Topher Florence Jan 24, 2020. 12 minute read
A Ludicrously Exhaustive Map of the DC Television and Film Multiverse
The CW’s Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover event not only merged the worlds of Arrow, Supergirl, and Black Lightning into one planet, it also connected a multiverse of TV shows and movies as different as Zack Snyder’s Justice League, the Adam West Batman show, and the cancelled 2002 WB drama…
READ MORE >Topher Florence Dec 9, 2019. 3 minute read
I Am Jesus Christ Is Only One in a Series of Oddball First-Person Sims
Just in time for the Christmas season, PlayWay — the publisher behind titles such as House Flipper and Cooking Simulator — has released a trailer for I Am Jesus Christ, a first-person game where you play as the man himself. The trailer has become a sensation online, not only because of the bold concept,…
READ MORE >Topher Florence Dec 3, 2019. 4 minute read
The Strange Tale of Rockstar’s Cancelled “E” Rated Austin Powers Kart Racer
More than twenty years after the first movie was released, it’s strange to recall that Austin Powers was once a staggeringly popular franchise. These days, we tend to think of the unfrozen secret agent as the first in a series of increasingly over the top weirdos played by Mike Myers…
READ MORE >Topher Florence Jul 18, 2019. 5 minute read
The Strange History of Lion King Animated Spinoffs
The unprecedented blockbuster success of 1994’s The Lion King was the peak of the Disney Renaissance. The film was a critical and commercial hit and was licensed out into a mountain of toys, comics, video games, and a Broadway musical. And of course, the company that made Pocahontas II and…
READ MORE >Topher Florence Jun 19, 2019. 4 minute read
Commander Keen Died on Mars: A Conspiracy Theory
I genuinely never expected Bethesda to bring back Commander Keen. Outside of a Game Boy Color one-off, the series has been dormant for almost 20 years. The original Commander Keen is based on a demo that id Software created to convince Nintendo that they could port Mario games to DOS.…
READ MORE >Topher Florence May 14, 2019. 4 minute read
6 More Visual Novels NBCUniversal Should Produce For Some Reason
The mobile game Series: Your Story Universe, is a collection of Choose Your Own Adventure-style interactive fiction where you can play around in the worlds of various intellectual properties owned by NBCUniversal. You create an avatar, dress them up, and insert yourself into official fanfiction for Saved by the Bell,…
READ MORE >Topher Florence May 2, 2019. 4 minute read
5 Times Characters Met Their Retro Counterparts
One interesting way that storytellers play with the nostalgic feelings of their audiences is through the trope of seeing a retro version of a character interact with a modern version. This year alone sees modern Will Smith battling a computer generated Fresh Prince-era clone in Gemini Man, the grizzled fighters…
READ MORE >Topher Florence Apr 15, 2019. 4 minute read
The 7 Very Worst Things to Come Out of Video Game Eggs
The video game world has an extremely tenuous relationship to actual biology. Most of Sonic’s friends are not the proper shapes or sizes of their real world counterparts. The citizens of the Mushroom Kingdom are some sort of primate/fungus hybrid. Real bandicoots absolutely do not wear jorts. Also, no one…
READ MORE >Topher Florence Mar 13, 2019. 4 minute read
Six Degrees of Ryu
In the 1990s, a group of online film nerds posited a theory: “Kevin Bacon is the Center of the Universe”. Because Bacon was so prolific, users would try to figure out the fewest number of steps between his filmography and a given actor. We now know this game as Six…
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