Category: Guest Videos

Videos produced by other people and posted on the blog because I feel that they’re worth watching. A volatile category due to videos sometimes going offline for various external reasons.

The New Acclaim Line-Up… Is Naturally Underwhelming

So once upon a time, a bunch of people bought the rights to and revived the old Acclaim brand name and somehow even suckered wrestling legend Jeff Jarrett into the mix. They had announced a presentation video by means of a teaser video that showed off some of Acclaim’s past titles… none of which they have the rights to because those were sold off when the original Acclaim Entertainment went out of business a couple decades ago. And then the above video took place this past Wednesday.

Needless to say, there were quite a few people who were… underwhelmed by what they had to offer.

Of the bunch that was shown, the only two games that seemed remotely interesting is Talaka – a side-scroller with roguelike elements – and Katanaut – another horror-based side-scroller that’s actually available on Steam right now… and then there’s a bunch of bland, nothing happening, and outright subpar titles that aren’t even worth mentioning.

In other words, those few brief clips of vintage games that once brought the Acclaim name to prominence now served as reminders of games that I wish I were playing right now… because what you have in store for the future doesn’t hold a candle to what you had in the past.

In hindsight, I don’t know what anyone was expecting out of this. All of the notable Acclaim offerings are now in the hands of other people and there was no way in hell that this smaller, essentially independent version of Acclaim was going to get all that stuff back. It’d be nice, but it wasn’t going to happen. At least when Bubsy was brought back from obscurity, he brought the Accolade brand with him… for whatever that’s worth. Acclaim has nothing of its past to tie to other than a logo and a name that people had fond memories of… except those memories are now owned by other people.

To tell you the truth, I have no idea why Acclaim was brought back to begin with. From what I’ve seen, you could have easily presented these titles under a different company name and it wouldn’t have made a difference… except maybe less people would care? I guess?

I don’t know… I’ll just have to wait and see if they’ve got someone working on a remake of Destination Earthstar. THEN I’d be excited for an Acclaim revival. This line-up on the other hand? Take it or leave it. Sorry.

In other news, Nintendo remembers Virtual Boy exists and will release some games for you to play on Switch 1 and 2… but will also require you to play them in a Virtual Boy mock-up that costs about as much as Mario Kart World…

Welp… dodged a bullet, there.

Oh Hey, This Is Still A Thing…

I wanted to wait on this for a couple days before dropping it; the last piece of business that will be published as I make my way back home…

But yes, the Khan audio program – a thing that was teased back in the last decade when new Trek was on the verge of being unleashed – is finally premiering in September. And it’s giving old Trek veterans like Tim Russ and George Takei some work… yes, this is a Khan thing that they somehow turned into further adventures of Captain Sulu. What a world.

To be honest, this is the thing that intrigues me the most. Not because I’m anxious to learn more about Khan and how we’re going to butcher this character even further (despite the involvement of Star Trek II director Nicholas Meyer), but I’m fascinated to see how well this performs and if it will lead to other similar projects. For all the talk about wanting to produce more legacy Trek content, I’m surprised that the thought never occurred to follow the same road as Doctor Who; pivot to audio dramas. I’d imagine it would be more cost-effective (only hire actors to speak in a booth and have some bits of music and sound here and there) and you’d be able to tell stories that wouldn’t be bound by whatever broadcast restrictions or limitations are imposed.

Star Trek isn’t about the special effects. It’s about the stories… and sometimes, the science helps too. You don’t need TV to tell good stories, just good performers and a good script.

Hopefully KHAN gets the ball rolling on that.

Oh Wait… Never Mind…

Could you have at least waited for Season 3 to end before you teased the next one?

Also, you only have a dozen-ish episodes left and you’re wasting one of them on a MUPPET SHOW?

At least Stargate used Supermarionation for their puppets. At least THAT was different… and also well done, but it was just a bit. Maybe this is just a bit… I’m hoping it’s a bit…

Starfleet Academy Trailer… Meh

The next great Star Trek series to take place in the 32nd century, featuring a ragtag crew of Starfleet cadets who will no doubt experience conflict among each other, fight in the shadows to preserve the light, and presumably find a way to defeat Pau Giamatti’s alien villain from unleashing some sort of superweapon thing… that’s the general plot, right?

I like the Klingon hybrid… I like that Robert Picardo still has work… I like that the Jem’Hadar have infiltrated Starfleet… I’m not feeling Holly Hunter’s narration, but that could also be because this wallpaper music is so loud and overpowering that it just… eh.

Honestly not really feeling this one… it doesn’t look bad or anything, but it just feels like generic sci-fi schlock… which, I guess, could be the same argument made for any Star Trek series made that isn’t coasting on nostalgia.

Starfleet Academy airs in 2026. I’ll be holding off for the next season of Strange New Worlds in the meantime unless the next trailer really blows my socks off.

Atari To Release Pac-Man… Again

“Hey, Atari! When are you guys releasing a new Atari 5200+?”

“Did you say new 2600+? Here’s a new 2600+ with PAC-MAN!”

“Aw hell nah.”

Yes, they’re putting out another 2600+… but it comes in a Pac-Man color scheme and also includes a new 7800 port of Pac-Man… that also includes the original 2600 port of Pac-Man that everyone hates.

On the flip side, however, they’re also re-releasing the 7800 versions of Galaga, Dig Dug, and Xevious, so if you’re looking to fill those gaps in the 7800 collection, you’ve got a more convenient way of doing it… no love for Pole Position, though. I’m kind of shocked at that since the pack-in title for the 7800 was Pole Position II.

Maybe they’re saving that for the 7800+ recolor.

Goldberg’s Retirement Speech

So, for those who missed it, Goldberg had his retirement match at Saturday Night’s Main Event last weekend; a losing effort against World Champion GUNTHER. And then as he was giving his retirement speech, the show went off the air. WWE eventually posted the entire speech on Youtube.

Some folks (including Goldberg) assumed that the timing was a rib on Goldberg and the whole thing was due to whatever heat was left over between he and HHH over shit from two decades ago, when the reality could have been that NBC was dead set on ending the show at a certain time and the show ended when it did. It’s no different from when Sting had his retirement match at an AEW PPV last year and only had ten seconds of PPV time to cut a speech that was eventually posted online afterwards. Sometimes, it’s just bad timing.

Could they have timed it better? Of course they could have… and had it been the other guy in charge, I could absolutely believe this whole thing to be a complete rib… but in this case, I’ll give WWE the benefit of the doubt. This was out of their hands. I blame the peacock. Direct your spears towards NBC, Bill.

Still, for someone like Goldberg to be salty about how their retirement match turned out? I don’t know, man. I’ve seen others have last matches that turned out far worse than what you got. Kurt Angle wishes he could redo his last match. Ric Flair wishes he could have ten more last matches. With all the hype and hooplah over Goldberg’s last match… I personally didn’t care much, but someone must have cared enough to push for this to be treated as a bigger deal for a guy who was known for his time OUTSIDE WWE.

Don’t worry about that. Just go to the theater and watch Superdog.

Bloodstained: The Scarlet Engagement Announced

Well, they’re working on another one. Due out in 2026 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series Whatever. No Switch version of either or, though.

Too early to tell where we’re going here. I’m happy to see that they’re doing another one, but whether it turns out to be any good… we’ll just have to wait and see, won’t we?

Missed Opportunity?

Yeah, this has been out for a while, but for those who missed it, AEW wrestling veteran Kenny Omega cosplays as the four upcoming DLC fighters for Street Fighter 6… I got a chuckle out of it, so I don’t dislike this.

With that in mind and considering all the promotional stuff he does for Capcom, it amazes me that they never thought to include Kenny Omega as a playable character in one of these Street Fighter games. Seems like a bit of a missed opportunity here.

“But what about Austin Creed?” you ask.

He can try out for the next King Of Fighters and he can parade the game around for the next WWE Blood Money show from Saudi Arabia.

In the meantime, news of my recovery hit a bit of a snag, as recently, I somehow survived perhaps the deadliest move in all of sports entertainment: the roll up. It’s banned in a hundred and fifty four states as well as several indigenous nations. I don’t want to necessarily get in the ring because I’m not a fucking idiot and this last blurb isn’t true.

Except for the roll-up being the deadliest move in pro wrestling. Tony Khan is a pussy for taking a piledriver named after Stuttering Dave Meltzer.