Video Games Turn to Steroids

Growing up, I had three birthday venues--the nearby aquarium, the bowling alley and the local arcade. I don't recall anyone ever getting injured at one of my parties. There were no shark attacks, no lethal bowling ball drops, and thank goodness, no broken arms from arm wrestling a machine.

Three people in Japan, whom I don't think I invited to any parties, unfortunately experienced the latter. Now, 150 "Arm Spirit" machines are being recalled from Japanese arcades.

An AP article is on top of the story. "The machine isn't that strong, much less so than a muscular man. Even women should be able to beat it," said Ayano Sakiyama, a spokeswoman for the comany which makes the machine, "We think that maybe some players get overexcited and twist their arms in an unnatural way."

It's pretty clear that Sakiyama, a la Bud Selig, is casting a blind eye to the biggest scandal in video game history--steroids have gone digital.

I want to see a showdown between the juiced up arcade machine and Sylvester Stallone's character in the movie "Over the Top." I take Stallone. Human steroids have to be further along than those for video games.