32 greatest video game references in movies and TV

Video games are so much more than a lazy pastime. To some filmmakers, video games are an extension of their human characters, allowing them to demonstrate talents in a novel way. Or they are a narrative tool to foreshadow events to come. Other times, they’re just product placement. But no matter how they appear, video game cameos in movies and TV shows are always a lot of fun. But which inclusion of games and gaming hardware in movies and TV are some of the best of all time?

With video games amassing as much cultural influence as other mainstream entertainment, it’s unsurprising to see video games actually featured on the big or small screen. Here, we collect some of the greatest all-time instances of a video game - PC, console, arcade, and even a peripheral - in movies and TV. To be clear, we’re excluding some too-obvious entries, like The Last Starfighter and Tron (and its sequel, Tron: Legacy) because they primarily center around fictional video games rather than real ones. We’re also not including direct adaptations of video games, for obvious reasons.

Without further ado, insert your quarter and press start. These are some of the greatest instances of video games appearing in movies and TV.