One of the enduring video game urban legends is that E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial for the Atari 2600 was singlehandedly responsible for the killing the video games. The game was so bad, it took down the Atari juggernaut and the rest of the industry with it. Supposedly, there were *so* many returned copies of E.T. from disgruntled customers that Atari had to bury millions of cartridges at an undisclosed location in the desert. Or so the legend goes. Continue reading “Atari: Game Over documentary available for free”
Known for his unintelligible interviews and superhero-like physique, former WWF champion “The Ultimate Warrior” is a professional wrestling legend, despite his relatively brief time in the industry.
In a bizarre consequence of timing, the wrestler formerly known as Jim Hellwig died a day after speaking to his own mortality during a live taping of WWE RAW – his first appearance in the show in nearly two decades:
Two days prior, Hellwig (who legally changed his name to Warrior in 1993) was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame – something most wrestling fans assumed would never happen due to the bad blood between him and Vince McMahon.
While he made enemies later in his life due to his outspoken political views, I’ll always fondly remember watching him (via a scrambled cable signal no less) come to Hulk Hogan’s rescue at Wrestlemania VIII, as well as me and my wrestling buddies marking out over his WCW debut in 1998. I’m glad he was able to make his peace with the industry that made him famous, and say goodbye to all his fans during the days leading up to his death.
Currently there is no official word on the cause of death, but as with most wrestlers who die early, it’s not a stretch to assume he had heart issues stemming from steroid abuse.
He leaves behind two young daughters, his wife, and his mother.
Rest in peace, Ultimate Warrior.
A fake WWE DVD cover I did for OnlineOnslaught.com
Just in time for it’s 25th anniversary, CBS has released the first season of Star Trek The Next Generation on Blu-ray. While I haven’t seen the full season in high def, I do own Star Trek The Next Generation – The Next Level sampler, and it looks fantastic.
It’s hard to believe that a TV series from the 80s could look this good. The series was shot on 35mm film, which transfers well to high-def, but all of the effects and compositing were mastered on standard definition video. So, there is a massive amount of work necessary to essentially recreate each episode from scratch – and the end result is well worth it. Yeah, some of the sets of the first couple of seasons look like they would be at home in a low-budget soap opera, and Worf’s makeup is a bit too obvious in Encounter at Farpoint, but overall the final product is excellent.
There’s something that just draws you in about TNG in high-def in a way I couldn’t have expected. Even given their 1.33:1 TV aspect ratio, the A/V quality here is just so good – the colors so lush, the detail so engrossing – that you’re drawn in as though you’re watching a movie. And the bigger your screen and better your surround sound system, the more you’re sucked in.
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Count me in. Star Trek The Next Generation on Blu-ray is stunning, the restoration is surprising beyond expectation and the set and its extras are more enjoyable than I could possibly have imagined. Here’s looking forward to six more seasons like this!
It’s a bit pricey at $80, but for 26 one-hour episodes, that’s not bad at all.
As I was flipping through the channels last night, I ran across one of my favorite Seinfeld episodes – “The Frogger.” George discovers that the Frogger arcade machine he got the high score on years ago still has his initials at the top of the vanity board.
As I was watching this, it hit me – Frogger never let you enter your initials for a high score! While most arcade games did let you enter your initials or your name, Frogger wasn’t one of them.
Of course, they had to use Frogger for the payoff at the end of the episode where George is pushing the arcade console across the street and subsequently gets destroyed by an oncoming truck.
sampler, and it looks fantastic.
at Amazon.