To the media, video games are like episodes of an old show you found on Netflix. Old to everyone else; new to you.

Time recently released its “50 Best Inventions of 2009” list. Convention and common sense tells us these inventions should be one of three things: vital, innovative or cool.

Microsoft’s Project Natal was No. 5 on the list. Project Natal is a video game controller that utilizes body movement and voice commands to direct the game instead of a traditional handheld device.

This would be a fantastic invention, if it were an invention. From the article: “Project Natal uses several cameras, plus a highly specialized microphone and a lot of fancy software, to track the gamer’s body and interpret his or her voice.”

Cameras? A specialized microphone? Fancy software? I must inquire regarding this contraption to these Microsoft chums forthwith.

Project Natal is not an invention; it’s a concept. I think I saw this concept when I was 6 years old at a science center in California.

An invention that was apparently not as praiseworthy as Project Natal was
No. 6: teleportation. At the University of Maryland’s Joint Quantum Institute, scientists successfully teleported data from one atom to another in a container one meter away.

Alas, teleportation is not as cool as waving your arms and something on a screen waving its arms. It must have something to do with you doing it simultaneously. You can be two places at once.

Even if you teleport, you can’t be in two places at once. You go from one place to the next. Lame.

No. 8: the AIDS vaccine. A regimen of two shots, this vaccine combination reduced infection by 31 percent among those taking the vaccine versus the placebo.

Granted, there are still some questions about it. Questions such as how it works or if it even works at all. But as far as concepts go, the first mildly successful vaccine for AIDS definitely tops an over-glorified Wii.

No. 10: a microchip developed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology that could restore partial eyesight to blind people, potentially allowing them to recognize faces and navigate rooms unassisted.

Apparently less cool than being able to bowl in a video game without a
Wiimote.

They’re likely devastated that they probably won’t be able to join our Natal-based fun anytime soon.

No. 13: a solar panel roof shingle developed by the Dow Chemical Company that can be installed right next to regular asphalt shingles. They are expected to be 10 to 15 percent cheaper than traditional panels, as well as easier to install.

No. 39: a levitating mouse, courtesy of NASA and magnets. That’s not super useful, but it’s pretty cool.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare 2 recently sold 4.7 million copies in its first day. Video games are mainstream now. Can we stop treating everything that this 50-year-old industry does as novel?

Cameras, microphones and fancy software? Yawn. Wake me up when “Tron” happens.

Reach crogino on Steam or Playstation Network. Or e-mail him at cogino@asu.edu.