Not to be confused with video game movies which is another subject. What I'm talking about here is a weird pet peeve of mine: it really bothers me how poorly actors who "play" a video game in movies (or TV series) simulate playing. All they do is mash buttons on the controller like a madman regardless of what game they're suppose to be playing. 

One example I remember from a while ago was two kids playing Final Fantasy VIII in a scene of the Charlie's Angels movie, yes TWO, at the same time!

We've all heard stories about actors learning to sing, dance, play an instrument for a part, I find it lazy that they (or anyone involved in the process) can't be bothered to make it look somewhat believable.

Am I the only one who feels that way? Do you guys have examples of movies that did it right (or terribly wrong)?

I think most directors use them as props in a scene and may not be knowledgeable on them. Actors would just follow their script despite how wrong it may seem and act like they are playing whatever they are being played.

A good example is Terminator 2 where John Connor plays in the arcades - The Galleria. Where he plays Missile Command and Afterburner. And looks to be a quite accurate in how teens would play and a pretty good depiction of how arcades were then.

In the Social Network some girls are playing Twisted Metal Black. Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake) walks by and gives them advice for the game that is completely irrelevant nonsense.

In The Hurt Locker they are playing Gears of War on an Xbox 360 even though the movie takes place in 2004.

They invented a fake GTA style PSP game for some kid to play during the bank robbery in Inside Man. The bank robber watches the kid play and makes some commentary about violence in games for kids.

I remember some Jackie Chan film where this kid plays a SEGA Game Gear with no cartridge in it. Ganes in movies in the 2000s still used Atari sound effects.

Not just movies, anyone remember CSI. They had plenty episodes with video game tropes.

In Breaking Bad (not a movie I know), there's a scene where a kid is playing Sonic 06 on the Xbox 360 with a third party Dreamcast controller.

Are they ones who did an episode with a plot inspired by GamerGate?

In the 40 year old virgin's "how i know you are gay" scene, Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen are playing Mortal Kombat.
I actually liked that scene cause they held the controllers like a lot of people I know. You can tell the actor have a nerd/geeky background and are both gay.

You watch the wrong movies

Oh, and I just bought the audio book of "Ready Player Two".

The problem stems from the picture of the game just getting edited in in post production most of the time, as the screen would otherwise flicker without connecting special hardware to adjust the framerate exactly to the one of the camera. So the actors have to do something that looks like gaming but often has no relation at all to what happens on screen.

That being said, this extra hardware ain't expensive anymore, so unless it's a movie on a tight budget, you can afford this and have the actors actually play the game. Now they just need to know how to do that...