It's Official: You Can Play Videogames in Space

What's the first thing a middle school student is bound to ask an astronaut these days? Well, based on recent evidence, videogames are the main topic of discussion when having a video conference with astronauts from the International Space Station.

Barack Obama, the President of the United States, found this out first hand as he hosted members of Congress and children, as he talked to astronauts about everything from sleeping in weightless conditions to how much free time you have when in space. The videogame-related question came up as soon as the kids present were allowed to ask their own questions.

GamePolitics reports that one of the astronauts replied, “We can, in fact. And in fact a few years ago when I was up here for six months I had a video game that I used to play in my spare time. Unfortunately, we don't have much spare time. So we can, we have a lot of laptop computers. But for the most part we stay real busy doing real work.”

Probably the easiest way to play a videogame in weightless conditions, aboard the space station or on a space shuttle, would be to use a handheld, like the PlayStation Portable or the Nintendo DS, which do not take up too much space and can work on internal power for quite some time.

A laptop, which is the gaming medium the quoted astronaut used for six months, would likely be more unwieldy, especially if you need to use a mouse in addition to the keyboard. A home gaming console, like the Xbox 360, the PlayStation 3 or the Nintendo Wii, is probably out of the question because it would need to be secured to some solid surface and would gobble up quite a lot of electricity, which is in short supply on the space station.

So, readers, if you were up for a tour on the International Space Station and could take up just one portable gaming platform with just one game, what would you choose? Something long and engaging would be interesting. Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, Pokemon Platinum or maybe Professor Layton and the Curious Village?