Skip to main content
GamesRadar+ GamesRadar+ GamesRadar+ The Games, Movies, TV & Comics You Love
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
flag of UK
UK
flag of US
US
flag of Canada
Canada
flag of Australia
Australia
  • Games
  • TV
  • Movies
  • Hardware
  • Video
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Guides
  • Deals
  • More
    • PS5
    • Xbox Series X
    • Nintendo Switch
    • Nintendo Switch 2
    • PC
    • Platforms
    • Tabletop Gaming
    • Comics
    • Toys & Collectibles
    • SFX
    • Newsarama
    • Retro Gamer
    • Newsletters
    • About us
    • Features
Total Film
Gaming Magazines
Gaming Magazines
Why subscribe?
  • Subscribe from just £3
  • Takes you closer to the games, movies and TV you love
  • Try a single issue or save on a subscription
  • Issues delivered straight to your door or device
From$12
View
Trending
  • Summer Game Fest
  • New games for 2025
  • Upcoming Switch 2 games
  • Switch 2 stock
Recommended reading
Mixtape protagonists lounge in a sunlit bedroom with purple walls and fairy lights
Adventure Games Nostalgic indie game from publisher Annapurna is a "respite from the current cursed reality" inspired by real-life, dev says: "Ended about as well as you can expect, including a nice scar, and cow s***"
2D pixel art of a lone man on an island littered with shells with the blue ocean surrounding him, in a screenshot from Nice Day for Fishing.
RPGs If collecting fish in Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley, or Dave the Diver consumed your life, this new fishing RPG might be perfect for you
Neverway screenshot showing lead character Fiona in the center holding a sword with four residents standing either side of her
Simulation Games Playing a horror game is my worst nightmare, but these two gnarly farming sims make me want to brave the genre
KYY Portable Monitor connected to Switch with Mario Kart 8 on screen.
TVs & Monitors For $10 less than Mario Kart World, you can buy this portable monitor for your Switch 2 and race your pals in the garden
Flexispot Under Desk Treadmill under E7 plus desk with monitor on top and Oblivion Remastered running on gaming PC.
Hardware I've put together a walking desk setup that's helping me hit my daily steps while playing Oblivion Remastered
Dune Awakening
Survival Games I'm still scratching the surface of Arrakis in Dune: Awakening, but it's already doing at least one thing better than Villeneuve's films
Sunderfolk key art featuring the various playable characters
RPGs My bat bard absolutely cannot stop pushing people off ledges in Jackbox-meets-D&D RPG Sunderfolk, and honestly, that's tabletop, baby
  1. Games
  2. Action

How to make outdoor summer activities more like video games

Features
By David Houghton published 2 August 2013

Video games and sunlight need not be mutually exclusive

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Cruel summer

Cruel summer

Summer. It should be the optimum time for gaming. The annual games drought has started, leaving a few solid months of play-time in which to clear up last year's Christmas backlog before the autumn release schedule starts kicking in like an angry mule with a hangover. But there's a problem with summer. It's summer. The weather is great, there's plenty going on outside, and thus you're irretrievably drawn to the outside world, devoid as it is of TVs, monitors and convenient power supplies.

But there's a solution. Gamify all of those outdoor summer activities. Modify them so that they provide the same core experiences that video games furnish. Do that, and although you might be far from a controller or a mouse, you'll never be away from the gaming you crave. We've worked out nine such options, and if you click on we'll happily explain how they work.

Page 1 of 11
Page 1 of 11
Simulate an MMO...

Simulate an MMO...

...by going to a sunny beer garden alone, befriending a few random strangers, and persuading them to go on a pub crawl with you. Just make sure to refer to it as a raid, and for extra authenticity try to communicate with your new friends only via text message.

Page 2 of 11
Page 2 of 11
Simulate FPS...

Simulate FPS...

...by painting your barbecue red, soaking the coals with petrol, and then lighting it with a burning match fired from a Nerf gun. Extra points if you have time to construct a home-made barbecue out of an actual barrel.

And as a follow-up barbecue activity, once the food is ready to go why not...

Page 3 of 11
Page 3 of 11
Simulate reading game reviews...

Simulate reading game reviews...

...by asking a friend if they like their burger. If they say "Yes", tell them that they're an idiot for liking that burger, as the relish is clearly more cheap and commercial these days. Exclaim that they're obviously being paid by the burger manufacturer to promote their burgers. If, however, they say "No" (like for instance, if their burger is burnt), call them an idiot for not liking it, on the grounds that you happen to really like burnt burgers and thus they are inalienably wrong. Make sure to also accuse them of taking bribes from sausage manufacturers for bad-mouthing burgers.

Page 4 of 11
Page 4 of 11
Simulate an Elder Scrolls game...

Simulate an Elder Scrolls game...

...by going to the beach and fighting a crab. And while you're at the coast, why not...

Page 5 of 11
Page 5 of 11
Simulate GTA III and early Assassin's Creed...

Simulate GTA III and early Assassin's Creed...

...by simply sitting down and staring at the sea in primitive dread.

Page 6 of 11
Page 6 of 11
Simulate draw distance...

Simulate draw distance...

...by going on a ramble through the countryside wearing powerful convex lenses. Usually used to treat long-sightedness, these will blur out everything in the distance by focusing the incoming light nearer to your eyes, thereby creating an authentic distance-fog effect. If you're already short-sighted, just take your glasses off. Use of convex lenses will give you the extreme PS1 experience, but you'll have to be very careful around cliffs.

Page 7 of 11
Page 7 of 11
Simulate old-school arcade gaming...

Simulate old-school arcade gaming...

...by having a picnic consisting only of whole roast chickens and fruit. For ultimate authenticity, serve all the food out of a bin.

And as an additional picnic activity, why not...

Page 8 of 11
Page 8 of 11
Simulate survival horror...

Simulate survival horror...

...by shooting the inevitable wasps with a Super Soaker. If you want an extreme challenge, pour a ring of fruit juice around the picnic area once the first wasps arrive in order to initiate your own Horde Mode.

Page 9 of 11
Page 9 of 11
Simulate a water level...

Simulate a water level...

...by going swimming and making resolutely sure not to enjoy yourself. Make a point of trying to do normal, everyday, land-based activities in the pool, and complain that none of them work very well once water-resistance comes into the equation. Spend the rest of your week doing fun things, while occasionally thinking back and complaining to friends about "that one water day".

Page 10 of 11
Page 10 of 11
Off into the sunset?

Off into the sunset?

So there's our guide to keeping summer gamey, whether there are games to be had or not. But have you got any other suggestions? Any ways you're finding to stop the summer fun from stopping your gaming? Let us know.

And while you're here, check out some of our other variously related stuff. Maybe try The Top 7... Games that deserve their own theme park attractions, and then give 11 random objects that look like gaming executives a go.

Page 11 of 11
Page 11 of 11
CATEGORIES
PC Gaming Wii-u Nintendo PlayStation PS4 Xbox Xbox One Platforms
PRODUCTS
Grand Theft Auto V The Elder Scrolls Online The Evil Within Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag Grand Theft Auto 3 World of Warcraft The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Resident Evil 6 Dead Space 3 Streets of Rage The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Virtual Console Doom
David Houghton
David Houghton
Long-time GR+ writer Dave has been gaming with immense dedication ever since he failed dismally at some '80s arcade racer on a childhood day at the seaside (due to being too small to reach the controls without help). These days he's an enigmatic blend of beard-stroking narrative discussion and hard-hitting Psycho Crushers.
See more PC Gaming Features
Read more
Mixtape protagonists lounge in a sunlit bedroom with purple walls and fairy lights
Nostalgic indie game from publisher Annapurna is a "respite from the current cursed reality" inspired by real-life, dev says: "Ended about as well as you can expect, including a nice scar, and cow s***"
2D pixel art of a lone man on an island littered with shells with the blue ocean surrounding him, in a screenshot from Nice Day for Fishing.
If collecting fish in Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley, or Dave the Diver consumed your life, this new fishing RPG might be perfect for you
Neverway screenshot showing lead character Fiona in the center holding a sword with four residents standing either side of her
Playing a horror game is my worst nightmare, but these two gnarly farming sims make me want to brave the genre
KYY Portable Monitor connected to Switch with Mario Kart 8 on screen.
For $10 less than Mario Kart World, you can buy this portable monitor for your Switch 2 and race your pals in the garden
Flexispot Under Desk Treadmill under E7 plus desk with monitor on top and Oblivion Remastered running on gaming PC.
I've put together a walking desk setup that's helping me hit my daily steps while playing Oblivion Remastered
Dune Awakening
I'm still scratching the surface of Arrakis in Dune: Awakening, but it's already doing at least one thing better than Villeneuve's films
Latest in Action
Link is in a barrel in The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker on Nintendo Switch 2
Twink Link is being freed: Nintendo apparently backtracks, says you are allowed to call yourself Twink Link as it works to unban a Switch 2 it "flagged by accident"
Protagonist Jordan in a screenshot from the reveal trailer for Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.
Naughty Dog boss Neil Druckmann is leaving HBO's The Last of Us season 3 to turn his "complete focus" to Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet and the studio's "future projects"
Death Stranding 2 PS5 screenshot
Death Stranding 2 has a "completely hidden mechanic" that lets you fire lethal rounds, meaning voidouts are now inevitable
a robot being shot with a gatling gun but still approaching menacingly
Rockstar remembers Red Dead Online exists and puts out a new update trailer for the first time in 4 years, leaving fans hopeful it's not dead after all: "Are we back?"
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Nintendo Switch 2 could revolutionize Zelda technology: Tears of the Kingdom tinkerers confirm lasers are way deadlier now – "We always knew 60 fps would be insane, but I didn't expect it to be this insane"
Death Stranding 2 Sam touching Lou and Fragile
Hideo Kojima says he "kind of hates" the AI assistant in his phone, which is why Death Stranding 2's message is that people shouldn't just rely on technology
Latest in Features
Superman
Krypto the Superdog - The comic history of Superman's best friend
All-New Spider-Gwen: The Ghost Spider #1
Spider-Gwen's new comic introduces her own personal symbiote villain, Tantrum: "Tantrum is the embodiment of everything Gwen was trying to leave behind"
A screenshot from Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 showing Maelle fighting an enemy.
I accidentally became a god in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and it broke combat so badly that I had to nerf myself to keep things fun even on Expert mode
Multiple Jans discuss their situation in The Alters
My current GOTY contender sold itself to me with an out-of-nowhere musical number, and I can't praise that choice enough
Death Stranding
6 years too late, I bring lukewarm takes: Death Stranding rules, and we should all play more games outside of our comfort zone
María Gabriela de Faría as The Engineer
James Gunn's Superman may be setting up The Authority movie with its enigmatic villain The Engineer
  1. Sam fires at the ghost mech squid boss in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
    1
    Death Stranding 2: On the Beach review: "This tarpunk delivery epic is more Metal Gear Solid than ever, for better and worse"
  2. 2
    Rematch review: "As with Rocket League, the just-one-more-game pull is magnetic"
  3. 3
    Tron: Catalyst review: "Disc slinging is a thrill in this gorgeous rendition of the series, but I'm let down by a time-loop story that falls flat"
  4. 4
    FBC: Firebreak review: "A disappointingly bland multiplayer FPS that's missing far too much of what made Control special"
  5. 5
    Dune: Awakening review: "Both extremely compelling and extraordinarily boring, sometimes at the same time – yet still a true Dune love letter"
  1. A T-rex in Jurassic World Rebirth
    1
    Jurassic World Rebirth Review: "An unscary sequel that needed a little more time in amber"
  2. 2
    M3GAN 2.0 review: "A bold sequel with a slightly underwhelming conclusion"
  3. 3
    28 Years Later Review: "Enough terror, splatter and suspense to satisfy”
  4. 4
    Predator: Killer of Killers review: "Great characters, thrilling action, and gorgeous Arcane-esque animation"
  5. 5
    From the World of John Wick: Ballerina review: "Brilliant action, even if the plot gives you a sense of déjà vu"
  1. Lee Jung-jae as Gi-hun in Squid Game season 3
    1
    Squid Game season 3 review: "A staggeringly excellent final season wraps up one of the greatest Netflix shows ever"
  2. 2
    Ironheart review: "A relic of Marvel's content-at-all-costs era"
  3. 3
    Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 review: "The show's most assured run of episodes to date"
  4. 4
    Doctor Who season 2, episode 8 spoiler review: 'The Reality War' is "a mix of the good, the bad, and the truly baffling"
  5. 5
    Doctor Who season 2, episode 7 spoiler review: 'Wish World' is "an exciting and ambitious" start to the season finale, with hints of WandaVision

GamesRadar+ is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Review guidelines
  • Write for us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...