de Matos 
{ Sep 10th 2009 at 8:45PM }
When faux psychic detective Shawn Spencer (James Roday) visits his father (played by Corbin Bernsen, above) for advice, we find the retired officer red-eyed and fixated on the console, waving a plastic toy gun as the game's controller. Although the game isn't named, we can see it's Crackdown, which Bernsen's character claims "lets you feel like a cop, without all the guilt after you shoot someone."
It's a funny cameo that weaves itself nicely into the episode's story, but goes a little crazy with the wacky video game accessory. Besides, everyone knows Crackdown 2 uses no controller and will be completely mapped to a player's body when Natal hits stores* in 2010. Check out a clip of all the episode's video game related gags after the break.
*We kid. We hope.
[Thanks, PsychOut]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jampirow @ Sep 10th 2009 8:57PM
Reminds me of an episode of House that he was playing Metroid Zero Mission on a GBA SP and instead of the normal sounds it was making "Pew Pew" sounds like a goddamned Atari 2600. And then he got on a Chozo Statue and it played Pac-Man'sl "Death" sound.
Xav de Matos @ Sep 10th 2009 9:00PM
They always make such strange calls. Like an episode of LIFE where a kid hid Excel spreadsheets outlining where he hid stolen money on Level 9 of a Prince of Persia game.
Yeah, it makes no sense.
http://www.joystiq.com/2007/11/13/nbcs-life-investigates-prince-of-persia/
The Dark Wayne @ Sep 10th 2009 10:03PM
wasnt there another story, maybe it was destructoid, that on the reboot of 90210, they were playing a 360, with the real controllers, and on the screen it was SNES level stuff with even older sound effects. WTF is with that shit, games arent that hard to understand, and i can hardly believe the TV watching public is stupid enough to accept them as plot devices like on LIFE
West @ Sep 11th 2009 4:00AM
Also, on scrubs they were playing some game that they kept making "Halo" reference to. They probably didn't actually have anything on the screen while filming anyway, but still. Also, one of the WIRED controllers was cut off to make it look wireless. Great call there, propman.
Storm Eagle [Resident Capcom Megafan] @ Sep 11th 2009 1:22PM
@Jampirow
I remember that. I nerd-raged massively when I saw that.
Then I quickly realized what a great show House was again.
The Dark Wayne @ Sep 10th 2009 8:59PM
Obviously he's just using the the game gun designed by the Mysterious Mullet Man
REIGN x 777 @ Sep 10th 2009 9:03PM
I love psych
Xav de Matos @ Sep 10th 2009 9:06PM
It's a good show!
Cr4sh Dummy @ Sep 10th 2009 10:23PM
Yeah, it's really funny. I think it's surpassed Monk in terms of content and character development now.
GewurztraminerX @ Sep 10th 2009 9:08PM
Psych usually hits pop culture references that resonate with me dead on; I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt for not having accurate peripheral depictions to make their point. At least they didn't use the Atari Pacman sounds.
Xav de Matos @ Sep 10th 2009 9:23PM
The funny this is they show the actual controller. I just wonder if someone on set though using an Xbox controller wouldn't "work" well enough to sell the joke.
GewurztraminerX @ Sep 10th 2009 11:36PM
In retrospect, I like to think maybe Sean's dad was just that 'out of it' and he thought he was actually playing the game with that thing
West @ Sep 11th 2009 4:02AM
Now THAT would have been funny, I actually lol'd at that. "It's on demo mode, dad, you're not actually playing...how long have you been playing?" "I've been stuck on this level for three days..."
Psych Out @ Sep 10th 2009 9:27PM
HE STOLE MY NAME.
);
christianaceves77 @ Sep 10th 2009 9:28PM
i become mad too when i play gta 4
Gadget Guy @ Sep 10th 2009 9:49PM
Mad with whom?
Special Agent Steve @ Sep 10th 2009 11:05PM
Mad at the world....
hey, Madworld. OMG!
sho220 @ Sep 10th 2009 10:34PM
in the last episode of entourage, turtle and drama were playing gears of war but, turtle's controller's ring of light was just flashing meaning it wasn't connected (and not the low battery circling nonsense). but the game was still being playing normally. anyways, it was cool to see GOW and some 360 action in entourage.
aristokrat @ Sep 12th 2009 1:31PM
Ha, when I saw that, I started pointing it out to my girlfriend, and she said that she'd already noticed it. I'm training her well!
furiousgunman @ Sep 10th 2009 10:46PM
Psych is an amazing show, USA has the best summer time shows with Monk, Psych, Royal Pains, and Burn Notice all being some of my favorite shows.
Special Agent Steve @ Sep 10th 2009 11:06PM
I saw this, but couldn't exactly determine what game they were really playing.
Filthy Assistant @ Sep 11th 2009 3:16AM
I still think the most accurate portrayal of video games in film or movie would be in Reign Over Me. They say they're playing Shadow of the Colossus, the screen shows Shadow of the Colossus, the sound is from the game, and from what I recall they even describe the game accurately. It was a nice touch.
Filthy Assistant @ Sep 11th 2009 3:17AM
lol, meant "film or television"
im dum
Gemini Ace @ Sep 11th 2009 11:13AM
The worst depiction I've seen is in Knocked Up where Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd are playing some fighting game and they're using two completely different controllers. One is actually a chair with a flight stick in the arm or something. I think they were playing Mortal Kombat on the Xbox. Anyway, it was really bad.
Leroy_Rocktopus needs a PS3 @ Sep 11th 2009 7:14PM
I believe that's actually The 40-Year Old Virgin you're thinking of. I thought it was weird too. The big thing for me though was it should them fighting in two different levels. Still one of my favorite scenes though.
Whocares @ Sep 11th 2009 11:41AM
lol, I saw a show last week where they were playing gears of war, there were 2 people playing (the typical method of viloently pushing all the buttons in as little time as possible) but it was only on single player. Also the second controler was flashing so it hadn't synced with the xbox.
Whocares @ Sep 11th 2009 11:43AM
ha ha, just realised sho220 saw this little nugget of gaming gold too
turdface @ Sep 11th 2009 7:22PM
probably has more to do with licensing and all that/copyright. maybe they only got rights for the hardware and shit and images. plus adding in the proper sounds into post probably annoying.
that and they are like "what nerds are actually going to care about this?"
oh right, the nerds will.
miles82 @ Sep 13th 2009 9:32PM
they at least made the joke work with that. I remember an episode of Terminator the sarah conor chronicles that had gears of war being played. It was supposed to be some competitive multiplayer but it was coop not multiplayer... now that pissed me off.