Beyond the occasional round of solitaire or a few minutes at a digital pinball machine, I've never played computer games. I've never understood the appeal of interacting--often violently--with a make-believe world. But I know that for many people, computer gaming seems to make life more worthwhile. (And ZDNet has a wonderful site for them called GameSpot.) I'm just not one of them.

But for some gamers, the line between entertainment and reality seems to have blurred. I think these are the people Microsoft had in mind when it produced a TV ad that aired briefly in the U.K. before being pulled as a result of viewer complaints. The spot in question is for the Xbox video game platform. The ad opens in a labor-and-delivery room with a woman giving birth. The child arrives and is shot--missile-like--out of the hospital (I'll skip the somewhat gross umbilical cord detachment) and off into the sky.

From there the boy--naked the whole time, but positioned for tasteful television--goes through his entire life, getting older, losing his hair, and developing wrinkles. He's screaming most of this time, and smoke streams from his body. Finally, he lands in his grave. (If you'd like to see the ad, you can view it here. Caution: Apple QuickTime required.)