All my commentaries – written or video – collected under one parent category.
Note: Originally written last Sunday.
I want to nibble on TNA booking Eric Young to win their World Champion on the same week that saw Daniel Bryan Danielson get his Wrestlemania moment and win the WWE Heavyweight Championship. I was going to do this in a video log format, but I’m not really going to bother because there’s really not much to say and what I do have to say doesn’t need any mincing of words, so I’ll just say it.
Continue reading “Thoughts On… Eric Young As TNA World Champ”
Yesterday’s edition of the DTM-Cast was the final episode to be posted in 2013. And in what I hope would be a regular occurence going forward, I felt it was appropriate to debut the annual Year In Review that we’d do every year around this time. So, for those who caught yesterday’s show, you’ve got a heads up on The Winners And Losers of 2013 list. And you can listen to that show here if desired.
This text version is slightly more complete than what was heard on audio, as I’ve since added a couple more entries here and there. I wanted this list to be a little more fleshed out, since I felt that last year’s list was a little lackluster in terms of picking the meat. In what I hope will be a regular occurance, I started the list early and began compiling possible nominations on the fly. Whatever comes to mind got added to the list and as time went on, the list would be revised with entries added and even dropped until the final list below.
Anywhoo… full list after the break…
This was a topic that I touched on in the recent episode of the DTM-Cast, but since THAT episode has been removed for reasons unknown to me (and a subsequent “protest” edition has been posted in its place), I’ve decided to post the text I wrote up regarding the matter here. You can find that after the break…
Continue reading “The Classic Game Room/YouTube Content ID Thingamabog”
You may have noticed a rather sizable lack of TNA mentions here, outside of a couple snips here or there. In fact, last night was a PPV of sorts. Their big event, it seems. I will be completely honest with you; I haven’t been following the show. Nothing going on there that appeals to me. The only thing I’ve really been following is the various “news” bits about how TNA is in bad shape or something and that’s something that I really don’t want to comment on because I can’t think of any creative quips or jokes that hasn’t already been brought up.
I do have a couple stray thoughts, though.
A friend of mine brought up the PPV this morning in an e-mail. He had apparently seen it and said that it was not that great of a show, calling it one of the worst “big shows” he’s seen in quite a while. I really didn’t say anything because I didn’t watch the PPV… I didn’t even know there was a PPV until I checked my e-mail this morning.
I think, for all the moves made and for all the quips shot, the biggest issue with TNA is that there’s nothing about them and nothing about what they do that I can’t get better elsewhere. If I wanted a compelling storyline with authority figures, I’d go watch the current WWE product, which is actually producing something that is not only interesting, but also makes for great television in spite of a few dumb moves such as bullshit finishes to PPV events. If I wanted great wrestling and great athletics, I’ll go pop in a DVD or VHS of an old wrestling show; or I’ll look it up online on YouTube or whatever. And if I wanted Wrestlecrap live and in living color… well, I still have a couple old tapes of some WCW 2000 material laying around somewhere… and there’s the website of the same name.
In the eleven years since its inception, I’ve yet to see TNA do anything that has significantly wowed me or impressed me enough to go out and follow their product. In fact, I could barely recall any major moves they made that convinced me that they could actually step up and be a true competitor to Vince McMahon. The closest I felt where they had a shot was when they signed Kurt Angle back in 2006 and made it a big deal, because it was. Of all the WWE outcasts signed by the company, Kurt Angle was probably one of the company’s biggest stars, having been a World Champion just months prior to his release and no doubt being one of the big focal points of the ECW revival experiment.
And for TNA to grab onto Kurt Angle shortly afterwards and push him to the stars, you had a feeling that this could be a step in the right direction and that TNA would have a legitimate shot at taking their business to the next level and start growing into something bigger and better. Unfortunately, that was the only time where such a shot existed. From there, nothing the company did would make a dent or further their “growth” as a viable alternative to WWE. They were always that wrestling show where you see was on TV one night, give it a watch, thought it was alright, and moved on to something else without giving it a second thought. And sadly, nothing they did would alter that perception, whether it’d be retaining the TV-14 rating to counter WWE’s PG product or reducing the number of PPVs per year or taking the show on road for live TV tapings. I’m not even going to mention some of the ill-advised and ill-conceived moves they made that they thought were good ideas, but really weren’t.
This isn’t intended to be an attack on TNA or “hater” fuel or anything of the sort. In fact, speaking as someone who bore witness to the initial outings of the company when they were putting out weekly PPV events and had an association with the NWA, I have to commend the company for sticking around for as long as they have. It’s a shame, though, that the best compliment I have for TNA is that “they’re still there.” I would surmise that just “being there” is not quite the same as doing well and prospering, which I sincerely doubt they’re doing right now. Here’s how I see it; at best, the company will probably make a couple moves here and there to keep their heads above water and at least give Spike a show that’ll make them happy, at least… At worst, the company will either go under or be sold off in bits and pieces and it won’t be long before WWE gets their hands on the tape library.
One way or another, there’s going to be someone who will have a legitimate shot at being a competitor and an alternative to WWE’s sports-entertainment product and I welcome the day when that happens because then this form of entertainment that I’ve followed since 1997 will start becoming very interesting in that long-term period. That someone, however, is not Dixie Carter and TNA.
And that’s the bottom line…
So Lewis “Linkara” Lovhaug (that guy who claims to review bad comics but ends up just reading them to you and saying it sucks) made a video that came off as disturbing. It was a video where he spent almost six minutes talking about the “evils” of ad blocking and why people should disable them when watching his videos. There has already been a bit of discussion regarding this video, including a couple videos from Asalieri2 that were done from a biased point of view… biased by his own admission, he has said that much. And I so figure I toss in my ten cents on the matter… Yes, the expression usually goes “toss in my two cents” or “penny for your thoughts”, but Canada did discontinue the penny this year, so I go with the next best thing.
Continue reading “Please Don’t Use Ad Blockers… You’ll Make The Love Hog Sad.”
With the recent announcement that Nintendo is going to be phasing out the more worthless Wii online services at the tail end of June, it seems like the writing is on the wall before support for Nintendo’s miracle machine goes the way of the original Xbox. So… since the eventually will come when Nintendo will drop all support for the console sooner or later to focus their efforts on the Wii U, which apparently isn’t doing so well…
Look, let me go off on a bit of a tangent here. I’m not entirely upset by Nintendo’s decision to abandon the Wii. They have a new console and they want to focus mostly on that. The Wii isn’t going to last forever, I get that. I’m not bothered by that. Even when all the online services are retired on Wii, I’ll still be playing my classic Virtual Console stuff, Wiiware stuff, and the few wrestling games I have for the console… and Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom. Can’t forget about that one. So, I like my Wii. I don’t regret buying one since I got it for my needs and it suited that just fine. And it will continue to do so longer after the console is relegated to a retro console thirty years down the line.
Here’s the thing that iffs me a bit. Wii has a rather large install base. Whether you like the console or not, you cannot deny that in terms of pure hardware sales and JUST hardware sales, Wii sold more units than its two high-definition competitors. It won that battle. And yet when Wii U comes out, Nintendo decides to drop support for those almost hundred million Wiis they sold. Not outright, but aside from a digital Wiiware game here or an oddball Virtual Console game there, Wii isn’t getting any new games any time soon, if at all. Some of the more worthless online services such as the News channel, Weather channel, Card Reading channel… those channels you don’t use that often, if at all? Gone and done by the end of June. Probably won’t be long before online components for games such as Smash Bros. or Mario Kart Wii go the way of Xbox Live on the original Xbox.
It’s not the fact that Nintendo is slowly abandoning the Wii; that much is expected. It’s the fact that they’re abandoning it already… and with a massive install base who they’re hoping will jump over to the Wii U because… because… well, it’s that “because” that Nintendo have a hard time trying to sell, isn’t it? Not everyone who owns a Wii will immediately jump at a Wii U, not with what little software there is to entice them. I certainly won’t be getting a Wii U anytime soon.
Let me put this in another way and use Sony as an example. The Playstation 2 is the undisputed best-selling video game console of all time, having sold well over 150 million units as of 2011. In fact, the only other video game console to come CLOSE to that number is a handheld; specifically, Nintendo’s DS handheld system. The second best-selling video game home console of all time, the original Playstation? 100 million units and the Wii is not that far with a little over 99 million units. That’s not conjecture nor an opinion. It’s the truth. The PS2 has outsold every video game console ever made.
And it’s only been discontinued RECENTLY.
Launched in 2000… retired in 2013… that’s a long amount of time to support one console. And some people might bitch, but I think it’s a smart move. Because there is a large install base with the PS2 and Sony didn’t just drop the console. They still supported it with games and releasing hardware revisions at a couple points here and there. PS2 thrived even during a generation ruled by high-definition consoles and motion control fads. Hell, even the original Playstation still had some support during the early years of its successor.
And then there’re examples close to home. The original NES was still getting games up until 1994, when the 16-bit video game wars was reaching its peak. The Super NES was still getting games until the turn of the decade when Playstation and N64 and Saturn were the go-to consoles, the in things. I could understand dropping the Gamecube when Wii came out in 2006, because the Gamecube wasn’t a big seller… Wii was and is a big seller for Nintendo, almost close to that 100 million mark only the DS and Game Boy handhelds have managed to break. And yet Nintendo decides to abandon that install base so soon?
That’s what irks me, perplexes me, and disappoints me… but I’m not upset by this. Not entirely…
Wow… that was some tangent… I forgot what I was going to talk about here… oh well…
It seems almost unfortunate that of the original folks responsible for the enduring popularity of the Angry Video Game Nerd franchise, theme song composer and independent musician Kyle Justin is the one who gets the least screentime in the series. Obviously, we see James Rolfe since he’s the Nerd… sometimes, we’ll see Mike Matei in some costume that looks better than his performances… and on rare occasions, we’ll have a guest appearance from new folks or some familiar personality… but the number of times Kyle Justin makes his presence felt in the AVGN series, barring any musical cues, is far few and between. It is unfortunate because, whenever he appears onscreen in a Nerd video, he ends up being the most entertaining and humorous of the bunch. And oftentimes, the highlight of a Nerd video.
Case in point; the recent episode of AVGN covering the NES version of Ikari Warriors.
Continue reading “Kyle Justin – The Unsung Hero Of The Angry Video Game Nerd”
Trying to come up with a definitive list of highlights and lowlights in 2012 has been something of a daunting task since I mostly consider 2012 to be a pretty miserable year on a personal level. And with 2013 only a few days old, I was able to sum up a rather modest listing of highlights and lowlights… or in the proper vernacular of this blog, winners and losers of 2012. The list is after the break.
So… Amazing Spider-Man is no more… here comes the Superior Spider-Man…
I guess I shouldn’t worry about spoiling the final issue since it’s been out for a while, people know about it, and are most likely complaining about it… so if you haven’t read the book… you had your chance.
Continue reading “The End of Amazing And Why I’m Cool With It”
There used to be a time on the original DTM Blog when the number of posts hit a new hundred, I’d do this extra special post of stuff, whether it’d be additional plans and updates or a special project. It’s a tradition that’s been lost during the transition from that blog to the Twisted Realms… primarily due to the fact that posts come about more frequently here than there. Don’t believe me? This blog only hit 700 posts close to the beginning of February less than two months ago. As a result, nothing feels special when the moment comes along. And considering the rate at which posts are made, it won’t be long before this blog hits its one-thousandth post… and you can be absolutely sure that I will treat that with great reverence.
In the meantime, I want to use the 800th post to put up an extensive Bite commentary… possibly the last one that I’m ever going to do pending rare circumstances. While I have nothing planned for this event, I would like to take the time to shoot out a couple ideas for possible future projects and plans that I’ve been considering. They may or may not come to fruition and they’re not planned – they’re just ideas I’ve been floating around for some time.
Continue reading “Classic Bite Commentary #107 – March 27th, 2012 (The FINAL Bite Commentary)”
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