If there is a drawback to being a video game blogger, it's that whenever there is something interesting but non-video game related I'd like to blog about I don't really have a venue to post it. Sure, I could post it at Game Informer - nothing says I couldn't. And yes, a few of you are even likely to read it. But I always feel like I'm cheating the system when I consider doing that. My perspective on the matter is people come to Game Informer to read about video games, not to hear about my collection of favorite cat pictures or how my day at worked turned out. So, I don't do it. Or if I do, I find a creative way to link it to video games, which is the case with this story I read about in the news a few days ago. I just couldn't pass on it. I tried, but I keep thinking about it.

How's this for a catchy headline?

Mars One plans suicide mission to Red Planet for 2023.

The story was posted just a few days ago and I read it at Fox News. To summarize, in 2023 ten people will make the one way trip to Mars in a spaceship with no plans of ever returning to Earth. In the years prior to their arrival, a number of shipments will be sent so when they arrive, all they have to do is recover the cargo, unpack it...and live happily ever after. We already have some remote control cars scooting around Mars, so this is very believable.

Anyway...the cool parts of the story read...

Bas Lansdorp, the 35-year-old founder of Mars One, told FoxNews.com his company is serious about a one-way mission. The company will hold a worldwide lottery next year to select 40 people for a training team. They will then set up a mock colony in the desert, possibly somewhere in the U.S., for three months. This initial team will be reduced to ten crew members. They will then be sent to Mars, never again to return.

'We will send humans to Mars in 2023. They will live there the rest of their lives.' -Bas Lansdorp

"In theory, it is less complex to get people back to Earth once you have a sustainable settlement on Mars," Lansdorp told FoxNews.com. "However, our astronauts will be offered a one-way trip. We have no idea when it will be possible to offer return tickets."

Norbert Kraft, a former NASA researcher who studied group psychology for long-term human missions, says the Mars One crew will have to be carefully selected by psychiatrists and prepped to deal with psychological factors like how to collaborate in stressful situations and anticipate problems.

Read the full story here.

I don't know what it is, but I am fascinated with the story and the prospect of this one way trip to Mars. This initiative bridges the gap between the fantasy found in our movies, books and games with reality and our pursuit to reach the final frontier. That's not to say I would volunteer or accept an invitation to go on this opportunity of a lifetime even if the opportunity did present itself. But it is exciting to consider. So how do I make the link between this story and video games?

Well, it's actually rather simple.

In order to increase the odds of this mission being successful, it is imperative that a bulk of the 40 nominations and ideally a majority of the ten who are ultimately selected possess a diverse video gaming background with a minimum of 10-15 years of experience playing a multitude of different video games and genres.

Many gamers have acquired and honed certain skills that are requisite for an endeavor of this magnitude. We (gamers) have what it takes. And here is why:

1. Endurance. As far as public records are concerned, we have never sent a human to Mars, so estimates of how long it would take to get there are just that...estimates. Some say it would take as little as six months while others say a few years. Truthfully, it comes down to the spacecraft that takes them there and how fast it can travel. What we do know is it took roughly seven months to send the two Mars rovers to the red planet. Seven months. Whether you think that is a long time or not, or whether you could handle a trip of that duration in the confines of a spaceship or not is up to you. The longest deployment I ever made on a submarine was 9 months, but that had a few short port calls thrown in to resupply our food and to give us a little rest and relaxation. The longest we were ever submerged without coming up to periscope depth to do normal housekeeping evolutions was 42 days. I don't know if being underwater is more or less desolate than traveling through space, but I do know if you have video games to help pass the time it makes the days go by quicker and you don't think about it as much.

Gamers are a perfect candidate for the trip to Mars. How many times have you started playing a game and after what feels like just a few minutes, a few hours have transpired. This would be a perfect opportunity to put a dent in that backlog you've built up. Imagine the games you could finally beat if you had a seven month transit and nothing else really to speak of vying for your time. Regrettably, it doesn't sound like you would be able to play online though. Imagine what kind of lag you would encounter if it takes 6 minutes to send a signal between the two planets.

2. Experience. While nobody has physically been to Mars, gamers have routinely visited the planet as a location from many of our video games. We kind of know what to expect already. We have the "Been there, Done that" t-shirt. We also have the "Houston, We Have A Problem" t-shirt, so if anything goes wrong on the flight over, you know...like Reaper or Necromorph infestations or experimental gateways opening portals between Phobos, Deimos, and yes, even hell...well we'll be ready for it. You don't get that kind of experience in the real world. No, this is knowledge solely available through playing video games. We are well versed in everything from the operation of lifeboats and ejection pods to the intricacies associated with artificial gravity generators and power plants. We understand interplanetary travel - some of us may have even returned to Earth mere hours ago. Others might not even be on Earth at the time of this posting.

3. Exposure. Real life spacemen have to worry about snagging their spacesuits on a sharp object and compromising the airtight integrity of the suit while gamers in spacesuits have to worry about being impaled by sharp objects and learning to deal with the pain and blood loss while fighting on in their severely damaged suits. Additionally, gamers are quite familiar with advanced spacesuits including the Hazardous Environmental Suit (HEV Suit); the Resource Integration Gear (RIG) spacesuit and even MJOLNIR armor. So, who would you pick to go to Mars?

Also, our little robot remote controls cars have transmitted images back to us and everything looks relatively peaceful on Mars. Nothing really to speak of but rocks, and more rocks. But you've seen the movies...read the books...heard the theories. The term Martians originated for a reason. Let's say this 10 man team arrives sunny side up on the Red Planet looking as out of place as Mario on a date with Lara Croft and you have all these uber smart scientist and doctor types who were pushed around in school and had their lunch money stolen from the school bully...they're looking like a bunch of Star Trek red shirted crew members...and let's say they do encounter alien life forms. Chances are they are more likely to soil the inside of their spacesuits than they will be to communicate, negotiate or retaliate to this otherworldly presence. Gamers have encountered all sorts of different alien species and wouldn't be too surprised to learn they are real. We know about their special abilities, their evil plans to eliminate us and glass our worlds, and their weaknesses. If we can communicate with them and negotiate a peaceful resolution, great, but if not, we might have to result to using aggressive negotiations. Again I ask, "So, who would you pick to go to Mars?"

4. Establishment. Who knows base building and resource management better than gamers, especially in a world other than our own? If these ten explorers are going to Mars and are going to build a base before venturing out to divide and conquer, that sounds exactly like games I have played before. In fact, here is a small sampling of games that should be pre-requisites to finish prior to being selected to go to Mars:

Halo - Learn basic human and alien weapons handling skills; close quarter shipboard tactics, land navigation on alien planets; artificial intelligence usage and alien history.

X-COM - The quintessential game to train gamers to prepare for a life on Mars. It includes everything from resource management to base construction. It also provides the player access to the UFOPEDIA archives with all sorts of information on aliens. Conduct experiments and start production on alien technology...the game has it all.

Dead Space - To help prepare for the journey to this planet millions of miles away, a game like Dead Space is critical in learning what you might run into along the way and how to respond to various emergencies. A great tool for learning casualty response plans, the importance of critical ship services and systems including how to repair them or operate them in backup and the dangers associated with using the elevator during an emergency and surviving (or not surviving) in a vacuum.

EVE Online - A big part of this game isn't as glamorous as ship to ship combat or skirmishes with aliens, it's the day to day drone of mining and resource collection, a lot of which will likely occur on this trip to Mars. Also, this game has a steep learning curve, so if you can master its intricacies, then flying a spaceship to Mars, landing it successfully, setting up a base with all the associated gear and living the rest of your life in a world that won't naturally sustain human life will be a walk in the park.

Red Faction - Hmm, well this is interesting. Wikipedia states, "Red Faction takes place on Mars around the year 2070. Earth's minerals are being depleted and humans need more of them to survive. The vast Ultor Corporation runs the mining operation on Mars. The living conditions are deplorable, human rights for the miners are few and a disease called "The Plague" is running rampant throughout the colony with no known antidote available - predominantly within the confines of the mine complex. Parker, a downtrodden miner, came to Mars to make a new start in his life - taken in by the promises and advantages Ultor has to offer in the mines of Mars. After a routine day in the mine with the typical aggression toward miners and cramped living conditions and poor nutrition, he witnesses the spark that starts a rebellion when a security guard abuses a miner at the end of his shift and heartlessly kills him." Could this be a precursor of what's to come? Play the game and recognize the crisis before it actually occurs. You might be the one that prevents it.

Probably wouldn't hurt to play Mass Effect 1 - 3 either. Just to freshen up on socializing with aliens you might be attracted to while still maintaining an intimate relationship with other members of your crew.

Interested applicants still have a few years to train and prepare.

Volunteers?

DISCLAIMER: No animals were harmed in the writing of this blog, so please don't take any of my comments too serious. The news report is a real story; the rest of this is slightly facetious.