Yeah ideally you'd want to do a lot of programming and solve lot of algebra&geometry problems. That way you'll be able to solve a lot of things that would at first glance seems unrelated.And then you can explain how it makes you better at solving problems (and that's not just exaggerating/milking it for all it's worth, because programming TOTALLY increases your problem solving skills by like 5000 miles).
The problem if you want to beat Castlevania is the Grip Reaper. No wonder why early revisions sometimes frozse here - even if they don't there is no way you can past it without holy water, and bring holy water to the Reaper's room is damn hard as well.1) Extreme patience and perseverance. If these virtues are not well developed in you, good luck beating Castlevania.
2) Problem solving skills. Good luck beating Dragon Warrior if you can't make a map and interpret it later (unless you're a lazy bastard and just look up the maps on the internet).
3) Highly developed reaction time. I think this has quite honestly saved my life driving down the road a few times.
And I guess most people are lazy bastards and just look up for maps on the internet (at least I do). A great game to increase your reflexes is Conta (Battletoads too). For most other games, it's just "by heart" things. You just have to remember complete levels by heart to beat them without any problem.
Yeah basically you have to be a graphist, architect, musician and computer scientist and all in one. Not something many people can claim, but I can. Depending on game style a good scenarist too. You just don't have to be good at sculpture, which is why it's not exactly the art of arts, but pretty damn close to. Too bad many people refuses to belive that.1) Highly developed problem solving skills.
2) An artistic bent.
3) Patience many orders of magnitude greater than that which is required to beat an old game
4) A musical bent.
5) The ability to research technical information and constantly better oneself.
To me, video games can draw you into a world like no other media can. It stimulates the imagination like no other media can. It is more fun than any other media. It is like a synthesis of all forms of media-art into one.
