This Isn’t a Game

Sony’s PlayStation 3 (PS3) was first released in Japan on November 11, 2006, and on November 17, 2006 in North America. The rest of the world would have to wait until March of 2007 to get their hands on the new home video console.

PS3 was the first console to use Blu-ray Disc as its primary storage medium. The console was the first PlayStation to integrate social gaming services, including the PlayStation Network, as well as the first to be controllable from a handheld console, through its remote connectivity with PlayStation Portable and PlayStation Vita.

The PS3 also allowed users to download and use video streaming apps like Netflix and others. It could store photos and music, acting like a media server, and offered a bunch of other fun and interesting features. I bought one a year or two after its release and still use it to this day. Initially, I bought the PS3 just to play Blu-Ray movies, but soon realized it had many more capabilities.

Along with playing high-def movies, the PS3 was designed to play high-def games. Upon its launch there were 14 games available in North America.

One of this fi rst group of 14 games, Resistance: Fall of Man from Insomniac Games took only one week to become the top-selling launch game in North America. I have played this game and its two sequels, and highly recommend them.

The game is set in an alternate history 1951, and follows Sergeant Nathan Hale as he and the human resistance forces attempt to drive a mysterious alien-like invasion out of the United Kingdom.

Taken from the Wikipedia entry for the game this is the game’s plot:

“In the 1900s, an insect-like alien race known as the Chimera arrive in Russia. Using advanced technology, they infect hundreds of innocent civilians and subject them to artificial evolution, creating a diverse army of creatures ranging from simple foot soldiers to spider-like giants. By 1949, all of Europe has fallen to the Chimera. The following year, a vast invasion force tunnels under the English Channel, conquering much of England and leaving only scattered pockets of human resistance.

In 1951, the United States, despite taking a position of neutrality in the conflict, sends a task force to assist the UK as part of "Operation Deliverance.” Among the soldiers is Army Ranger Sgt. Nathan Hale. However, soon after landing in York, he and his squad are ambushed by enemy troops, who infect them with the Chimera virus. Hale, the only survivor, discovers that he has an innate resistance to full infection. Instead, he gains increased strength and reflexes, the ability to instantly heal light injuries, and gold-colored irises, a common trait of the Chimera.”

So, you might be asking yourself, what does any of this have to do with pharmaceuticals?

According to the online medical dictionary, one of the definitions of chimera is:

1. An organism, organ, or part consisting of two or more tissues of different genetic composition, produced as a result of organ transplant, grafting, or genetic engineering.
   b. A gene or protein consisting of parts from two different genes or proteins that are normally distinct, sometimes derived from two different species.
2. An individual who has received a transplant of genetically and immunologically different tissue.

Currently, one of the hottest topics in the industry is the promise of CAR T cell therapy, or Chimeric antigen receptor T cells.

Basically, CAR-T cell therapy uses T cells engineered with CARs for cancer therapy. The premise of CAR-T immunotherapy is to modify T cells to recognize cancer cells in order to more effectively target and destroy them. Scientists harvest T cells from people, genetically alter them, then infuse the resulting CAR-T cells into patients to attack their tumors.

At recent PDA and AAPS conferences, numerous presentations were devoted to the promise and problems in developing CAR-T therapies. But the highlight of many of these presentations were the remarkable success stories of patients, who, without this new therapy, would surely have succumbed to their illnesses.

It’s interesting, to me at least, that the game developers used the basic science behind CAR-T cell therapy to use as a base for a game series.

It is also interesting to me how far CAR-T cell therapy has come, and how quickly progress on new treatments using this technology have advanced in recent years.

In the game, Nathan Hale, got “infected” by the Chimera and was able to heal faster. Here’s hoping to more advances in real life so more people can heal and live full lives.