Unlike PC Gamer’s UK editorial staff, Ben Affleck knows ball. Metaphorically, I mean. Though he probably also knows what the Miami Heat is. Speaking on the October 12 episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Affleck reflected—with a touch of regret—on the time Starcraft swallowed his entire life.
“There was a game called Starcraft that probably took the most life out of me for a period of time. I had just gotten famous, and all I did was stay home for three years and play Starcraft.”
The celebs, folks—they’re just like us. More so than usual in Affleck’s case, I suppose, since the actor’s videogame career doesn’t only encompass a brief dalliance with Blizzard’s RTS series. “Valorant’s a great game. It’s a great game,” he continued, “The problem with that game is that—the kids that have been raised playing, I just get fuckin’ rocked. I’m like, ‘Are you mother fuckers cheating?’ And I get mad. And they’re like 11, they’re like, ‘Fuck you loser!’ It’s very humiliating, but that’s a great game.”
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Which is pretty much my experience playing anything with anyone. But do you think Affleck—one whole Batman and one half of Good Will Hunting—stopped there? More fool you. “I love 2K, I love Madden. The early Doom—which then gave rise to Quake and gave rise to all that—we played that endlessly,” he recalled.
“We were doing Good Will Hunting, we were playing Doom… I remember writing and taking these long breaks to play Doom. I can’t believe it’s been out that long.” Doom, for our younger readers, released in 1993, which was the same year I was released also.
Also on the big Affleck list of videogames: Myst, Donkey Kong, Tetris, and Miss Pac-Man, though I don’t know that those last three count as elite ball-knower knowledge.
Anyway, it sounds like RTSes were Affleck’s big love, and he laments that they’ve “sort of gone out of style.” You and me both, Ben. At least we got those Command and Conquer remasters.
