Governor of Minnesota Tim WalzThe Democratic vice presidential candidate seems like a cool, calm guy. People seem to like him. And how can you hate someone who owns and plays a Dreamcast? Crazy Taxi?
After this week’s Democratic National Convention, Timothy James Walz, also known as Tim Walz, officially became the party’s vice presidential nominee after Joe Biden dropped out of the race in July. Incumbent Vice President Kamala Harris stepped up and became the Democrats’ de facto presidential nominee after Biden dropped out. Walz was a smart choice for a number of reasons, including his progressive policies and “dad vibe.” But for most of August, I’ve been seeing people talking about Walz being a big Sega Dreamcast guy.
First mention of Tim Walz being an actor
It all started shortly after Harris announced Walz as her vice presidential running mate. On August 9, New York Times published a report It's about the Minnesota governor and former football coach. And there was a brief mention, hidden away in the article, that Walz played so much Dreamcast that his wife “got hold of it” and hid it from him.
As you might expect, this led to a lot of people saying, “Wait, Walz was a Dreamcast guy?” and people started researching this story and the VP candidacy's video game background. This led someone to discover an old post on ResetEra from 2018, where user Bryn Tanner claimed that Walz owned a Dreamcast console.
“Oh, I bought a Dreamcast for $25 from one of the former high school students who worked on his campaign in 2012,” Bryn Tanner published in November 2018“Walz said, 'Hey, we have an old video game, do you want it?' and the guy took it.”
Day New York Times Walz's profile has been released, Bryn Tanner posts about the Dreamcast again on ResetEra“LMAO. Yep, I still have that Dreamcast, it's fucking awesome!”
WaPo Comments about Dreamcast, IGN finds its owner
On August 19, Washington Post It was published An in-depth article connecting Walz's candidacy to the Dreamcast and video games in general.
Yet at the best of times, video games are more than just fun. A reasonable definition of a video game is “a problem that needs solving.” There's something revelatory about people who are fully committed to it: a desire to see something broken fixed—to do the work of systemic repair, through play.
This led to a bad tweet by conservative idiot, weirdo, and bad tweeter Charlie Kirk. On August 19, Kirk tried to dunk He interprets the funny story about Walz loving his Dreamcast as a negative thing, asking, “Doesn't anyone else find it a little sad that a 35-year-old man is so addicted to video games? Or, dare I say, weird?” As you might expect, this didn't go over well with Mr. Kirk, and big names in the video game industry heckled him in response.
“Video games have become the leading form of entertainment worldwide. It was definitely ahead of its time. And the Dreamcast was an incredible platform,” replied former Xbox publicist and current Unity community manager Larry Hyrb.
Finally, IGN Reporter Rebekah Valentine has a nice ending to the whole Dreamcast story. ResetEra Found the Owner of a Dreamcast and talked to them about Walz's console. He helped connect her with Tom Johnson, who had previously worked with her on Walz's congressional campaign.
“Walz is a really great, normal guy,” Johnson said. IGN.
“He's like your friendly neighborhood guy, and then you find out that guy is in the Guinness Book of World Records for free throws. He's just a regular guy, and he's also a governor. Everything people say about him, he's down-to-earth, really nice, really friendly, really genuine, it's all true.”
When Walz brought the Dreamcast to his campaign office, he also brought a copy with him, according to Johnson. Crazy Taxi. Does that mean the vice presidential candidate has too much of a role to play? Crazy Taxi? Maybe. But then again, who owned a Dreamcast? didn't do it I have a copy Crazy Taxi? Still, it's nice to know that a Dreamcast enthusiast could one day end up in the White House.