Category: Musings

New AVGN Game For NES… From Limited Run (Grrr….)

Source: https://www.timeextension.com/news/2025/01/the-angry-video-game-nerd-is-getting-his-very-own-8-bit-mega-man-esque-adventure

Good news for you AVGN fans out there – the Angry Video Game Nerd is getting his own genuine, honest-to-fuck Nintendo Entertainment System gamepak that isn’t a glorified ROM Hack or anything like that, but a brand-fucking-new game!

Even better news – there’s even a genuine NES cart that’s being put out if you want to play it on your actual NES (though it’ll also be available for modern platforms as well via digital release.)

The bad news – the NES version is sold through Limited Run… so you can pre-order your NES version, wait two years before it finally ships, and by the time you get it, you’ll have forgotten all about it until you open up the package and go “Oh yeah, I forgot. I bought this.”

Speaking of things we forgot, what’s the news on that new SNES version of DooM that was announced months ago? We haven’t heard so much as a arch-vile’s limp dick’s worth of updates since that time. When is that going up for pre-order?

If these chuckleheads are supposed to be the paragons of physical media going forward, then I’d rather embrace DRM-laced digital rentals for the future.

 

A Broken Diamond

The recent news of longtime comics distributor Diamond Comics Distribution going into bankruptcy has obviously sent some shockwaves throughout the comics industry, with the obvious question being how this will invariably affect comic book shops. Naturally, you’re concerned for all those folks who could potentially lose their jobs as a result of this and you want to hope for the best.

I know people who go to shops. My brother regularly goes to the comic shop in town and is good friends with the owners, who have been around for a very long time now. I wonder how they’re going to cope with this news. I hope that this doesn’t affect them too much and they’re able to continue onwards. I want to believe that, but Diamond was such a major part of this comic book machine that there could be further damage done to the industry as a result of this, whether it affects the people who sell the comics or the small-time publishers who rely on Diamond to get their stuff out.

This is going to be the true test for the comic book industry, an industry that has thrived for almost a century and has provided us with countless volumes worth of entertainment. Regardless of your thoughts on their output these days, you want to believe that the people involved will come out of this stronger than ever. You want this industry to thrive and survive because otherwise… well, I’d really hate to contemplate.

Telling A Really Disposable Ignorable Story

Spent the better part of the day celebrating my mother’s 77th birthday today with family and friends. Despite a couple health scares over the past year, she is in good spirits and always bursting with energy… sometimes to her own detriment considering the oxygen support and other things that she should be taking care of.

It’s also today where Maya got to play with one of her siblings and the results were truly wonderful.

At some point, though, I got a PM from a friend of mine. They’ve been asking if I knew about The War Games In Colour and if I had seen it. For those who don’t know, The War Games is the final Doctor Who story to feature Second Doctor Patrick Troughton before he would pass the reigns over to Jon Pertwee’s Third Doctor the following season. (Troughton would reprise the role in later multi-Doctor stories before his eventual passing.) News of The War Games being made into a colour film surprised me and I looked into it a little more.

Turns out that this “colour” version is a re-edit of the original ten-part story (which clocks in at a total running time of four hours) into a much more brisk ninety-minute film. From what I’ve seen of clips online, the project not only gives the old serial colour, but also adds some additional music bits, some annoyingly anachronistic modern special effects, and perhaps most of all, a new regeneration scene from Troughton to Pertwee done via CG and stuff like that. The only thing I’ve seen is the regeneration scene, which I thought was well done for the most part and certainly a far better take than that one fanfilm thing where some Doctor Who fan put on a Second Doctor costume and somehow got a much older Jon Pertwee to reprise the Doctor for said regeneration. (I’m not begrudging said fan film – later Star Trek fan films would also adopt the practice of bringing in actual Trek actors into the fold before Paramount put the kibosh on that practice.)

At the moment, The War Games In Colour can only been seen on BBC’s online player, which is region locked. Apparently, there’s going to be a Blu-Ray release somewhere down the line and will even include the original serial so people can compare the two works. There’s a part of me that’s actually looking forward to this thing when it becomes more widely available. I’ve always wanted to sample more Classic Who, going so far as to track down a Plex channel that’s showing nothing but vintage Who stuff. It also gives me a chance to sample these more modern takes on classic material… maybe if this turns out to hit the sweet spot, I might consider the season sets that are being put out at the moment.

In other news… I have yet to touch a single lick of modern Doctor Who ever since the David Tennant run… the second one. Apparently, from what I’ve heard, the new Doctor is fine at times, but the stories are kinda rubbish… which, coincidentally, is the same sort of thing I’ve heard when Jodie Whittaker took over the role. I’m sure some people would want to blame the actor for the series going on some proverbial downswing, but you have to cast blame on creative as well. I’ve not seen Jodie’s run yet, but I’ve seen clips and she seemed fine in the role. Hopefully, the Big Finish stuff will give her more juicy stuff to play with and that’ll be a much better sell. Maybe Ncuti Gatwa might have a better run on Big Finish. Maybe you should sell the franchise to Big Finish and let them do all the good Doctor Who stuff.

Maybe one day, I’ll give these things a shot… but that would require resubbing to Disney Minus… and I really, REALLY don’t want to do that.

Is It Still Better Than Nothing If You Get Nothing?

Source: https://www.timeextension.com/news/2025/01/after-what-feels-like-a-lifetime-amazon-is-cancelling-mighty-no-9-3ds-and-vita-pre-orders

Apparently, Amazon – the seller of reputable items like NES multicart and dodgy emulator boxes – have cancelled pre-orders for the non-existent 3DS and PS Vita versions of Mighty No. 9.

You remember Mighty No. 9, no? The brainchild of Inafking that YOU thought was going to be the spiritual successor to Mega Man and ended up being… better than nothing?

I honestly don’t know why Amazon took this long to get the hint that these things weren’t coming, considering Mighty No. 9 is no longer a thing and Inafking’s Comcept company was absorbed by another company not long after the game’s release and not so much as a fart was mentioned afterwards. I’d understand if there was still any chance of this being a thing, but the 3DS and PSP (or is it Vita? I don’t even care anymore) are but distant memories now. Would anyone even care at this point?

 

Even With THE ROCK, They Couldn’t Break A Million

Source: https://itrwrestling.com/news/the-rock-helps-wwe-nxt-break-five-year-long-record/

First off, let me stress that 957,000 viewers for NXT is a great number. It’s probably their best number in years and a large part of that is due to Dwayne’s appearance. I haven’t seen the show, but it was a show according to people who did watch the show and Dwayne claimed to be 20 steps ahead of everyone else… which tells me they’re just making this shit up as they go along and hope no one notices.

That having been said, I really thought that maybe – just maybe – they might actually break that magical million number; something that they really haven’t done since AEW’s debut on television back in 2019. Alas, even with the help of THE ROCK, they couldn’t quite get the job done. So maybe – just maybe – AEW has a chance of winning this ratings war with a banger of a show.

Oh, who am I kidding? They’ll probably do the same 500-600k number they’ll always do and tout that as a huge success in wrestling or something.

Well… That Didn’t Take Long…

Taken from Twitter (because of course, it is), this is apparently a real thing in which some Dairy Queen outlet in some hick British Columbian town is selling two dollar burgers to commemorate the inevitable resignation of Babyface Trudeau. Some people find this funny. Others are somewhat miffed.

I’m largely ambivalent. Not angry enough to boycott Dairy Queen (not that there are any around my neck of woods to boycott in the first place), but I’m also like… “Meh… really?”

Are the burgers any good at least?