PSP Pitching

June 1, 2005 in Gaming, Sports

Minnesota Twins pitcher Johan Santana owns a PSP, but he uses it a little differently than the rest of us.  Before he pitches a game, he has gotten into the habit playing his upcoming opponent on his PSP to prepare himself better.  Obviously, it doesn’t warm up his arm or prepare him physically, but it does help him focus on the batting lineup and some of the key stats he needs to be aware of.

I guess we are going to start seeing more and more of this type of thing.  Dale Earnhardt, Jr. is known to spend hours playing Nascar racing games during the week of a race to prepare himself for specific tracks.  This is especially helpful for him because the rhythmic timing required for braking and acceleration changes for each track.

I’ve also heard that the military is starting to use combat-style games for training.  The military has obviously used high-tech simulation-style programs for a long time, but now they are looking into using games straight off the shelf.  So if you ever wanted to really know what it’s like to be a pro-athlete or a soldier, just pick up your PSP or game controller.  If it’s good enough for them, it must be pretty darn close to the real thing.  Link (via PSPworld)