AndrewTS

Whose asshole did that motherpucker Zsasz stop licking? They should have banned him from all the folders but Movies-DVDs-TV and Comic Books/Lit.

No, the punk Superboy clone. Maybe it wasn't Starr Labs, though... *shrug*

Powergirl in a coma--I guess Starr Labs haven't quite completely cracked that Kryptonian DNA problem yet. I'm not at all familiar with Powergirl, but I remember the clone Super"man" that appeared during the Death and Return era wasn't completely invulnerable, and seemed to have a weakness to fire.

I rented it. I had some odd problem with everything being too dark (don't know if it was the TV or PS2), but on the next play everything was fine. That happen to anyone else? (On Hyper SFII) It's very cool to see the old characters have their original voices, sfxs, and portraits. Although it seems the endings are all the ST endings, regardless of which version you pick. There also doesn't seem to be a stage select for versus mode. The hell? You're stuck with the lame Super announcer, with no option to use the old SFII announcer. Odd, since the only problem I'd see with that is that they wouldn't have the announcements of "Cammy wins" in the older announcer voice--but they could just have the Super announcer still do that. CPS I, II, or Arranged--glad to see it. I personally prefer CPSII, but Arranged is okay, and CPS I adds a lot of old-school flavor. In arcade mode, you can only fight against Super Turbo opponents. Too bad. Although they probably assume people are going to be into it more for 2P battles anyway (in which case--why no stage select?).

Well, who wouldn't be impressed with Mr. "Big Wolf on Campus" being a part of the WWE writing staff?

Kreski, sadly wasn't even that good a writer. He was a competent writer who cared about planning and logic, though. That makes him leaps and bounds better than these rejects like Gerwitz and that (expletives deleted) Dunn. When Smackdown has IMPROVED minus Bruce but with Steph and Vince still there, that's pretty damn sad. It's funny how blame is placed everywhere but on the writers, and Vince still continues to run with such a pathetic group of lazy, uncreative sacks of crap for so long. Still, I guess they're just coming up with stuff good ol' Vince will like...

Yeah--so you'd have to track down the PS1 or Saturn versions of TE to get the closest thing to the arcade experience. Although the CPU was rather cheap in the 32-bit ones.

West and Gorshin aren't reprising their roles. West's the mayor of Gotham and Gorshin's Hugo Strange. The person they cast for Riddler scares and intrigues me at the same time: Robert Englund AKA Freddy Krueger. Oh, okay. That's what happens when you only have rumors to go on. Rino Romano as Bats seems quite wrong. Okay, I guess as Bruce he works, but it's hard to imagine him doing a Batman voice. I've seen Englund playing satan on an episode of Married...with Children. I think he'll do an awesome job. Clancy Brown as Freeze works for me, too. I'm surprised Perlman's on there as Croc, although I guess his appearances will be sporadic at best. Nothing about the writers are mentioned, though.

Yeah, there's not much supporting I.C. except for the pay arrangement. Aside from the ring gear--which I do believe wrestlers have to purchase themselves, they're pretty much using company tools--rings, sets, entrances, etc. Although I think they have to use their own personal vehicles or rental cars for traveling, at least part of the time, though. However, they get a guaranteed downside as part of their contracts, so aside from merchandising money, there's little risk for them as far as money (different from physical risk, etc, of course). Funny thing is, the wrestlers seem to be taking the wrong route in dealing with this, and should try to get their lawyers to work on it if they feel that strongly about it. However, the ones mature enough to do that don't seem to oppose the dress code at all.

You didn't actually read up on it before commenting I see...

Thanks for starting the thread. Oh, any idea where we can find legit, accurate info for cast, writers, etc? Also, yes, I'll be checking it out. I loved the last two series, plus West as Bats and Gorshin as Riddler at least has nostalgia value. The writing is probably my single biggest concern. However, the "WB Kids" thing worries me a bit... *note: my computer sucks so I can't exactly check out the video. What's in it?

It's been difficult actually finding anything that specifically answers the question. It doesn't seem that dress codes could be retro-actively placed upon the wrestlers that don't have any such provision in their contracts. The closest I could actually find anything on was this. : http://edumacation.com/MaryKayOpinion89 "The much discussed 'MK image' mandate of dresses/skirts with hose and closed toe shoes is a case in point, if a relatively minor one: employees have dress codes, independent contractors do not." I may go ask my Business Law professor from last semester about it, unless anyone knows of a quicker way to answer the question. However, it would seem that by-definition wrestlers can't be "independent contractors" because they have little control over where they're going to be and exactly how they're going to perform their task. Plus, as mentioned, the code isn't even just employing them on the job, but also when they're traveling. I think they have every right to bitch about this, personally. Legally they likely do as well. They aren't treated like employees or independent contractors, but rather however the hell WWE wants to treat them.

"Independent contractors." They can't have a union as long as that's their official status with WWE. Vince loves "independent contractors" when it's convenient, as I stated before. It's kind of like how WWE is either a "sport" or "entertainment" or whatever the hell "sports entertainment" is, depending on the situation. Therefore, certain guys will be pressured to use "supplements," aren't treated as actors, etc. Not that this is exactly the be-all, end-all of legal stuff--but: http://jobsearchtech.about.com/library/weekly/aa121800.htm Wow, Vince gets the best of both worlds except for paying downside agreements. Pretty shrewd.

And my votes--come on,vote damnit! Ayame (Tenchu) Cyber Ninja (Metal Gear Solid) Dou Lon (KoF) Eiji Kisaragi (Fatal Fury/KOF) Goemon (Mystical Ninja/Goemon) Hanzo (Samurai Shodown) Han Zo Mon (WCW/nWo Revenge) Ibuki (SF3) Joe Musashi (The CLASSIC Shinobi) Joe Osugi (Ninja Cop/Ninja Five O) Leonardo (TMNT) Ninja (Ninja Warriors) Psylocke (X-Men) Raphael (TMNT) Ryu Hayabusa (Ninja Gaiden) Snake Eyes (GI Joe) Strider Hiryu Tessai (Shinobi Legions) Vega (SFII) Yagyu Ranzou (Double Dragon III)

I actually played a demo of Red Star (X-box) up at EB. It's still listed as coming out on the 22nd--but you know how these things work... Graphics are pretty good, although I wouldn't call them X-Box optimized. Yeah, it's got Multi-platform Syndrome, but it still looks rather good. Sound effects are good, but music in the demo level was a yawner. It was unobtrusive, forgettable, generic bgm that neither excites or annoys. Maybe later levels are better in that aspect, but maybe you add a custome soundtrack or simply pump up your stereo. Gameplay--now here's where things get a little more interesting. It plays much like an old-school shooter/beat 'em up. Think Cannon Spike. In fact, like CS, I had to dodge through a wave of bullets like an in overhead shooter to blast my enemy. There's also a powerful super attack you can charge up to absorb enemy fire and dish out damage yourself. You have access to a regular gun (whether or not you get more powerful weapons I'm not sure), varied melee attacks, your super move, lock-on, and you can block. Blocking, at least as Nikata, put a glowing force field around your character, which is helpful because of the perspective. Most of the time the perspective is a zoomed-out side view, but changes depending on the situation. None of the angles were bad, though. The control is good, with a simple, intuitive layout and it's very responsive, with the "lock on" the only minor quibble. Holding down R locks on, but only if the "target" is rather close. If you have R held down and walk in range of the target, it doesn't seem to auto-lock on. You'll have to release R and hold it again, otherwise you'll just be fixed in the direction you were in. I guess the purpose of that is to double as a strafe button, though. So while I'd have to play more to actually tell if it is a worthwhile game, it's leaps and bounds above what I'd expect from Acclaim, and seems to actually be a damn good game.

"Would it be so difficult to amend the code so that when you arrive to the arena or appear at a personal appearance, you dress a certain way, but when you're simply traveling from point A to point B you wear whatever you damn well feel like?" No, Vince owns their souls; not allowed. Also, it's funny how "independent contractor" is brought up when it works in Vince's favor, but every other time they're treated as employees.

While this is probably true, wouldn't he have been responsible for the E calling up DAVE and Lesnar then? One or two of them being any good--and out of them, Batista was definitely not ready when he was called up and is just now showing talent--is pretty damning to Tom's rep, I believe>

Preview from next week's Observer: "Tommy Dreamer has been demoted after only a week for expressing some unpopular opinions..." Bruce should have been shitcanned, but Tom was an out-of-touch hoss-loving asskisser anyway, I believe.

It certainly beats using a DC controller, however once you get used to the DC the left trigger works fine. And thankfully the PS controllers have two right triggers, so it's easy and intuitive to map the Jab/Short or Fierce/Roundhouse to those. Are they planning to release those Saturn rip--er, special controllers for X-Box? That's the only way I'd get the X-Box version. I love my X-Box, but the controller feels very unnatural for fighters with the black/white buttons where they are. The pads seem very redundant for the PS2, which are excellent controllers even for fighters (some say the diags are wonky on the PS controllers, but I've never had a problem with that), and both systems have sticks available but I'm even worse with a stick than I am with a pad. Plus, when GGX2Reload comes out, it would be rockin' to be able to play with a Saturn-ish pad. Also--to clear up an old rumor--did any version of SFII have Honda leaping out of the hot tub to fight? Or was I just imagining that? I could swear I saw it some time while playing the SF Collection 2. However, I never gave it any thought until a friend asked me about it. I do remember almost certainly that Bison seemed to have the Knee-Press Nightmare (w/ or w/o the slide I can't remember) in SFII.

I had regretted selling my Raging Bull DVD (I got 20 bucks out of it since it seems they were quite rare)--but now I don't have to worry about tracking one down again.

Come on, WB is just trusting their experience and business sense. They were right about Catwo--oh right. I'm very glad the Batman TAS set sold very well. Although, I have my doubts about the new animated series for Batman they're working on ("The Batman"; Zsasz--any non-IMDb info you can find on that, we'd appreciate it. Going by IMDb, having a Frank Miller-looking Bats but voice actors who worked on the old 60's show--it makes no sense at all to me.) *sigh* Big disappointment about the delay, but does that mean that the sets will be close to the release of Begins? All I've heard about the Begins release date is 2005, not early, mid, 3rd quarter--nothing. So maybe I missed updates about it. Did they actually air this one more than once? Most of the other shows I remembered very well, but I don't recall this airing much at all. Maybe "Killed" in the title was considered a bit much (yeah, I know, kinda silly, but I've heard sillier with censorship practices. Plus, they could have just changed the title card in that case. Maybe there was some dialogue too that would have needed changed and they didn't want to do that.

I've heard the voice. Doesn't bother me. I never got quite that vibe either, actually. Baroness, yes. ??? Sounds like you got a mix up there--and you should adjust your TV's tint I think. Yuna's officially even creeped me out now.

True enough, I'm just being a prick anyway. Heh, I noticed that about you. However, I do understand how, given the way their bosses probably were, that the programmers would adopt an attitude of not giving a damn and just make any licensed crap they could. You would think when Acclaim was losing a lot of money they'd have reversed course and tried to fix the problem... Then again, I don't think any of us knew just how bad things were. Perhaps there was a lot of lying to investors--in which case we'll probably see lawsuits coming soon.

"Baroness from GI Joe... Come, on, do it for Mr. C. (I wonder if anyone gets that reference.)" I'd like to unashamedly ditto that one--especially the way she looked in many of the character design arts. Jupiter is the only one that has an actual figure. The rest of them were just little girls.

I still don't believe anyone is Superman until they're already beginning to film, but who takes AICN seriously?