161: Accident

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
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Accident
As far as treachery-as-driving-music goes, Katamari music is matched only by Guitar Hero music.
Title text: As far as treachery-as-driving-music goes, Katamari music is matched only by Guitar Hero music.

Explanation

The best way of explaining this comic is to explain the game Katamari Damacy, which music is also referenced in frame 3. In the game, the player has to "cling" his initial object to smaller objects in the playfield in order to get larger as a whole. As clinging smaller objects progresses, the larger objects initially ignoring the central player object will cling to it (thus adding more points and progressing through the levels).

In the comic, Cueball is remembering this strategy by playing the game a lot, and drives his car into a mailbox, which he states "it looked smaller than me".

The image text states that trusting your car to a person that is playing Katamari will surpass the chance of losing it to someone that is playing Guitar Hero. The latter will probably will rock your car to death while playing songs. An alternate explanation is that the road one is driving on might appear as the "note highway" of Guitar Hero; in this case, the driver would weave rapidly between lanes in order to "hit all the notes," which could prove far more devastating than simply rocking one's car.

Transcript

[Cueball driving car while singing.]
Cueball: NAAAA NA NA NANA NANA NA NA KATAMARI DAMACY
[Cueball and Megan talking.]
Megan: And that's when you veered into the mailbox?
Cueball: It looked smaller then me. It was just instinct.


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Discussion

The issue date of the comic is not given. Can someone add this? Rikthoff (talk) 18:53, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

http://xkcd.com/851/ - more katamari damacy shenanigans 128.237.217.152 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

In guitar hero you tilt the controler to active star power. If you did so with steering wheel you would crash. 21:47, 10 January 2014 (UTC) 173.245.52.205 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~) Any reason for an incomplete? 199.27.128.144 06:29, 16 January 2014 (UTC)

I have changed the last part about the title text, as it referred to playing the games while driving, rather than listening to the music. Although the idea is that you then think you are playing! I hope my wording makes more sense. I have never played either of the two games, and cannot say if the explanation for driving poorly while listening to guitar hero music makes sense. But if it does, I would say it was OK to remove the incomplete tag now! Kynde (talk) 13:45, 16 January 2014 (UTC)

I have never played guitar hero either, but I believe the game shows a series of objects approaching you to represent the notes. The point is then to "hit" large objects, much like the point of Katamari Damacy is to hit small objects. This makes more sense since otherwise any game music could simply distract you from driving.
Is there a guitar hero player reading this who could make a final edit?--108.162.242.8 00:45, 17 January 2014 (UTC)
I don't think guitar hero has to do with hitting things, as much as doing sudden turns and hitting your horn on certain notes..108.162.216.79 14:24, 19 May 2014 (UTC)

After I play a lot of Mario Kart, I feel urges to run over boxes, and to shake the steering wheel on top of speed bumps. - 173.245.54.90 15:06, 14 May 2014 (UTC)

After playing a lot of Elder Scrolls, I find myself wanting to harvest all the flowers I see. How else am I going to become an expert alchemist? 108.162.216.96 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

After playing an rpg for hours then going out into public, I find myself scanning windows, doors, vehicles. Staying close to the edges with my head on a swivel, eyes moving like turrets focusing on any one who gets within "range" and IFF them. Walk into a room and move to the corners scanning for targets. I can see the attraction to paintball and laser tag.04:32, 2 April 2015 (UTC)

When I first read this, I mist thought katamari music was some sort of bloodthirsty, rage inducing music, and that it motivated Cueball to go hunting. Boy, I feel stupid.Will X (talk) 06:01, 5 February 2016 (UTC)

JEW JEW JEW PogChamp 173.245.56.71 08:24, 11 May 2016 (UTC)

I think this comic may have been inspired by this Wired article from early 2005. 162.158.107.234 19:23, 16 November 2021 (UTC)

After reading the text, I found that I once played a variant of Katamari Damacy a few years ago, and I won the first place in my first try. ColorfulGalaxy (talk) 19:35, 4 December 2022 (UTC)

I guess Randall hadn't heard of eurobeat in 2006. Don't you think it would be more dangerous to drive to Deja Vu (the Initial D one, not the other dozen songs by that title)? GreatWyrmGold (talk) 22:07, 20 December 2023 (UTC)