Computer-generated imagery, circa 1984. And by “computer-generated,” I mean “I would joke that someone made this commercial in MS Paint, except the program didn’t even exist until the following year.”
Tonight, WWE aired its annual two-hour Tribute to the Troops show on USA, and guest starring throughout the show were none other than the Muppets! Right here is what might be the best segment with them, as The Miz asks the hard questions about Kermit and Miss Piggy’s relationship on his talk show-within-a-show, “Miz TV.”
You can find more clips on WWE’s YouTube Channel, and miraculously, people outside the United States can actually view them! It’s a very nice and welcome change, to say the least.
For those who’d rather see the televised version, there will be a one-hour version running on NBC this Saturday night, December 22nd, at 9pm.
WWE posted something interesting to their YouTube page recently: Some holiday-themed clips from their old television show Tuesday Night Titans, a talk show of sorts hosted by Vince McMahon and Lord Alfred Hayes which ran from 1984 through 1986. I’ve only seen bits and pieces, but it seems like an interesting enough program, and if WWE ever gets their network off the ground, maybe they can create a new version of it. Then again, part of the appeal here is in how 80′s it all feels.
Remember Sifl and Olly? They had a show on MTV which ran from 1997 to 1999 called (appropriately enough) The Sifl & Olly Show. Now, thanks to the power of YouTube and Machinima, they’re back with Sifl and Olly Video Game Reviews, and the latest episode (as of this writing) is embedded above.
However, rather than reviewing real games (as so many reviewers are wont to do), they instead review made-up video games. You can still see where the real-life influences come from, however, such as the above parody of The Elder Scrolls series. My favorite part is how Olly builds games up using all the terms and such which seem to appeal to so many of today’s gaming audience, though the on-screen visuals are entertaining as well. Dragon with a cheeseburger? Sold!
Here we are: The Nickelodeon era of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has officially begun… though I suppose if one counts IDW’s comics, it began a year ago. But this being the cartoon show on a major cable network with a prominent toyline attached… one can bet this is what people are going to think of when they bring to mind Nick’s TMNT.
And what did I think? Well, they only had a “preview” episode, part one of two, with both parts airing later today… for some reason. But based on this one episode? I’m really liking it! It’s fresh and different, but not so different that I feel alienated. They tweaked the Turtles’ backstory slightly, making Hamato Yoshi the original owner of the four, rather than just happening upon them. That’s cool, streamlines things a bit, and now I no longer feel bad for the kid who lost his pets. Plus, they brought back the Splinter = Yoshi idea, rather than merely being his pet. I used to prefer that, then the other grew on me, but I can go either way now.
One of my favorite cartoons to air over the past year has been Transformers: Rescue Bots, a branch of the Prime/War for Cybertron continuity which is admittedly a bit more kid-friendly. It’s a fun show with some great characters which manages to do something new, rather than the same million-year war we’ve been privy to for almost 30 years.
These are some of the funnier moments from the 2012 season (with a second approved, hurray!) with one of my favorite characters from the show, Chase, as chosen by his voice actor, D.C. Douglas (who you may recognize as Wesker from Resident Evil, among other roles). I like them all, but if I had to rank them, Chase would be in my top two with Heatwave (voiced by Steven Blum).
It’s a surprisingly good show for kids, as it turns out, and features occasional cameos from Optimus Prime and Bumblebee (complete with their Prime voices), plus a recurring role for Tim Curry as the villainous Dr. Morocco. Give it a shot, if you get the chance!
The past few days have been like something of an information exchange between myself and Tony Ponce over at Destructoid.
Recently, in searching for something else, I came across an article he’d written late last year as a tribute/retrospective to Randy Solem’s Video Game Director’s Cuts. If you’re unfamiliar, I invite you to read the article, but the short of it is that Solem was a Flash animator who created video game parodies which helped bring Newgrounds to prominence.
It’s a funny thing: When it comes to commercials for Super Mario World, in such instances that such a topic would come up, it seems the ones people remember are always either this one or that one. And while I do remember both well, the one which has always remained burned into my memory when talking about video game commercials is the one everyone has seemingly forgotten:
Perhaps the reason I remember it is, well, I sort of took it as a challenge at the time…
Now here’s an interesting piece GoNintendo linked to earlier today (sadly, the auction for it has ended, but I didn’t have the $108 anyway). It’s a store display sign from 1989, and if you’re familiar with vintage video game commercials, you might remember the ad campaign and contest this was a part of.
I remember wanting one of these, though I seem to recall there being more color– probably different versions. But somehow, a “Santa Mario” just seemed so much cooler to me than a mere Santa Claus. Interestingly enough, and I didn’t realize this at the time, but the character model here is not Nintendo’s Mario, so to speak; rather, it is the one DiC Entertainment used for their run of Super Mario cartoons which began with The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! in the Autumn of that same year (the main giveaway is the way the shine on his eyes is rendered, and how his inner-ear is drawn helps, too).
Amusingly enough, the whole thing eventually came full circle two years later when Mario would take up the beard and hat (along with a Yoshi-drawn sleigh) in an episode of The New Super Mario World on NBC.