Wolf Gnards

Is it just me or is The Fantastic Mr. Fox and Star Fox's Fox McCloud the same person? Identical cousins, at least.

Mr. Fox is from new Wes Anderson movie based on the book by Roald Dahl. Fox McCloud is from the Star Fox game series that (along with Golden Eye) made the N64 worth buying. If you look there's a very similar foxiness to these foxes. However, perhaps there's a bit of a limitation as to how anthropomorphic foxes can be depicted. But the Fantastic Mr. Fox in the film does look quite different from the original Donald Chaffin illustrations or later Quentin Blake illustrations. Taking on a decidedly more McCloudian air.

Both Mr. Fox and Fox McCloud also both run with a motley crew of assorted animals.

Mr. Fox's Gang

Star Fox Crew

There's not enough RPG's that take place in a post apocalyptic New York, where Charles Barkley must fight evil robots with Chaos Dunks. I mean there's a lot of games like that, but not nearly enough.

Here's one of the better ones...

Charles Barkley makes any game better. Super Barkley Bros. Metal Gear Barkley. Grand Theft Barkley. I first saw this game on Wikipedia, and I thought someone was having a joke fudging wiki. Joke's on me because the Barkley is REAL!

And the Chaos Dunk...

Ed O'Bannon has taken some time from his career of piling street junk into a beat up pickup truck to speak out against the NCAA. Actually, I think he might be a used car salesman, which is much better than getting paid million of dollars to dribble a basketball.

Some of you may remember Ed O'Bannon winning a national championship for UCLA. Some of you may remember O'Bannon for averaging 5.2 points a game for the Nets. But most of you probably don't remember Ed O'Bannon at all.

And that's the point.

Ed O'Bannon hasn't done much, but if other people are going to make money off of the his few achievements, he would like to get paid for it. This is why Ed O'Bannon is suing the NCAA. The suit filed this Tuesday states that the NCAA has illegally used college athletes' images for commercial use without sharing any of the proceeds with the former athletes. These images namely being DVD's, photographs, apparel, and most of all video games.

Who is this Player #23?

If you played NBA Live in the 90's, you may remember the legend of Player #23. Michael Jordan didn't want his likeness used in video games, so companies included very familiar, very high jumping, bald player with no name. NBA In the Zone '98 famously replaced Jordan with some white guy. This is because Jordan opted out of the game because of different licensing than the NBA Player's Association. This is what NCAA video games have to deal with. Since college players can't be paid money, video games that feature these players then have to use fake players... fake players, of course, that have the same heights, skills, and general likenesses as their real life counterparts. Ed O'Bannon and many other former college athletes have noticed that Player #31 on the all-UCLA legends team bear a striking similarity to himself.

The Madden franchise has faced similar lawsuits from former players featured on the All-Madden teams. Are we to believe Player #16 is not Joe Montana? Of course not and the players received $28 million because of these. Guys like Ed O'Bannon don't even have much in pro-money to start with. They live for their former achievements. Video game companies are making millions of dollars, and the NCAA is getting paid by them, shouldn't the former players as well?

I like to believe that I'm capable of doing one great thing. Only one though. And I'd like to be paid for that one great thing—be it a hotdog eating championship or finding a dead body or being great at claw machines. I'd like to get paid for my okay things to. O'Bannon buys his lunch out of trucks and eats his lunch in other trucks, a little video game money can upgrade this to a restaurant every once in while. They're not making Used Car Salesman Sims anytime soon, although if they do make that game, I'll probably play it.

Speaking of fake Kung Fu, I present you Kung Fu Bandito...

I thought this was a real game but some sort of hack right up until the part he whips his penis out (Although, that could easily be a down, forward, punch attack).

Of all the murders blamed on video games this is perhaps the nerdiest of all. While, Advance Wars has the name war in it, it hardly qualifies as a violent game. It's a little more like chess, but with cartoon tanks. Fun to play, but hardly something to get worked up into a killing frenzy about.

Mathew Pyke, 20, owner and moderator of an Advance Wars tribute forum, Wars Central, was found stabbed to death in his flat in Nottingham City, England. Shortly after the murder, Nottinghamshire Police picked up a frequent poster to his gaming website named David Heiss.

Heiss who went be the handle “Eagle the Lightning” is believed to have become obsessed with Heiss and his live-in girlfriend, Joanna Witton.

Police have theorized that Heiss may have fallen out with Matthew on Wars Central and then took extreme revenge in real life. During a conversation with another Advance Wars gamer, Heiss had said he wanted to smash Pyke's head against a wall. After being arrested by police, it is Heiss's assertion that he merely intended to confront Pyke that day.

"I thought that once he (Pyke) stepped outside I would give him a beating. It wasn't my intention to put him in hospital, it wasn't my intention to break any bones," Heiss told the court.

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'Warcraft' Sequel Lets Gamers Play A Character Playing 'Warcraft'

The Onion really likes to rip on gamers First Close Range now World of World of War Craft. I mean, yes, I would totally play it, but does that make me a hot pocket eating loser?

I have a sneaking suspicion that answer is yes.

Your Hot Pocket Eating Gamer,
J. Douglas Musashi