Marc0, the former Armake21, once made a video on the decline of gaming that actually made some very good points. In lieu of a “proper” video upload, I decided to embed said video – hosted on the ArmakeArchive channel – present it here… for as long as it’s up until it’s no longer there and then I have to replace the video with something else ten years down the line.
I bring this up because I felt like it.
My head hurts this morning… and I need to get stuff off my chest for a bit.
From a Walmart… at retail price… and it didn’t work.
But fortunately, I was able to trade it in for one that did work.
And that’s the one presently in this picture.
UP YOURS, SCALPERS!
Taken from the DefunctGames website, who has a number of articles noting the best and worst games video gaming periodical Electronic Gaming Monthly. And in the list comprising EGM’s worst reviewed games of 1996, who should take the cake but the subject of last Sunday’s video offering, Killer Instinct for Game Boy.
I have the issue in question buried somewhere and I do recall the low scores this version had gotten. It wouldn’t be until years later that I’d finally get around to playing this particular version of the game and I was amazed by how “not bad” this port actually was. And so having played the game, I can’t help but laugh at the reviews these guys shot out at the time.
Then again, looking back at these lists, especially for the years that I haven’t been following EGM at the time, I have to wonder if all these reviews were on the ball of sorts.
This image of John Cena eating a bowl of Fruity Pebbles perfectly sums up my feeling on tomorrow’s WWE PPV, which features a lot of un-extreme matches for a show that’s supposed to be built on extreme rules… whatever the hell that means these days. And this time around, former ECW and TNA World champion Bobby Lashley has the honors of making Roman look really, really strong… all the while WWE tries desperately to make people care about Roman the way they’d like them to care… if at all.
I want to say that it is painfully frustrating to not look forward to the next PPV and particularly difficult to skip this one as a result of the whole show being uninteresting… but honestly, skipping a WWE PPV and just checking out the results after the fact has been one of the easiest things I’ve done in regards to the current WWE product. As a matter of fact, I’m more than content watching old stuff on the Network and even some snippets of the indies online whenever I can. Hell, I signed up for a free trial to Powerbomb.TV so I can check out that Black Label Pro wrestling show featuring the Rock & Roll Express taking on the Chop & Roll Express comprising Mr. Minus Five Stars himself, Bryan Alvarez and Filthy Tom Lawlor and I’ve even considered giving that Global Network thing a chance and check out some old TNA and Impact shows… wouldn’t be such a bad idea in theory; means more content for the blog.
So I’m likely to skip the live airing and maybe check out a replay in the background, much like the last time we did one of these things. I’m still on the fence as to whether I’ll be watching Summerslam, but considering it’s one of the big shows… it’s a distinct possibility.
In other news, WWE didn’t get an Emmy nomination this year, while the Netflix series based on the old GLOW promotion got a couple nods. Meanwhile, somewhere in Stamford, Connecticut, hidden away in his beaver lodge made of sticks, Kevin Dunn shed a tear.
This is old news, but for those who missed it, 2K Games officially confirmed that WWE 2K19 will NOT be coming to Nintendo Switch, as apparently the series’ sole Switch outing last year was such a bungled mess of a game that it was being pretty much “minus five starred” to death by anyone who has played it.
I, not having a Switch, never did get around to playing that version… although I will say that even the full-sized version I got off Steam wasn’t anything special, either. I suppose some of that bitter taste has to do with 2K selling the game in both “regular” and “deluxe” editions, with the latter costing an arm and a leg, but includes all the DLC material. In comparison, WWE 2K15, WWE 2K16, and I think even WWE 2K17 were released months after the console releases, but they were cheaper and included all DLC from the get-go; no “deluxe” package bullshit needed.
So I guess now that I’ve had my taste of the WWE 2K gaming scene, I won’t be venturing for the next one.
But getting back to the Switch debacle… I find it amazing that the old THQ were somehow able to get downgraded ports of WWE ’12 and WWE ’13 onto the vastly underpowered Wii console years prior and those still played exceptionally well. As a matter of fact, I just recently got around to playing WWE ’13 for the first time in years and I picked the game up like it was yesterday. What a fun and enjoyable little game that was. So someone explain to me how we got perfectly functional WWE video games on the Wii ages ago, but today Switch owners had to settle for a shitty port that, from the videos I’ve seen, should have NEVER made it past the closed beta stage.
I so desperately want to end this with a Cornette Face… but I guess opening up with Cole’s face smashed against a glass booth more than sums up this whole mess.
For fucking shame, 2K Games.
On the main Power Rangers Youtube channel, which I’m guess is their official one, they have a continuous live stream where they show random clips of Power Rangers and past seasons. You can check that out via this link if you want. (Never mind: It’s gone now.)
Just one question: do they show anything other than Mighty Morphin and the recent seasons on this thing?
I know that, on occasion, they’ll show clips from some of the Disney-era seasons like Ninja Storm or Jungle Fury, but it just seems like they’re only showing the non-unionized seasons of Power Rangers rather than the unionized ones? Almost as though they don’t want to pay royalties to those other actors…
Oh… wait… Right…
Source: http://www.denofgeek.com/us/tv/power-rangers/234583/power-rangers-seasons-we-never-saw
Den Of Geek, a geek website, decided to post a musings of sort on three rejected ideas from former PR writer Amit Whatshisface. This covers the Hexagon season intended for Ninja Storm (which I thought was a fucking horrible idea), his Go-Busters/Cyber-Corps pitch that would’ve taken place on Mirinoi (where those Lost Galaxy colonists ended up being ages ago), and an alternate take on Power Rangers Samurai.
Out of the three ideas, the only one that I was the most intrigued by was the Samurai take; mostly because it didn’t come off as fan-wankery as the other two ideas did, but also because I’d have to imagine that any other take on Samurai should’ve been better than the Samurai season we eventually did get.
The guy wrote two good episodes of Power Rangers; one of which is the best anniversary episode the series has concocted. But all his ideas beyond those episodes just come off as really shitty fanficcy wankfests.
So WWE uploaded a three-hour Lex Express package onto the WWE Network’s hidden gems section, which includes the entire USS Intrepid slam challenge (the show where you had a bunch of guys try and fail to bodyslam then-WWF champion Yokozuna before ol’ Flexy Lexy did the deed), a lot of B-roll footage of Lex Luger riding the Lex Express, doing interviews, kissing babies, and then culminating in the Summerslam 1993 main event, which saw Lex Luger challenge for the World championship against Yokozuna and win… via countout.
Do I really need to re-iterate this main event bullshit?
Shitty payoff aside, this is actually quite a nice piece of history that they put together. There’s not much excitement in the middle portion between the Intrepid show and the Summerslam main, but if you enjoy watching B-roll stuff or just want something a little different or akin to those WWE 24 things without the overproduction, it’s not too bad of a show.
See, this is the sort of stuff that makes the Network worthwhile. Sure, watching old PPVs and TV shows is a good value on its own, but sometimes, you’ll find a hidden gem (no pun intended) that you might actually enjoy. And for what it’s worth, that’s a pretty sweet deal.
dtm666 