Video Games - Why don't they fix the bugs anymore?

This isn't going to be a long post, by my typical standards, but let me start by saying, the opinions within are my own, and not my co-host, Ward Fleming, the company I work for, have worked for or will work for in the future.

How many of the "Top" games have you played this year that have been broken? Here's a couple:
Halo: Master Chief Collection, Assassin's Creed Unity and Dragon Age Inquisition. Both Halo and Creed have been broken to the point where apologies have become common place, but DA seems to be buggy, loses/corrupts your save data and there's no apology for it.

Why are these games coming out before being 100% ready for the sales floor? I don't get it, you don't get it, and our money is being spent on half made product.

In the case of Assassin's Creed, this is the every year shipped mentality, which is ridiculous. How many people complain about it coming out every year? (answer, everyone)

EA has recently pushed back Battlefield because it wasn't ready, WB pushed back Batman because they were nowhere close to done and Rockstar ships when it ships. Why can't all game developers do the same?

Is it stress from retailers requesting more product for their holiday shelves? Is it the stockholders doing the same? Is it just the company's greed?

I think as the companies get larger, they forget the thing that got them to the dance in the first place. Triple A titles are what they are because of production value and presentation. If one of those is broken, the game should wait until it's fixed.

-Rob

Notre Dame Football's 2014 season...One game to go, is it a disappointment?

Hey folks, it's Potsy, and I'm going to talk about something we haven't discussed on the show at all this year, which is one of my favorite things, Notre Dame Football. The Turd isn't exactly a sports fan, so we haven't discussed it, but since I'm passionate about it, I figured it's important to give a rundown of how the season has gone, and are they better or worse than I expected them to be this season.

Let's quickly touch upon where this team was before the season began. Everett Golson was coming back from suspension, and Malik Zaire looked good in the spring, causing people to think we may see the sophomore press for game time. That has not proved to be the case, and Golson has started every game, while Zaire has seen very limited time, though he did get snaps in the first two games of the season, he still has not attempted a pass. Five players were suspended for academic fraud, and of those five, only Eilar Hardy has been allowed back on the field this season, though no one has admitted they were suspended for the rest of the season, leading us to believe they are red-shirted.

After 6 games, the Irish were #5 in the rankings, and 6-0, and looked like the sky was the limit. That was until the Irish got their first real test of the year, Florida State University, led by their crab leg stealing, mouth running, referee pushing, possible point shaving, illegal autograph signing, and maybe sexually assaulting, Heisman Trophy winner, Jameis Winston (that covered it all, right?). Losing the game on a "was it or was it not a penalty" call, the Irish gave Florida State everything it could handle, but it was the "start of the downfall."

Since starting 6-0, ND has lost 4 of 5, and sits at 7-4, on a team that has only three seniors playing on it. So is the year disappointing?  Sure, but let's look at some of this.

How many other teams could lose a potential All-American to suspension, as well as 3 other starters and even get to 6-0?  Brian Kelly has coached his team to a level that is just amazing to see, especially considering how young they are. They have growing pains, but this team has so much young talent on it, that next year, everything bad we see from kids that were 6 months  removed from prom night will be the learning on the job that we all go through.

Maturation of these prodigies will push them further next season.

Losing Joe Schmidt, a former walk on that is more RUDY than Rudy (you've seen the movie and probably cried at the end), to a bad leg injury devastated this defense, that they now have to throw a true freshman in the position is showing, and the mistakes are piling up.

They are the tale of two teams. With one week to go, they need to beat USC to match my pre-season prediction of 8-4, and 9-4 with a bowl victory, because as a realistic fan, I looked at what they were facing and saw this schedule being difficult on anyone. Finishing 7-5 but being competitive in every game is realistic, now, and yes, disappointing, but the future is bright on the gold helmets, especially if they can remain competitive on the recruiting trail.

Now if only we could get NBC football to STOP showing Doug Flutie Boston College highlights on their already pitiful football coverage, and start showing WHY kids who watch the games will want to go to school and play for this historic team, with more Heisman winners than anyone else, maybe we can start seeing the elite recruits say, "I want to play in Prime Time. I want to be on TV EVERY week...I want to wear Under Armour and get a great education..." Then, we will see a true return to prominence.

Notre Dame Football has been competitive with every team, the offense when clicking has been fun to watch, but the fumbles, the interceptions, and the defense getting decimated by injuries put this team in a solid building for the future, but this season has been disappointing. I'd love to see them close out with a win against USC, however.

Can't they just get along? Marvel and DC...I want a new Crossover.

So, as it stands, I've pretty much stopped reading comics, again, because I really can't follow some of the writers that current trends show are popular. These include: Brian Michael Bendis, Grant Morrison and Jonathan Hickman.  I've written about my distaste of Bendis' writings since he became a household name. Morrison is one of those guys that everyone states he's a genius, but I tend to believe they only state it because they heard someone else say it, and if they don't keep up the act, they won't have "friends" anymore. Hickman is a different breed. The guy has these really crazy ideas about what he wants to do with your favorite books, but then the stories just get way too convoluted, and I lose interest.

I'm not saying the writing "smart" comics loses me, mind you, I still love Geoff Johns, Mark Millar, Scott Snyder and a host of other writers in their medium, but those three, coupled with Daniel Way and the extremely hit or miss Rick Remender push me away from wanting to read further, and as such, I've begun to shy away from reading altogether.

However, there's one thing that would bring me back (if done correctly), and that's a BIG Crossover event. No, not of just ALL Marvel's books, or in turn, all of DC's books, but of their two respective universes.  I want Marvel and DC to patch things up so I can relive my adolescence again, and know I'm seeing something special.

The two major publishers (Marvel owned by Disney, and DC owned by Warner Bros, respectively) haven't done a crossover in 10 years, with JLA/Avengers (#1 & #3) and Avengers/JLA, drawn beautifully by George Perez, and written by Kurt Busiek.  In fact, that book almost never happened.

From the wikipedia page:
--

In 1979, DC and Marvel agreed to co-publish a crossover series involving the two teams, to be written by Gerry Conway and drawn by George Pérez. The plot of the original crossover was a time travel story involving Marvel's Kang the Conqueror and DC's Lord of Time. Writer/editor Roy Thomas was hired to script the book, based on Conway's plot,^[2] and although work had begun on the series in 1981 (Pérez had penciled 21 pages by mid-1983) and it was scheduled for publication in May 1983,^[3]editorial disputes - reportedly instigated by Marvel Editor-In-Chief Jim Shooter - prevented the story from being completed.^[4][5]The failure of the JLA/Avengers book also caused the cancellation of a planned sequel to the 1982 The Uncanny X-Men and The New Teen Titans crossover.^[5]

An agreement was reached between the two companies in 2002, with a new story to be written by Kurt Busiek and drawn by George Pérez. In a joint panel at WonderCon 2000, Busiek (then writer of the Avengers title) and Mark Waid (then writer of theJLA title) stated they had nearly come to an agreement to begin the crossover within the regular issues of the respective titles but the two companies could not come to a business arrangement. When the series was approved, however, Waid was unavailable due to an exclusive commitment with company CrossGen, and Busiek became the sole writer on the project.^[6] Perez also had an exclusive commitment with CrossGen, but had had a clause written into his contract allowing him to do the series if and when it was approved.

The series was reprinted by DC Comics in 2004 as a two-volume collector's edition hardcover (which included for the first time the original 1983 Pérez penciled pages), and then re-released as a trade paperback in November 2008.

As of present, it is the most recent crossover between DC and Marvel.

--

I also remember hearing that the book would have to be drawn by George Perez, and he had the contract on his table, but hadn't signed it. At the eleventh hour, he signed the contract and began working on it, not knowing that this may be the last time we ever see these two companies come together with a massive story, and an artist that could handle the load (and he did!).

So, ten years later, we haven't seen the two work together. In fact, there's a lot of bad blood between the two, dating back to when Joe Quesada and Bell Jemas took Marvel from bankruptcy, created the Ultimate Universe, and made some snide comments about then DC VP, Bob Wayne, which hurt Wayne's feelings so much, that him and publisher (at the time) Paul Levitz said as long as Quesada and Jemas were in power, they would NEVER do another crossover with Marvel.

Since then, Quesada has been promoted to CCO (Chief Creative Officer) at Marvel, Jemas left a long time ago, Bob Wayne and Levitz are no longer tied to DC as officials, and yet, still no crossover books. In fact, while he's now known as one of the top Batman artists, Jim Lee, the current  (co-)publisher at DC, got his real start at Marvel in the eighties on Alpha Flight and his fame on X-Men (anyone remember 7 million copies sold in 1992?), yet, here we are, no crossovers.

All I'm saying is this: I'll put aside my "I hate Bendis" signs long enough for him and Jim Lee to craft a 4 issue double-sized miniseries of Batman / Spider-Man, or X-Men / JLA, or Punisher / Deathstroke, I don't care. The possibilities are endless, the stories are NEW and fresh, unlike everything going on in comics, and we would finally have something that could create a renaissance in comics. A new age. And...you'd both make a TON of money.

- Rob

What Marvel should have done with "Old Nick Fury" instead.

Did you read Marvel's "Original Sin?" If not, you didn't miss as much as you might think, because this story, while written by Jason Aaron had Brian Bendis's mitts (thoughts) all over it. A story that was riddled in the past, Original Sin was all about "forgotten" (or just now being planted into history,) stories to try and make everyone a "sinner," starting with Nick Fury.

Some of these stories included Tony Stark tampering with the Gamma Bomb that made the Hulk (they also changed it to where the bomb was going to be much more devastating, and Tony secured the blast radius, thus, still being good, while not telling Banner, leading him to believe he created the Hulk), Spider-man not being the only one bit by the spider (and subsequently, 50 years of him being the only one with the burden was gone, but "Silk" was tucked away in a bomb shelter for oh so many years) and whatever Thor's was making him not worthy to wield Mjolnir, and thus, a woman becoming Thor.

This is about Nick Fury, though. What we found out here is that Nick Fury was a universe double agent, Earth's "Man on the Wall," as well as director of Shield, or was he? The big reveal, and thus, how to thrust the really awkward "Black Nick Fury" (Jr.) into the role that Sam Jackson plays in the movies, was that the serum that "White" Fury had used to keep himself young, had run out "years ago," and now he was old, had killed the Watcher, and was prepping another to take over the "Man on the Wall" position from him, as he prepared to enter the after life himself.

Did you get all that? White Nick Fury is REALLY old, Black Nick Fury is really his son, which doesn't make sense if the Nick Fury we've all seen over and over again is a decoy, and he's been a sniper for the planet Earth, taking down threats before they made it to the planet.

This was bad in so many ways. First, the same Watcher he killed only showed up upon Global Threats, like Galactus, The Beyonder, etc, so everyone knew when cosmic threats happened. Second, the Skrulls were on Earth years ago in Bendis' terrible "Secret Invasion" crossover where everyone was Skrulls, or they weren't, oh yes they were. Not to mention the Kree/Skrull war, or any of the space stories including X-Men, Avengers, StarJammers or anyone else. It just didn't make sense.

So here's what they should have done.

Nick Fury's Infinity Serum STARTS running out, and he is out of ideas about how to hold up the double life as he starts to age. Yes, we have to tinker with continuity a bit, but have him open a box and say something witty like, "I've exhausted all the other options, so how bad could this really be?" And there's an Infinity Stone in there, the REALITY stone, to be exact. We all want immortality, and this is his way. He uses the stone to transport his consciousness and memories into the most realistic Life Model Decoy ever assembled.

Everything would be fine for a while, until like anything with that much power, he begins to realize he can bend reality around his whim, and when the Watcher shows up, Fury starts to ask what the imminent danger is, and the Watcher just stares at Fury. This is when the LMD Fury would snap, killing the Watcher and toying with history. It would then take the power of the entire Marvel Universe to take him down, realizing that their greatest threat was from within, not from the outside, and finally, if they want the world the shake, the universes to start over, etc, the Reality gem would blink everything to a new world, Fury realizing he made this terrible mistake would sacrifice himself and restart everything, weaving a new world (a la Crisis) and planting the knowledge of what happened before with his son, as he would be the only Nick Fury in the new world.

Man, that could even have led to this new SECRET WAR that Marvel is planning, but what do I know? I'm only a lifelong fan that isn't big on decompression in books, who wants real things to occur, and not just meaningless deaths and additions to the past because we don't know how to write in the future.

Pass this along to anyone you think may get a kick out of it, as yes, I do have a past in writing comics and movie treatments, and this would have been better than Original Sin.

- Rob

Video Game Updates and News 10/30/14

Our show hasn't done a video game episode in a while, so I thought I'd post about some of the interesting news that is going on in the video game world.

(The opinions written in this blog are of Rob Potchak, and not even the Turd. They do not express the opinions of any company he may have, does or will work for in the future. He may credit sources like IGN, Famitsu or Kotaku throughout this article. If someone is not credited for their information, it is purely on accident and not intentional.)

Nintendo reported this week that the quarter results on WiiU sales are at 610K, which may not sound exactly stellar when Microsoft and Sony are talking millions, but it's much higher than the last quarter, and can be attributed to the sale of MarioKart 8, and the upcoming hit, Super Smash Bros. U. They also announced that the 3DS had a down quarter comparable to last year, even with the launch of Smash Bros for it, and the anticipated launches of Pokemon in November.  This was on the heels of the news that a NEW 3DS (and XL) were on their way, with no stateside date attached, as they obviously want to get through this holiday selling as many as they can. Expect the new system stateside in April (maybe even late March), as that's when the fiscal year for Nintendo closes.

Microsoft announced that effective November 2nd, all new Xbox One bundles will be $50 off for the holidays as a way to jump out in front of the holiday season and really try to grab consumers that thought the PS4 was still going to be the best "value" of new gen systems. Some retailers are sticking firm to the 11/2 dating on that, and others may honor it already. Did anyone else notice that this was just in time for a little title starring Kevin Spacey? That's no accident, and the $50 savings perfectly allows folks that fully paid off any of these systems the ability to get the Season Pass of Call of Duty at no more cost than what they originally intended to spend.

Finally, not to be left out in the cold, Sony dropped PS4 update 2.0 on us, and have you checked out some of the features it entails?  You can now determine when the USB ports turn off on the system when it hibernates. Oh, that's not a big deal, right? Okay, let's try some of the other updates. The chat quality now rivals Xbox One in it's clarity. Still not enough? Fine, let's talk about the most important updates. Youtube is now available to push your personal video shares to, and the biggest one to date is that you can now play "couchfree" co-op with a person even if only one of you has a copy of the game you want to play, as long as you both have PS+. This is a feature similar to Nintendo's download play option on their handhelds, and it will be really interesting to see how well it works. Especially for games like Destiny.

I know I didn't chock this full of as much opinion as I normally do, but the information here is pretty straight forward. I can't wait to try the Co-op without the game option on PS4, and the temporary price drop on XB1 is substantial because it does make them a better value than PS4 for the holidays, but it remains to be seen if no end date is given on the price drop, will there be backlash AFTER the holidays on MS?

We will be discussing on an upcoming episode our feelings on Sunset Overdrive, Disney's Fantasia and more, we just haven't had time to spend on them, yet. I've played Fantasia and love it, but Ward really hasn't gotten on there and given it his full attention yet. On that note, I'm out, remember to help us with our Movember support, go to Movember.com and search for "Potsy and the Turd." You can join team PATT and you can also donate to this great cause.

- Rob

Why HELL IN A CELL needs to be a changing of the guard for WWE

The WWE is claiming there are TWO main events at Hell in a Cell, which takes place on 10/26/2014 at 8pm EST, but the question remains as to which of the two main events, John Cena / Randy Orton or Seth Rollins / Dean Ambrose, will actually close the show, thus deeming it the real "Main Event."

WWE has always been blasted by the internet wrestling community (IWC) for always sticking to the formula for too long, and then not having enough established superstars to take their place when they move on.

If WWE allows Orton / Cena to go on last, they are saying they don't trust Ambrose nor Rollins to be the next guys to take their place. Buy rates don't matter anymore, network subscriptions do. That's why the WWE champion is not on this show. Because it isn't the same as it ever was. This is a new world, uncharted territory and you can't expect the old guard to be here forever, you need to continue churning the new blood.

Dean Ambrose is catching fire with his microphone tapping, half-cocked (and other half crazy) approach that hasn't been seen since the likes of the 3 faces of Foley. Seth Rollins in a workhorse who can make anyone look good. Ambrose, the fire and personality are there, and we've seen him getting one over on the stooges week in and week out, without it being overly corny, in almost a "what will he do next" way. Rollins, while the personality is still being ironed out, has all the tools to get over in this, and as the Money in the Bank owner, has an air of wickedness in him, as well.

Back to the point of this blog, though. Rollins and Ambrose NEED to go on last. It NEEDS to be a changing of the guard, to see if it draws more attention and gets them rolling. In the days of the "Brand Extension" (where Raw and Smackdown had seperate crews and didn't intermingle except at Wrestlemania) it would have easily been the final match on the card. But would it have done buyrates? No telling.

By placing their match on last, it's a nod from the trusted veterans that they trust these boys to take everyone home. It's a push to the future, while the buyrate won't take a dive by having the trusted money makers still taking care of business on the show. But more than anything else...it makes Rollins and Ambrose look like legitimate contenders that Cena and Orton wouldn't lose credibility if they actually got pinned 1-2-3 by either of them, and they'll look like real contenders for Brock Lesnar's championship, especially if they give us a 5 Star match.

Stardom is born in Hell in a Cell, but let me ask you this...with all the talk about Foley and Taker in the 1998 HIAC, that match wasn't last that night, Austin / Kane in a First Blood match was, and Foley, after two falls from the top, a seperated shoulder and a tooth in his nose, came down to help Kane win the match, and even showed up the next night.  Foley wasn't even on the cover of the DVD...Sable was.

It's time for WWE to make a decision for their future. If Ambrose and Rollins aren't just going to be footnotes and midcarders, it's time to give them the rub.

-Rob

Cutting as much of the cord as one can?

Who hates their cable provider, dish service, or just whoever runs the TV airwaves? If you didn't put your hand up, that's because you are not paying for them, and thus, not being ripped off by them.

Many believe that Cable is necessary for anyone, yet more and more people are just doing away with it. On my personal Facebook page, I have been asking people what they recommend on the topic, because I'm done paying Time Warner Cable $154 a month, when at least once a week, I'm restarting my cable box because it didn't record what I want it to, or any number of other reasons why the price I'm paying is outrageous, and I'm done.

The name of this topic is simply for the fact that while I'd love to eliminate EVERYTHING from their monthly check they receive from me, I still haven't heard good enough things about other internet providers, which is necessary to do what I'm getting ready for.

I am a lucky one that has an original tivo with a lifetime subscription to it, so I should get a discount on the monthly service paying for a TiVo Roamio, which will allow me to hook up any HD Antenna for local stations, If I want to keep local cable, it would require a cable card which I should be able to get for $5 or less a month, and then pay whatever the local channel rate is through them. For what it's worth, the base Roamio is $169.99 right now, does require a subscription fee of $14.99 a month (or $12.99/month for subsequent), but gives you access to Amazon, HuluPlus and Netflix all from the box, and the customer service rating on TiVo is higher than any cable network.

Here's the big question:

How much LIVE television do I watch. And you should ask yourself the same thing. I enjoy Notre Dame football, but I don't watch most of the games from home, because I watch most of them on my break at work. Other than that, most shows I watch are DVR'd and then who knows when I watch them.

Hulu is $8 a month, Amazon breaks down to the same, and between the two, you have access to everything except CBS, I believe in terms of locals...but it does give you USA, FX and others.

Why pay cable companies for everything, when the others offer streaming of your shows a day later?

Thoughts?
- Rob

With a change in the Authority, is Dean Ambrose the next BIG THING for WWE?

Has anyone noticed that the WWE's Authority is suddenly larger without any new members being announced? That's right, it now includes Jamie Noble and Joey Mercury as the stooges that do the Authorities bidding. This is a GREAT thing, and here's why.

By including Authority figures that are glorified jobbers, like the original stooges in Patterson and Brisco, it allows a talent working his way up the ladder, ala Steve Austin, to get over with the crowd without ever having to diminish the face of the Corporation, aka Mr. McMahon back in the day, or Triple H, Randy Orton, Kane, or anyone in the Authority today.

This move allows the ascent of one of the newer superstars, Dean Ambrose to get himself over, because he keeps getting one over on the scrubs, instead of making people that don't job to just anybody have to on a weekly basis, thus diminishing their value, as well.

Steve Austin on his rise to the top went through EVERYONE. He went through Brisco, he went through Patterson, he went through Sgt. Slaughter, Jim Ross, and then finally...FINALLY...got his Stunner on McMahon on a September night in Madison Square Garden. We all know that "Austin 3:16" was coined at the King of the Ring, but that didn't really create the ascent of Austin as we are supposed to remember it.  Did it get people talking? Sure. Signs were written, people began to cheer the anti-hero, but it wasn't until he stunned McMahon in NYC that it all started to meteoric status.

Now, with a thinned main event roster, no champion in sight, and John Cena's tired but true schtick (think of him as the Bret Hart when Austin started climbing), it isn't right to make Randy Orton, a top talent consistently look stupid to Ambrose, so the use of Noble and Mercury allows for comedic, entertaining moments, and strangely enough, will get those two guys over more than they've ever been, in silly gimmick matches on Ambrose's way to the top, in front of Rollins, Reigns, Bryan or anyone else.

Allow him to continue to get over on these two for a month, have it build to a match with Kane... Have him get through that, then another month of stooging the stooges, to get to Randy Orton. Have Triple H get so mad, that he insists Ambrose come to the ring, get in line, and align himself with the Authority.Add the fact that HHH says he's not allowed in the Royal Rumble until he says "Ok."  He'll say sure, start shaking hands of Kane, Randy, and HHH, but when he gets to Stephanie, he pulls her in, double arm DDT, and Triple H goes ballistic, leading to the biggest Royal Rumble match in years, HHH vs. Ambrose, and if Ambrose wins, he's allowed in the Rumble...as #1... He defeats Triple H, wins the Rumble, and you now have the BIGGEST OVER SUPERSTAR SINCE STEVE AUSTIN... and he can defeat Brock Lesnar for the title at Mania, while allowing the Rock to come in, make fun of Triple H for allowing his wife to get DDT'd, and you have your secondary main event at the biggest show of the year.

Ambrose would have built up on a slow burn on the "when will he..." moment, it plays on the Lunatic Fringe mantra, and "Bah Gawd" WWE will finally have someone to build the future on.

A Spot On Intro to a DEADPOOL Movie

Alright, so people that read this probably don't really know my history as a writer, nor would I really expect them to. Back in the late 1990's and early 2000's, I wrote comic books for 5th Panel Comics, SCC Entertainment, A-Bomb Comics and Blatant Comics, introduced my characters LANDIS, ARDY and TAGGER. SCC Entertainment became KEENSPOT.COM, now one of the largest distributors of online comics in the world (kudos to them!). In fact, LANDIS can still be read on there at www.elisalandis.com, which is still part of the Keenspot network.

Finally, after writing those comics, I was tasked with writing one more comic recently, called DEAD SONJA, a parody book based on Red Sonja. Some reviews were decent, others were brutal, but that's why you write for yourself, and not other readers. If others enjoy your vision, you gain a following, but it's still yours when it's creator owned.

After writing Dead Sonja, I wrote a movie treatment for Landis, so I understand the format, and tried to remain within the confines of a really cheap (Sci-Fi Channel) budget, so if it got picked up, it would have been profitable for all parties. It's still in limbo, somewhere, mainly because I don't have the connections to get it out there.

All in all, a lot of credible comic writers and artists know who I am, as I've worked with Ryan Stegman, Ethan Van Sciver, Owen Gieni and Anthony Furtado, so I've written some interesting premises for established characters as well.

Now that I've given you some background on me as a writer, ever since Ryan Reynolds played "Deadpool" in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, people have been up in arms about whether they'd let him play the Merc with a Mouth again. Heck, with the found BLUR Studio footage, people believe now might be the time to get a Rated-R version of Deadpool on the big screen from FOX, but that leads to one very important question...how do you get rid of that ridiculous version of him we already saw?

My answer is simple, and it is below. If this movie happens, and this occurs, you better believe I'll lawyer up, though, lol.

--

DEADPOOL Intro Sequence

The last moments Deadpool's act of X-Men Origins: Wolverine is playing...As you see his head get chopped off, you see a very "Mystery Science Theatre 3000" moment, like the old cartoons, where someone is walking in the audience, with the whole "Excuse me, Pardon Me" dumping popcorn. He's in the front row, someone yells at him to sit down. He walks up to the screen and you can now see that it is Deadpool, in the full red costume,voiced by Ryan Reynolds, and he yells...

"Hey, tubby on the projector...Pause that shit for a second."  (just as the head's flying off)

He turns around to the crowd and asks, "Come on, now. Did you guys really think this would happen to your favorite Merc with a Mouth? You can't shut me up, and no pussy like Wolverine would ever get close enough to chopping my head off..."

"Right? Right?"

One of the other voices in his head would be a voiceover box saying, "Wade, they aren't laughing..."

"I ain't laughing, either. This is deplorable, a travesty of justice, and there's only one way to make it right..."

At this moment, he pulls out a blowtorch from nowhere, starts firing up the screen, and then we pan out to the entire theatre running out, screaming "FIRE!" and "He's Crazy!" and finally, after all that, we see him walk out the door, he gets far enough away, the whole building explodes, and  he turns to the camera and says:

"Now that's how you make an entrace, bitches!"

"DEADPOOL" Flashes across the screen, 

--

and that is how you start a DEADPOOL Movie.

Finally while I agree that it should be action heavy, I'd give it a Johnny Dangerously feel, where it was corny, but funny, yet people really bought into the characters. I always loved that movie, and Deadpool really fits that old school Michael Keaton vibe.

Leave comments if you agree, disagree, or send this to your friends who are Deadpool fans. Who knows, maybe we can kickstarter this bitch!

NXT ...Hideo Itami? Seriously, guys?

So NXT Takeover was last week while I was out of town, and it was hyped up by it's Fatal Fourway main event, but also to introduce one of it's latest signings to the WWE Proper, KENTA.

KENTA, real name Kenta Kobashi, is an international superstar that has actually been a favorite for top guys to watch or wrestle, like Daniel Bryan or CM Punk. In fact, both men listed out of "respect" for KENTA have actually used his finishing moves in the WWE, including the "Yes Lock," the Running knee, and yes, Punk fans, even the GTS, which believe it or not, was called...the GO TO SLEEP by KENTA.

KENTA was introduced by GM, William Regal as KENTA, who then entered the ring and stated that it was "Dream Come True." I'm directly quoting here. The crowd was into it, and while his broken english was taken lightly by the NXT crowd, a RAW or Smackdown crowd will not be so easy to impress, especially with what came next.

KENTA stated that going forward, as a way to show who inspired him, he would take on the moniker of "Hideo Itami," and the KENTA graphic on the Tron was changed to Hideo Itami, and immediately, the announcers began calling him that.

The Ascension, who had lost earlier in the evening to the Luchas came down and threw Itami out of the ring, but then he jumped back in the ring, cleared house, and the crowd began to see what kind of fire was in this world renowned superstar.

This is one of those moments where if Paul Heyman was booking, the name change would not have happened. Remember how long Bryan Danielson had to wait to show why he was once called, "The Best in the World?" Remember how CM Punk was not rebranded to Punkly Camel Man because it just wasn't right? This was one of those moments, just like Steen, just like Devitt.

I get that WWE wants to own the intellectual property, as they have been burned in the past by Hulk Hogan, Brock Lesnar, and more recently by CM Punk, but come on. This guy has been around for years as KENTA, and changing it now is just plain dumb.

Hell, the WWE has an amazing talent here, but Taka Michinoku was an amazing talent that they put a lightweight title on, and never caught on.

Don't mess this one up, WWE, he's giving you all the tools, it's up to you to put him together.

Video Game Release Dates, and why do so many come out at Christmas?

(The written opinion here is that of Rob Potchak and not that of any company he has worked for, does work for, or will work for in the future)

Hopefully, by now, a lot of you have had the opportunity to listen to the 9-12 episode, where Ward and I discuss all the upcoming titles, and how a once thought light holiday is now shaping up to be overflowing with digital dreams.

We've talked a little about how we aren't upset about the games that continue to get pushed back, mainly because we are tired of incomplete games shipping and waiting for fixes, error corrections, or downright updates for the game to run properly (yes, I'm looking at you, Battlefield).

Dragon Age and Assassin's Creed have both been pushed to about the last possible week that a title can be pushed to and still really be successful in the arduous holiday season, or 11/18, which now means that your local game store will be opening for midnight, because DA, AC and FarCry4 all come out on the same day, and it's ramping up to be a really strong week, albeit much weaker than last year, when that's right between the PS4 and XboxOne launches.

Rockstar has now entered that same date as the day Grand Theft Auto V will launch on PS4 and Xbox One, once again, pushing those midnight launches, and this is the first time in recent memory that Grand Theft Auto hasn't beat to it's own drum, but more to the checkbook guys in accounting for 2K and Take Two. But that leads me to the real point of this blog, games like Grand Theft Auto do not get caught in the holiday frenzy too often, and the reason that is, is because it doesn't have to. It creates it's own "holiday," shattering sales records every time they ship a new game, and it isn't just GTA, as Red Dead Redemption, Max Payne and others have done the same thing in the past.

For this, I applaud Rocksteady and WB Games for stating this week that BATMAN: ARKHAM KNIGHT will ship on June 2nd, thus taking it out of ANY other launch window, but totally giving the industry exactly what it needs, and when it needs it. Think about it, in June, don't you feel that the world needs a TEEN rated game, just as school is going out of session? An amazing concept that video game publishers have all but forgotten, leaving retailers to fend for themselves in a dried up market for 2-3 months. I know I want a game at that time of year because I won't have played anything new for months by that point.

Look at Warner Bros launch lineup for the next year (so far). The ONLY game they are launching in the holiday window that is AAA is Lego Batman 3, and that's because it needs to be out before Christmas as another option for the Pokemon kids. Their other games? Dying Light? January 27th. Witcher 3? February 24th.

It's a bold but calculated risk on their part, and I'm more excited about their possibilities from it. More companies should take that bold step and create a holiday for their game releases. Heck, we may not have even seen their biggest game, since Mad Max wasn't even shown this week.

I'm all for every month getting a major game launch. It allows players that always want something fresh to be able to have a 30 day window between releases, and doesn't pull from their own possible sales.

Look at the EA Sports window...Madden 8/26, NHL 9/9, FIFA 9/23 and NBA (I know, 2k isn't their's) 10/7...that's too much sport, not enough time. I'd be putting them out about every three months, and their sales would probably increase because it'd give the sport guy more time to play one before jumping to the others.

Just one man's opinion, but logic dictates success, folks.

Rob

"Paul Heyman International" Rob's idea with the new NXT Recruits.

So Brock Lesnar is a limited time guy, right? And WWE is always trying to figure out not only what to do with him to keep him on tv, but also with their newest talent acquisitions. So here's what I propose.

Making someone a "Paul Heyman Guy" isn't just bringing them out with an advocate on a weekly show, they have to breathe it. Part of the reason that Curtis Axel fell back into the relegation of obscurity was due to his lack of charisma, not his talent. Don't get me wrong, Joe's (his real name is Joe Hennig, son of deceased Mister Perfect, Curt Hennig) not the worst on the mic, but his mannerisms lack that moxie his father had. So back to my point.

WWE recently signed three international superstars, one of which speaks very little english, one that speaks it fluently but with an aussie accent, and finally, one that can't shut up. Yes, I'm talking about Kenta, Devitt and Steen. All of which should get together with Heyman and Lesnar, to form, "Heyman International." It would be three rising stars surrounding the world champion, running roughshod through all comers, and most importantly, those that need the mouthpiece, would finally have their stake in the ground.

Imagine a world where Heyman comes down to the ring, looks Kenta in the eye, and says, "My name is Paul Heyman, and you aren't going to like what I have to tell you, but it's the truth, and you need to hear it. Japanese wrestlers in the WWE Universe become comedy acts. Look at your translator, a man with high talent, higher charisma, and a drive to succeed, but because he couldn't deliver the verbal goods as I am doing here...he became 'Kung Fu Naki.' What I offer to you is simple. I know your talented, having wrestled all over the world, and even wrestling guys like Daniel Bryan. My eye for talent is second to none, as shown by my association with Brocccck Lessssnar. Don't be the joke the guys in the back will force you to be. Be a champion. Be a monster. Be a destroyer."  And then, to really cement this, have him deliver a beat down to Funaki, leaving him in the ring with his clothes torn, laid out, and the job interview concluded.

Steen would be an easy sell, and Heyman could use him in the McMichael role of the horsemen, teaming with Devitt or Kenta, allowing the faster style, or the catch as catch can style  to mix with the brawling of Steen, who can unleash his own fashioned punishment to opponents as well.

We all thought the SHIELD was dominant upon their entry, this would be annihilation from day one. Build them as a group, have them stand with Lesnar to gain credibility and then have them go on a 6 month streak where they don't get pinned, they go after Cesaro, Axel and Ryback, building up their credibility as well since the matches will be amazing, and you suddenly have three breakout stars, the best talker, and midlevel matches even show.

Should I just start printing money now?
Potsy

Could a DC Movie/comics/TV multiverse crossover happen? Sure...here's how.

A couple weeks ago, DC Entertainment COO, Geoff Johns stated that the movie and television worlds of DC properties (is. Batman v. Superman and Flash and Arrow) will not have the same people portraying roles, allowing them to have a "multiverse" of sorts with these different spanning universes...My question, however, is why would this prevent crossovers, and that ultimately, it shouldn't.

Why not have the Flash from the BvS movie crossover with a multi verse centric episode of FLASH? Especially as a launching pad for a FLASH movie? How cool would that be?

Want to really mash up your fans into an awesome plot with Wonder Woman or Aquaman and Oliver? They could make it happen, and do it with only mildly effecting their continuities.

Think about it, DC...CRISIS of Television and Movie universes...and Flash dies...well, maybe not.

PATT Blog - Michael Bay is killing my childhood one franchise at a time...

It's a slow burn death, too, apparently. (Rotten Tomatoes scores in parenthesis)

Michael Bay is one of the biggest named directors in Hollywood. He has created movies like Bad Boys (43%, Bad Boys II - 23%), Armageddon (39%), The Rock (66%, the only "fresh" movie he's done), Pearl Harbor (25%) and of course the Transformers (57% 19%, 36%, and 18%)  movies. He actually got his start as a music video guy, and graduated to movies, and you can still see it in his films, when they do a montage shot, and they have a panning camera that looks like it's right out of a music video.

I do not like his Transformers movies. In fact, while the Bad Boys series was fun, and I did like The Rock and Armageddon, they led to his seemed fascination with 70's/80's horror films, and cartoon franchises, especially when he got Steven Spielberg's blessing to make Transformers.

Michael Bay is also a producer, as mentioned above, of horror film franchise reboots, like Texas Chainsaw Massacre (36%), Friday the 13th  (25%) and Nightmare on Elm Street (15%). All were exceedingly bad, and yet, somehow, he was given the keys to drive those off cliffs with his handpicked directors.

Finally, there's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (20%) currently in theatres. I have not seen that one, but I have to tell you, when you look at these review scores, he obviously isn't interested in giving us the movies we want, but ones that will gum up the summer months and have us waste our hard earned money trying to recapture something we lost a long time ago...our childhood.

The guy's track record isn't very good, though he does do that look up and see what's above you pan over shot extremely well to show a sense of danger and explosion.

Why are we continuing to give him our licenses, imaginations and more than anything else...money?

I can't suspend my disbelief for his films anymore, and even Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson could only muster a tomato of 50% for Pain and Gain, a movie that was near and dear to both Bay and Johnson.

Please, consider this a PSA...stop giving Michael Bay your money. We'll all be better off because of it.

(Rotten Tomatoes scores were used because this is how they are calculated (from their wiki): The website keeps track of all of the reviews counted for each film and the percentage of positive reviews is calculated. (Major, recently released films can attract up to 300 reviews). If the positive reviews make up 60% or more, the film is considered "fresh," in that a supermajority of the reviewers approve of the film. If the positive reviews are less than 60%, the film is considered "rotten".

"Top Critics," such as Roger Ebert, Desson Thomson, Stephen Hunter, Owen Gleiberman, Lisa Schwarzbaum, Peter Travers, and Michael Philips are identified in a sub-listing that calculates their reviews separately. Their opinions are also included in the general rating. When there are sufficient reviews, the staff creates and posts a consensus statement to express the general reasons for the collective opinion of the film.^{[citation needed]}

A Certified Fresh logo.

This rating is indicated by an equivalent icon at the film listing, to give the reader a one-glance look at the general critical opinion about the work. The "Certified Fresh" seal is reserved for movies that satisfy two criteria: a "Tomatometer" of 75% or better and at least 40 reviews from Tomatometer Critics (including 5 Top Critics). Films earning this status will keep it unless the positive critical percentage drops below 70%.^[12] Films with 100% positive ratings but fewer than required reviews may not receive the "Certified Fresh" seal.

- Potsy

PATT didn't forget Robin Williams...

So today, I realized that Ward and I missed probably the biggest entertainment story of the past two weeks, that of Robin Williams passing away. Truth is, we remembered him our own way, but I actually had a story relevant about him.

During the filming of Patch Adams, my sister, Michelle, her husband Shane and I all decided we were going to send in photos to try to get the job as an extra. Neither Michelle nor I got around to it, but Shane did, and not only that, but he was actually contacted about filming the graduation scene for the film.

You may remember the scene as where Robin Williams is completely naked under his graduation robe, and no one has a fonder memory of that than Shane, because he was the person standing right behind Robin Williams for all of the takes.

What made this moment in time even more surreal was that the one day of filming that Shane had to be there for was his birthday, and when the rest of the family was waiting on Shane at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park to watch minor league baseball, he was being treated to Robin Williams doing sit down comedy, as Robin had the crew laughing up a storm and not keeping quiet long enough to film the scene.

Needless to say, Shane had one of his more memorable birthdays, and another story for anyone that would listen, and yes, if you get the widescreen edition of the movie, you can see Shane next to Robin.

The world lost one of it's most gifted people, and once again, we saw that his comedy was just covering up his tragedy, and we as fans were never going to fill his void.

I do not condone what he did, I don't even understand it, but he was gifted, amazing, and as witnessed in "The Crazy Ones" outtakes every episode, he was just the right bit of crazy.

Potsy and the Turd both miss you, Robin Williams, and there will be a void that can not be filled by any one person for all your talents.

TNA was cancelled by SPIKE TV...or was it?

While this will likely be an episode of POTSY AND THE TURD, Rob wanted to give his thoughts on this ahead of time to really let the information soak in.

With roughly two months left on their Spike TV television contract, news has been circulating all over the internet (from TMZ, to all the wrestling websites) that TNA Wrestling's contract with Spike would not be renewed, and this late in the game means shopping to another network is very difficult, because fall lineups are all but finalized.

The real question is, if they were not planning on making SOME kind of offer, wouldn't they have already stated publicly what would be in that time slot? Again, most channels are gearing up for the fall season, and need to be telling people when to watch a new show, or fear that it won't sell at all.

TNA is one of the few programs on Spike that garners a million viewers in it's first run broadcasts, so cancelling sounds like a bad move for both. However, without knowing what the production costs are per episode, nor knowing what the rights fees are to broadcast, this may simply be another deal where too much money is being spent to look like the competition, and not enough reward is coming back through the door.

My take on it is that I anticipate a deal being made, one that is more beneficial to the television station, since they hold all the weight when it comes to bargaining. They can tell the Carters that their product doesn't have a home, make them terminate the contract of workers they don't want employed, and even change their time slot to something more beneficial to them. Heck, with all the money they are reportedly losing, now would be the time for the Carters to consider just dumping the property and letting someone like Tommy Dreamer run it for Viacom, who would be a suitable buyer, considering they purchased Bellator.

In this situation, I would anticipate that a steady product with first run airing every week, if found to be profitable for Spike, who is aiming at an 18-45 male demographic, would end up signing a more appealing deal with someone they already have a good relationship with (besides the Russo hiring, apparently).

Ultimately, it's up to both sides to agree to continue, maybe with new terms to the deal, or go their seperate ways. If they choose the latter, I would hope that any unaired footage would be packaged and sold as online content, or sold to a company like ROH.

I'd just hate for there to be nowhere for some of these talents to go if WWE doesn't want them, especially with the looming budget cuts coming from them in the coming weeks.

-Potsy

WWE Missed a BIG opportunity last night with Ambrose 7-15-2014

So last night, RAW began with John Cena and Roman Reigns getting a little heated, and then Ambrose chimed in with "Let's get it together, win the match, and then worry about the PPV" face speech, before Kane, Orton and Rollins came into view and beat the hell out of Ambrose.

Ambrose was then "taken to the hospital," and not seen from again.  This is nothing new, and part of the storyline, but what differed was how the match ended at the end of the night, and it was a slap in the face of Ambrose, who could have blown the roof off the Richmond Coliseum. Here's all they would have had to do.

Instead of making Reigns and Cena look like superheroes versus the three eyed monster, they should have looked defeatable, hurt, and like they weren't just going to lose, but like the heels really were going to destroy them.  This would have made the main event at the PPV (Battleground) look that much stronger, would have made Orton OR Kane a serious threat to Cena's championship, and would have even added to the heat of Rollins.

But then...just as the show's about to go off the air with the heels dominating...Ambrose comes through the fans, grabs a chair and cleans house. This would have gotten the biggest pop of the night, solidified Ambrose as a true hero, and really added something to the Ambrose/Rollins match, too.

Why did WWE not do something that has worked so well in the past this time? They missed out on a golden opportunity here, and I for one, was very disappointed.

Potsy
7/15/2014

What would improve IMPACT?

TNA Impact wrestling has gone through a major facelift, now being a company that has very few of the talents it had just one year ago, missing the likes of Hulk Hogan, Rob Van Dam, AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian and others.  They have, however, brought in other talents to "freshen up" the product. They include MVP, Kenny King, Lashley, The Wolves among others. Interestingly, their ratings have remained right where they were.

What will it take to get them improved? Is it a talent? Is it a different feel for the product? Truth is, it's more of the latter than the former.

To make IMPACT a distinct alternative, it has to BE a distinct alternative. It isn't a talent that will make it better or worse, it's what's written, and how that is put on television.

IMPACT needs to be about the wrestling, and not about the story. Is it okay to have feuds? Yes. Is it okay to have talking segments? Sure...but not at the expense of WRESTLING. The visual needs to be different.

If WWE is labeled as SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT culminating in wrestling matches, then IMPACT needs to be about WRESTLING first, and the story second. It can't be about bringing in an ROH or a WWE guy, because they've proved, that won't work.

In the long run, to gain viewers, it can't be more of the same, as even WWE is seeing that with their network. A lot of different things have been tried, like having a specific TOP TEN contenders list, etc, and ultimately, what will make IMPACT improve is being different.

I want to watch two hours of wrestling some weeks, with very little entertainment.

A week late to the Party, the "Fire Remender" movement was a scam...but it's still time for someone else to write CAPTAIN AMERICA

So last week, I saw on at least one comic artist's Facebook page, that he was mentioning that with Falcon sleeping with Arnim Zola's daughter, that it was statutory rape, because the last time the character had been seen in the comics, she was 14. Remender went as far as to write into the sequence that the woman in question mentions that she had a certain kind of wine when she turned 23, and that's what leads to the festivities.

Rick Remender, writer on Captain America ever since Ed Brubaker signed his exclusive deal with IMAGE COMICS, lost me as a reader of the comic in the first six issues. While I'm fairly certain others jumped off with his crazy direction he took the book (Cap was sent to a dystopian future, had a son, and a face in his chest, etc), these latest shenanigans are ridiculous. The person who started the whole movement had unfounded information, and sounds like he just wants Remender off the book.

I stopped reading Captain America. It looks like others did, too, because now they are going to the "Who will replace Cap?" story. Again. And I'm sorry, didn't we just get past the ONE TIME we actually accepted someone else into the role, for real, and Marvel put Steve Rogers back into the role last time?

If Bucky, the Winter Soldier, wasn't man enough for the role, no one other than Steve Rogers is. But that isn't what this is about. If Marvel is attempting to get readers back by offering the same story with a different take on it, don't we think at some point, we don't buy in? Maybe it's just time to take Remender off the book, give it to Mark Waid or someone else, and let them have a turn? After all, it's what the distinguished competition is doing on the regular now. Gail Simone is leaving Batgirl. Latoure is leaving Green Arrow. Nicola Scott is leaving Earth 2 (I know she's an artist, but her work is amazing, and I'd put her on th enext major crossover book right now).

When sales dip, try something new, not rehashing an old story. If the team is good, the sales steady, and the stories matter in the canon. If the sales dip, prepare to cancel and relaunch. That IS today's comics world.

FLASH TV Pilot Episode Review, and whether you should give it a try in October.

DC Comics put the proverbial arrow through our comic loving minds with the hit show on the CW, ARROW. After the midpoint of season 2, that show really hit it's stride, understanding what had been confusing it since it began, what it wanted to be. ARROW did not want to be another SMALLVILLE, nor did we, as viewers, want it to be. For it to work properly, it had to be gritty, much like the Christopher Nolan BATMAN film franchise, while still being cheesy enough to gain a younger audience, and clever enough to keep us older comic readers entertained.

 With ARROW, I wasn't hooked after the full first season, but being a comic fan, and a big fan of the work of Manu Bennett after SPARTACUS, I stuck with it, watching the entire full season on Netflix, and then watching in two to three episode spurts until the midpoint, when a kid by the name of Barry Allen came to Starling City, looking to find the phenomena that was "The Arrow." It was the second episode that Barry appeared in, where everything changed. ARROW knew it had to be less "cheese and sex appeal," and be more about the inner demons and workings of the cast, and it all started to click. It was also when Oliver got his green mask that we had been waiting a while to see. And that, friends, is where FLASH begins.

 A bolt of lightning at the end of that episode, and we know where that was headed. We just didn't know it would take that long to get here.

 From this moment forth, there will be spoilers, because, well, to explain the feel of the program, you need to know what's happening. You, folks, have been warned. The episode starts out with a very young Barry, his mom and his dad, and shortly thereafter, we see the tragedy that engulfs Barry's very existence...the death of his mother, the incarceration of his father, and all the while, this young boy holds on to a "fantasy" of seeing a blurry man that was the murderer, and not his father. They touch upon this throughout the episode, and there are subtle tips of the hat, but nothing that really pushes towards obsession, unless you believe Officer Thawne (yes, fans of the comic should recognize it).

 We meet Detective Allen, his daughter and object of Barry's affection, Iris, and we even see that Barry's big brain helps solve cases when no one really wants to give him a chance. We see the distance from the police captain, and all the markings for soap opera drama, just like any CW show.

 All of this, including the first case you see them handling all takes place BEFORE the episode of ARROW, though they pass that off with a set of lines of dialogue only, and then we are back to the here and now, in a flash (yup, went there). Detective West is on the finish the case Barry gave him the key information for, it causes the death of an officer, and all the while, we are slow burning our way to the lightning bolt. And then, BAM, it hits.

Barry wakes up nine months later (cute, a hero being born), and his life is turned upside down. Some good (he had abs, and new abilities like fast healing), some not so good (Iris now has a love interest). He wakes up at S.T.A.R Labs, which is now decommissioned based on the particle accelerator that blew up, subsequently giving Barry his powers. Barry needs to tell everyone he's alive, so he leaves, heads to the police and Iris, and BOOM, we're all happy with a little drama. Thawne is now West's partner, we get the first Iris/Thawne/Barry moment, which will lead to tension throughout, and Barry finds out about West's former partner.

 Barry tests out his new powers in a terrible suit, and then finds out while talking to Iris that others have gotten powers, including a man thought dead, now turning out to be Weather Wizard, Clive Martin, which creates a tense "Get with the truth" moment between Barry and West. This also leads Barry to have a lash out moment with the Star Labs folk, with Barry once again being told, "You're just a boy that got struck by lightning..."

This is where the episode finally takes off, literally, as Barry runs ALL THE WAY (600 miles) to Starling City for the first cameo appearance of Stephen Amell. In wrestling terms, this is done for the fans to mark out, applaud, or just get giddy with him showing up, but there's a problem with this moment. Barry is a dorkly kid who uses words like "cool," when describing what's occurring, Oliver is not. So the whole thing comes across as more of a cheesy "keep your chin up and go get'm" moment that we wouldn't get from Oliver. He's more of a "If you want me to tell you what you should do, I can't. You got struck by lightning. Take it and do good, do nothing, or do evil. If you pick the third, I'll put arrow's in your knees..." And he comes across too nice. He even leaves in in a typical SPIDER-MAN fashion, rather than how we've grown accustomed, which I guess is to say, this show will be more with the heroics than vigilantism, which is something Arrow alludes to.

 I digress.

Finally, Barry gets his costume, which is fire retardant and friction safe, so take that, Reed Richards. He takes down the bad boy, and is finally told, because someone has a "come to your savior" moment, that everything he ever thought is true, not the load of malarkey we were all fed for years. And then it happens...in a moment where Geoff Johns had to write it himself, we get the first glimpse of someone knowing more than they are letting on, and giving us a glimpse of the future, in a moment that not only did that for the character, but broke the fourth wall and gave it to the viewers, as well. I won't spoil it, because it is a neat little segue.

I enjoyed the episode, but it did feel more like SMALLVILLE than it did ARROW. If you want a little more cheese than the grim and grit we are going to swallow with ARROW, I feel that this series has a lot of potential, and the speed running seems like an inexpensive enough special effect that we will get a little spoiled with powers in this show that we don't in ARROW. Finally, with all the little easter eggs (Ferris Air, anyone?), I'm pretty sure we'll see old HAL JORDAN show up at some point, and the anticipated crossover episodes (maybe mid-season finales) with the brother series, ARROW. This is definitely a little more light haearted, and having John Wesley Shipp as Barry's father adds to the Smallville feel even more, since they commonly brought in former Superman actors to play roles for the sake of nostalgia (and marking/geeking out).

I enjoyed it, and I always look for another reason to fire up the DVR...

Decompression and rising prices killing GOOD comics?

So this morning I got into a text discussion with a friend about whether or not to download upcoming new pilots for the fall season and whether or not this was frowned upon. We both agreed that this was okay, since they'll be on network TV (free TV) and I'll probably watch them in their full HD presentation anyway.

He however disagreed with the fact that I download comics now. If I fall in love with a story, I will purchase it (and spare no expense, since I own ABSOLUTE EDITIONS of my favorite books, etc).

For the purpose of this article, he said that since a book that he had been reading was now being cancelled so he was down about it and I figured he felt that it was partly due to the downloaders. I can't argue that probably had something to do with it, but with the push to digital, this was an inevitable reality...here are two more...

Yes, I will start with the movement to decompressed stories, limiting what your dollar amounts to. This had also led to people waiting until a book hits trade paperback status, which means it could already be cancelled before they ever read it.  The argument here is that by decompressing a story, you fail to hook your customer, and in essence, lose readers before you establish an audience that will petition for saving your title. 

If you continue to get bored with a book, in today's comic world, you also start placing your hard earned dollars to only those books that keep you entertained, because you have to be smart with your money.

Which is point #2. You see, when comics started the decompression act, they were still 1.99-2.50 a piece, and now they are somewhere in the 2.99-3.99 range, or 7.99 in extreme cases for one book. That's four books then, two or one now. You also are receiving twenty pages of book now instead of the old school 22, which may not seem like a lot, but the books didn't get smaller, they filled them with more ads. So they are making the money off the consumer, and the advertiser. This is how they male money, obviously, but I'd love to see a breakdown of where the publication costs / creative fees are for my favorite books, especially now. Sure, some artists are worth more, but there's another problem that isn't seen by the reader's eye.

The artists, as they move to digital artpads to quickly transfer the files rather than mailing them (which has led to numerous thieves over the years), the artists have no supplemental income, and thus charge more for their original drawings. I'm making an assumption, here, of course, though I guess I could ask Ryan Stegman or Brett Booth, two industry vets that I've known for years that would probably give me a straight answer.

Anyway, it isn't Bendis that is destroying comics (he is a cog in the machine and not THE machine), but these two items together...less substance for your money AND more money for the substance has probably turned more people off reading comics, thus causing cancellations, than downloading the books.

I'd like to hear a rebuttal to this statement. Again, downloading will have SOME negative effect on the industry, but not enough to cause the cancellation of "beloved titles..."

Finally, if Marvel and DC really wanted to save their titles, they'd make more mention of how close they were to being cancelled on social network sights, and give fans a chance to drudge up more readers...just a thought, though I guess it WOULD scare creative teams.

Til next time,

Potsy
Facebook.com/PotsyandtheTurd
Soundcloud.com/RobPotsy

Who was writing the 6/30/14 RAW?

Man, its been a while since I've marked out seriously for wrestling. Heck, when CM Punk had his gray "Best in the World" shirt was the last time I can remember buying the merch (though I gave serious consideration to the "I'm a Paul Heyman Guy" one, and not including the Cactus Jack "WANTED" shirt from his comedy show), but last night made me feel like I did when Steve Austin stunned Molly Holly.

It just seemed to click. Jack Swagger, a superior talent with a better manager went over. Dolph Ziggler went over. The Moz was in a compelling segment. And return, return, return...wow. This doesn't even go into the Rollins/RVD match or the overtime segment.

After the head writer was terminated a few weeks ago, I wondered if the product could get worse. Last night was the first time it looked like they didn't just go after two angles, but 6.

Even the audience knew they were watching something special. You should have a drinking game for how many "THIS IS AWESOME" chants broke out. There were some letdown segments (Nikki vs funkadactyls and Bo Dallas...) But overall, it seemed like the WWE was drinking the Twisted Tea they were pimping.

Anyway, take a bow, whoever you were that wrote that bad boy, I marked out, I put my hand over my heart, and I said "We the People..." Just like the 14000 fans in attendance.

Who's running the Asylum that is TNA?

Earlier this week, I posted a rant on the Potsy and the Turd Facebook page because I was flabbergasted at the disregard of BIG EVENT Title changes in wrestling.

There was once a time where the champion losing on free TV was looked at as shock value, but times have changed. TNA having Eric Young retain at the PPV only to lose four days later (on a show where apparently all the talent had to wrestle twice), was disrespectful to those that paid for the PPV, and they should speak out as such.

Or was it that so few people watched the PPV that they didn't actually affect their fans either way?

Here's the deal, folks. We watch the weekly TV to get the story, and we watch the PPV (or "Special Event" as WWE is calling them now) for the payoff, or the screwing of the payoff to continue the story. We don't watch on the free TV to see the world championship disrespected, even if you attempt to tell us it's for the story. It isn't, it's for ratings, plain and simple, and when you play to just get a .10 increase, you will fail more than you will succeed.

WWE's long term book rarely goes the way they want it to anymore, but at least they lay plans out that look like they have a method to the madness.

TNA's spotty, on the fly booking has them never creating a hero or a villain because they flip flop so often, that you only get behind someone because of their talent, which isn't displayed nearly enough.

That's not even the full on of my problem with them. Recently brought back MVP was part of a match where if his team won, he had control over wrestling operations. Shortly thereafter, Dixie Carter is "in charge" again, and that gives us TWO heel authority figures that alsp hate each other. Does that mean one is even MORE heel than the other? Who knows? Its sketchy booking, even worse follow thru and the payoffs are inconsistent from it, which is why the program suffers.

Too bad, too, because I really want to see Bully Ray put Dixie through a table.

Is WWE in crisis mode?

Working for a company that does everything for Wall Street (the opinions of this blog post are of the contributer, and not of the company he works for), it seems that Pro Wrestling's staple house has really begun doing the same. Eleven people were cut from the roster, (though Teddy Long's contract expired, and was not renewed, he is lumped into this, erroneously) and it seems more may be on the way. This isn't anything new with the WWE, they used to cut underperforming talent after Wrestlemania all the time, yet this year, after a few years of not really seeing it, it's back, and with a vengeance. The problem is that WWE overshot, and underdelivered...because they are only caring about their shareholders, and not the people who want to be catered to with product they actually want to watch. I've been skimming the program for about two months, after the lead up to Wrestlemania had me watching and believing the company was finally making decisions that got fans interested in the product. Unfortunately, their champion after WM was injured, and as such, needed much deserved time off, to go with his much required neck surgery. The stock price is now back to where it had been for the previous 5 years, however, there was that 6 month window where they beat their chests, told investors they'd triple their TV contract, and get a million viewers on the network (WWE Network is like a Netflix for wrestling fans), however, they failed to deliver on both counts. Now, they have to live with the decisions and consequences. Here's the real problem. They are attempting to gain viewers who've left their product with the network, and they have no interest. They attempt to gain younger viewers with the same stale old gimmicks (ring names, attire, and personalities of the wrestlers), all the while, they have made their programs mostly unwatchable, and have turned away from building 5 feuds in which a Pay-Per-View or Special Event is based around. They develop 2, at most, and throw the rest together at the last minute. In my humbled opinion, the WWE will be fine, as long as they take a realistic approach to their fans, the business, and do what we all want them to...deliver the goods on the product. When they get back to a more standardized accounting, and trim the fat we don't want to watch on RAW (I'm looking at you, Adam Rose), we'll all be better off for it, the fans, the show, and the whole WWE Universe. The cuts aren't anything new, they're timely, expected, and give the talents who seize the opportunity a better chance to do something, especially if they were given serious exposure, like Brodus Clay (remember all the "mama's" dancing at Wrestlemania a few years back?).

Blur...ring the lines between trailer and gameplay...

So one of my biggest problems with what we see when a game first gets announced is the trailer. Not because it doesn't look gorgeous, or it doesn't give enough plot (Watchdogs), but mostly because it isn't indicative of what the final product looks like.

I spoke on this topic on our 6/10 podcast (available at soundcloud.com/RobPotsy), as I was discussing EA and I was applauding them for every game they showed at E3 2014 was either on the Ignite or Frostbite engines, and the footage was all in game.

Bioware, an EA studio since Mass Effect 2 is one of my favorite developers. I play every game they make, am normally enamored by them, and will typically get a second play through in. However, up until Dragon Age Inquisition, they always used BLUR studio to develop their trailers. As gorgeous as they were, they never allowed you to see what you would be playing, and often times, I'd be disappointed by what the visuals ultimately would be after seeing such beautiful footage to get my appetite whetted. Dragon Age Inquisition changed this from it's on screen debut, short ng off Frostbite 3 in all of it's glory and showing two things: the first was that Bioware was doing the trailers themselves and the second was that they trusted the visual integrity of Frostbite enough to not spend the money on BLUR.

Don't get me wrong, I watched a 7 minute sizzle trailer from BLUR that showed what the studio was capable of, and would throw money at them to develop a 2 hour Mass Effect MOVIE so that it was done right...they are THAT good. I just don't want to think a game looks like their work, only to find out it looks like World Of Warcraft.

The engines are powerful enough. When you see Kojima's trailer for The Phantom Pain, it's all from the FOX engine. Battlefield, Call of Duty, and all of EAs games now shown from the in game footage...yet, for some reason, Batman, Halo and countless others are still animated trailers from outside sources.

Trust your source material, folks...it's what made us all trust Naughty Dog so much. Give us gameplay from the first real trailer going forward, we deserve it...and so does the hard work of the folks working on it.

What happened to the comics I loved?

So recently, I wrote a long post on the POTSY AND THE TURD Facebook page about how I really had wished DC Comics had left the universe the way it was and started an "Ultimate" universe of their own with the new 52, only in reverse...

Let the main universe condense down to a single editor's load, 4-8 books a month, with a weekly series leading the way with what is going on in the rest of the universe.

Obviously, this is one fan's opinion, but truth be told, it would work, it wouldn't have forced longtime readers to decide if they wanted to stay or give up on a longtime history, and it would have sold to the core audience that isn't getting younger, but still needs to be catered to, if you want their money (we are, in fact, the audience with funds to buy paper or digital copies).

It's a fairytale or pipedream, and I won't get what I or what thousands of other fans clamor for, because we aren't the audience they want, but unfortunately, we are the audience they have.

Marvel has lost me, too, recently. I've taken to reading maybe 3-4 books a month, when at the height, I read EVERYTHING. I mean EVVVVERYTHING. Their BIG EVENT mentality, having to buy all the books to get the whole story, while attempting to tell you that isn't the case is ridiculous. I know better, I want the whole story. What bugs me even more is when they can't figure out how to put characters together in the first place, so they "ScoobyDoo" it, buy having all the characters having a steak with old Nick Fury... Dude has been gone for a long time, and you suddenly just have him eating a steak at a diner with Cap, Wolverine and the Black Widow? I'm calling BS. (I'm calling out ORIGINAL SIN, BTW)

See, its stuff like that, it shows that the writers are not using what is available to them, not creating an entry point that's worth my time, and as such, I'm bored, tired, and not wanting to waste my time reading your nonsense. It's too bad, too, because I'm your biggest advocate, your highest praiser, the guy who wanted to do your job twenty years ago.

If you don't have a beginning, a climax and an end for a story, don't do it, because at this point, I'm done reading it. We have wasted enough of each other's time, and this relationship is over.

That's what comics appear to be to me recently, a girlfriend that has stayed too long, made me bitter, and taken half my stuff...

And if anyone is listening, I can tell you how to fix it, but not here...not tonight. To right is about venting the frustration, and I hadn't even stated that Bendix posted a picture of Miles Morales with the "All New X-Men" ...which in my opinion should be called "Brian Bendis' bastardization of what Stan and Jack created...when will Marvel wake up and take him off these books?

This nightmare has taken 15 years, folks. Please...give me back my comics and my love.

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