EGM Once Thought Killer Instinct For Game Boy Was Awful

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.

Black Saturday (World Championship Wrestling 14-July-1984)

So they dropped the Black Saturday episode of the old World Championship show from 1984… a show that aired precisely twenty-four years ago.

Once upon a time, there was an old wrestling promotion called Georgia Championship Wrestling, which was hosted by popular wrestling announcer Gordon Solie and featured popular NWA stars such as the Road Warriors, Dusty Rhodes, Ole Anderson, Ric Flair, and others. It’s been a staple of the WTBS Superstation every Saturday Night at 6:05 p.m., airing a program called World Championship Wrestling.

And then Vince McMahon came along and bought the company.

Now instead of NWA stars wrestling at a small Atlanta studio, we have pre-taped WWF matches and interviews from other arenas for other WWF programs. People were pissed at this development, but none moreso than Billionaire Ted himself, Ted Turner. WWF’s version of WCW had shit ratings, so Turner gave time slots to Ole Anderson and Bill Watts’ Mid-South circuits, both of whom did better than McMahon’s show… to make a long story short, the show was eventually sold off to Crockett and the rest is history.

And it began with this one show.

Continue reading “Black Saturday (World Championship Wrestling 14-July-1984)”

Extreme MEH

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.

WWE 2K19 Not Coming To Nintendo Switch… And Nothing Of Value Was Lost.

Source: http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2018/07/wwe_2k19_is_officially_skipping_nintendo_switch_2k_games_confirms

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.

There’s A Walmart That Sells Window XP Upgrades… In A Box

My buddy sent me this picture he took of a Walmart up north that was somehow selling this lone boxed copy of a Windows XP upgrade kit (complete with Service Pack 2!) An opportunity to run by said store happened a couple days ago and it’s still there.

For those who don’t understand the significance of this, Windows XP is a very old, very ancient version of Windows that saw widespread use in the early to mid 2000s before eventually getting succeeded by the controversial Windows Vista. Microsoft had discontinued all support for Windows XP about a year or two ago.

I want you folks to process this wonderful piece of business. There is a Walmart in the year 2018 that is attempting to sell a copy of WINDOWS FUCKING XP – and not even the full version; it’s just an upgrade! And on top of that, it’s well over ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS!

This is all brilliantly preposterous. I am glad to have witnessed this oddity in space and time… and on Friday The 13th no less.