From Sonic the hedgehog to Lara Croft, we all have our favorite video game characters. A well designed and thought-out character can take the entire gaming experience to the next level. For that reason, a great deal of planning goes in to coming up with compelling storylines and characters, whether it’s for complex strategy games or free Vegas slots. Often, the most memorable avatars are down to the incredible imagination of game designers and writers, but just once in a while they are inspired by real people, living their day to day life. Here are 5 video game characters you probably didn’t realize were based on actual people. 

Nathan Drake

The protagonist of the Unchartered series, Nathan Drake was based on a combination of living and breathing people — or so developers have led us to believe. The action-adventure character was said to have been inspired by Johnny Knoxville and definitely looks a little bit like the Jackass star. Developers also said they wanted elements of Harrison Ford and Bruce Willis to be visible within Drake.

Super Mario

Believe it or not, everyone’s favorite plumber was also based on a real person. The rumor goes that on the release of Super Mario back in the 1980s, the company were expecting a major windfall. However, the cash flow proved a little slower than anticipated and Nintendo ended up a short on rent for their American warehouse HQ. When the landlord Mario Segale turned up to demand payment, Nintendo managed to strike a deal with him to avoid losing the premises. The character, which had been named Jumpman up until this moment was renamed Mario. 

Zelda

Arguably, one of the most popular characters ever created was also inspired by a real-life figure. The name Zelda was taken directly form Zelda Fitzgerald, the wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald — author of incredible novels including The Great Gatsby. The game’s creator Shigeru Miyamoto noted Zelda as being smart and beautiful — traits he wanted reflected in the character. He also opted for the name Zelda thanks to its uniqueness. 

Sonic the Hedgehog 

It may seem hard to believe that a bright blue hedgehog could have been based on a real person, but amazingly, that is reported to be the case. In fact, there are few sources of inspiration for Sonic, the first of which is said to be Michael Jackson. Designers reportedly copied the character’s iconic red boots from the shape of those worn by the singer on the cover of his Bad album. 

Trevor Philips

One of the most terrifying video game character’s created has to be the maniac Trevor Philips in Grand Theft Auto V. As part of the cruel trio, also consisting of criminals Michael and Franklin, Trevor was allegedly designed with two people in mind. The first was the actor who voiced the character in the series. The second was the real life convicted criminal Charles Bronson. 

The famous four days at the Cheltenham festival has finally arrived again and it looks as competitive as ever. With the weather forecast continuing to be uneasy the ground is likely to come up soft which could scupper some connections preparations with their horses needing better ground. This is however likely to have less of an influence as usual as the ground has been similar throughout the season so most horses form will have been on the slower surface.

One race that had everyone talking at the start of the season was the Champion hurdle and the anticipated clash of 2017 winner Buveur D’Air and the returning previous winner in Faugheen. The latest Cheltenham 2018 betting on the race has Buveur D’Air as the solid 8/15 market leader ahead of the 13/2 Faugheen. Buveur D’Air has barely had a race all season so this would be a slight negative to his chances but on all recent form there is no horse in the race who would get near him so he is likely to follow up from last year’s victory.

Faugheen on the other hand returned this season following a 665 day break through injury but had previously looked one of the most dominating champions of recent times. He had only been beaten on a reappearance by stablemate Nichols Canyon back in November of 2015. His final performance before the injury was a stunning 15 length victory over Arctic Fire at Leopardstown which resulted in an RPR of 177. This puts him in with the best in history and he would have likely been a multiple champion hurdle winner if he had not picked up an injury.

Faugheen returned and looked as good as ever in beating another previous champion hurdle winner in Jezki by 16 lengths. This prompted him to favouritism for the race with expectations high that he was the same horse. However a pulled up effort followed at odds of 2/11 with connections having no answer for his poor performance. Faugheen then returned at the start of February and ran with a lot more zest in finishing second behind stayers hurdle bound Supasundae. However this was far below his previous brilliant best so it seems that we have seen the best of the horse. The Champion hurdle is next and if connections were able to get him to win the race this would have to be one of the greatest training performances alike to that of Henderson and Sprinter Sacre. Check out the infographic below which covers the leading jockey title race and the horses heading the chances.

The PC vs Console Dilemma

There is an ongoing debate between gamers as to which platform is the best one for gaming, PC or Console?  Each platform has advantages and disadvantages and gamers will more than likely have their favourite option and stick to it.  Just like the Apple-Android debate rages on, so too does each side have a strong opinion and  a very clear preference.

To begin with it is important to make a distinction between how each platform is used.  PC games are played using a personal computer and console games are developed to be played on a console and are generally intense games.  The most popular consoles today are the Xbox from Microsoft, the PlayStation for Sony, the Gamecube and Wii from Nintendo.

Cost and Upgrades

When looking at differences in the cost of these, PC’s are often much more expensive than consoles and the games for PC’s are generally more expensive than console games.

Accessories for a PC often use a standard connection which means that PC users do not have to buy a new mouse, keyboard or headset for example. PC gamers have the option of customising their PC and then upgrading certain parts as technology advances. For PC gamers upgrading is an easy process although it may be expensive and for gamers working within a tight budget they may only have to upgrade their GPU or RAM every 3 or 4 years.

The outlay may be more than a console to begin with, but in the long run it is cheaper to upgrade a PC than to buy a new console when the latest one is released.  With consoles, upgrading is not really an option and only certain areas of a console can be customised. Gamers will not be able to open up their console and replace the GPU for example when new technology comes out.

Games

Games play an important, if not the most important factor when deciding on a platform. Although you won’t find anything like the selection of games available at a CAD casino for any console, the genres and variety are important to players.  Developers have created many games for Xbox or PlayStation and a gamer that has an Xbox One may not be able to play these games.  For PC gamers they get the option to choose many of these games as they are compatible with a PC.  Good news for PC gamers is that Sony offers PlayStation Now which is a streaming service offered on a subscription basis for PC gamers.  Not to be outdone Xbox offers the Xbox Play Anywhere service.

Initial Setup

There is often quite a lot to setup with PC gaming, which can often be fun for those interested in the technology but if a gamer does not really know all the ins and outs it may become frustrating. Setting up a console is usually very easy and a gamer can get going in no time. Some PC’s will not support multiplayer games, while console gaming is great for this and many gamers can play together in one room.

Speed is important when gaming and for beginners using a mouse and keyboard offers more control than a joystick.  The keyboard and joystick are more accurate.  On the other hand it is better to play certain games on an Xbox One controller or the PS DualShock 4 using the wired or Bluetooth option.  Many of the more popular games can also be played on a PC using a controller.

Both platforms have their pros and cons and knowing which platform to choose will also depend on the type of gamer and whether they prefer casual or hard-core gaming.