With fondness for the classics, this 1980’s video game reminds me of the old movie Keystone Cops. This one or two player, fast-action, chase game had you running your thief around a maze, picking up coins and other treasures. The billy-club swinging cops chased you around, but you could temporarily detain them by locking the gates behind you. The longer you can elude them, the more your treasures are worth.

I like the way in this ad they made the cops’ shadow 8-bit looking, against the wall. In the olden days, advertisers made the artwork for these game ads look way better then the graphics in the real game. Doesn’t the crook in this ad remind you of the Batman supervillain, (the Burgess Meredith version of) the Penguin? I can almost hear his signature squawking laughter as he runs from the cop. Wah wah wah!

For the criminally insane (larger) version of this classic ad, click here.

When did this happen? Nintendo.com retooled, redid and relaunched their website. It’s all gussied up and it looks sweet. They’re using much more script and it’s got a great layout; which makes it nice when you’re checking out all their great games!

Volumes 1-4 are available now for the same price as a cheese pizza and a large soda at Panucci’s Pizza. It’ll cost you a fishful of dollars more if you want anchovies.

Wasn’t it Hermes Conrad who had the hidden videos of the Planet Express crew? Ah well, just remember that today is the day that Futurama: Bender’s Big Score is released. It’s Futurama at its best and it makes a great gift. It’s funny and it qualifies as “ill”…at least from a technical standpoint. Go buy your uniquely packaged DVD today! It’s only $17.99 - don’t forget how rich you are! (Put your monocle back on.) Don’t make me get Hypnotoad.

As you may remember from earlier this year, Futurama will be returning to TV in 2008. (We can thank Futurama’s loyal fans for the its return.) I’m glad the show is coming back and I’m even more glad they’re not going back to the Fox network. I’ve been enjoying Futurama reruns on Comedy Central for quite awhile now and believe it will prosper more on that network because they’ll get a lot more leeway to do what they want, which in turn should produce a better show. What are your thoughts and how excited are you? Give a shout out and let your voice be heard.

Don’t forget to pre-order Futurama: Bender’s Big Score! With a release date of November 27, we’ll all be able to watch this new Futurama flick soon! I watched a preview of this DVD at Comic-Con earlier this year and it looks like a real winner.

As Xmas 3007 approaches, the Futurama crew must fight to save Earth in an epic battle against nudist alien Internet scammers. Al Gore, Coolio and Sarah Silverman guest star.

The DVD has got complete commentary by Matt Groening and David X. Cohen. Since I’m such a big fan of Futurama and I’m so giddy about the release of this all new, full-length feature movie, I think I’ll continue this Futurama theme for a bit.

We hope to see you soon for tea.

This is pretty neat news: Wikipedia came across my photos of John DiMaggio and David X. Cohen on Flickr, (from the San Diego Comic-Con in 2007 at the Futurama panel) and asked me to change the license on them to a CC Attribution license, so that they could use it. I’m a big fan of Wikipedia (and Futurama), so I did just that. Here are the entries on David X. Cohen and John DiMaggio.

As with previous years, I found it hard to wake up early enough to enjoy today’s annual event, which is like a right of passage for so many Americans, but I did it anyway just for the fun of it. Lots of parents were in line trying to buy the latest toys and games for their kids. Many people waiting in line for their chance to purchase the limited supply of Wii’s or the popular Guitar Hero 3 game. I went several places got a few snapshots of the bright and cheery people pushing their way around the stores, full of the holiday spirit. It’s times like this that make me thankful I do most of my holiday purchases online and I keep within a tight budget. Here’s to the holidays, cheers!

Hi Consumerist.com!

Happy Turkey Day from Old Man Musings! Enjoy your time with friends and family.

Since The Legend of Zelda is available for download on the Wii Virtual Console, I got it and played the whole thing by memory in a just a few hours. Somehow I remembered all the secret locations of the hidden rupees, items and such without much thought. I deftly navigated through the dungeon mazes without concern for a map.

Sure I had played this game when it came out twenty years ago, but since then the only thought I had of this game was brief and pleasant. Now I know the games of yesteryear were much simpler than today’s games, but it was nice to know that my fond memories of the wonderful mixture of action, adventure and puzzles stayed with me. It was wonderful to get back to a simpler time and play this game. Perhaps I’ll play it again in twenty years.

It’s Jerry Time everybody! The latest episode, which is the fifteenth one so far, is entitled ‘The Gobbler.’ Watch as one tough bird takes over a small town and why you must beware of wild turkeys…

Note 1: As a proud Fighting Gobbler alum, I’d like to say Go Hokies, Beat Miami!

Note 2: Did you notice the Bimbo curtain, about half way through? You might remember my previous post about that.

As a big fan of Akira Toriyama and his popular Dragon Ball manga and anime, I’ve got mixed feelings about this Dragon Ball Z movie. Sure Stephen Chow is producing the movie and I was simply blown away when I watched Kung Fu Hustle on the opening weekend in Hong Kong a few years ago, but I worry about how this movie will turn out. They always tame stuff down for American audiences, because we scare more easily or something. That and the cast (so far) is from the WB.

Update: As many of you have noted it’ll be a Dragonball movie, which is a good place to start. The movie will be released August 15.

Update 2: No Dragonball Movie this Year… 20th Century Fox has pushed back the date. It is now scheduled for release on April 3, 2009.

This guys’ collection of Spider-Man related Marvel stuff is mildly overwhelming to say the least. He could start a museum or something with all that.

This new service from Marvel features your favorite superheroes in a new online format that can be accessed from any Internet connected Mac or PC. You’ll have access to classics like the first issues of The Amazing Spider-Man, The X-Men, Incredible Hulk and more. There’s 2,500 comic books already available and they plan to add at least 20 additional titles weekly. Everything is stored online so your paying ($4.99/month) for the unlimited access to view the comics.

All of this sounds ok to me - at least there’s no ads. This service seems similar to getting a music subscription. I guess this is a pretty smart thing for Marvel to do, so they’re not missing out on the digital market.

FYI: Marvel’s new service was released today and the response has overwhelmed them. Their site is currently down for maintenance at the moment. Don’t worry, Spider-Man can fix broken servers and SQL statements. Hello this is Spider-Man on tech support, how may I help you?

The Secret Life of Machines used to be on The Discovery Channel back in the 90’s and I watched every episode. If you were as fascinated with the show as I was, you’ll remember Tim Hunkin explained the inner workings and history of common household and office machinery. It was the closest thing to a ‘tech’ show you could get in those days. (Plus, there were Tim’s distinctive cartoons which he’s known for.)

If you’d like to please your inner geek, you can watch all those episodes again. Bring on the learning (and don’t forget the flaming televisions and flying rocket vacuums).

My stylin Zelda Feather Pen Stylus just arrived in the mail Thursday - only a month after I registered for it. By registering your Zelda Phantom Hourglass software with Nintendo’s online registration and completing their product survey, you qualify yourself to receive the latest My Nintendo Membership Reward - a Feather Stylus! It came USPS, all nice and neat in it’s own golden box. More photos of it here.

Hurry, you don’t want to miss out on this offer from Nintendo!