Cult Classics: Knight Rider

The opening theme song is classic – the synthesizer techno tune serving as the intro to the 80’s cult phenomenon known as “Knight Rider” was known to make people drop what they were doing and come to the TV. Well maybe not to that degree, but the show was certainly ingrained into pop culture during its four-year run, and as the premiere of a new TV movie a month ago demonstrates, it still is today. But let’s go back to the beginning, when NBC’s chief executive at the time Brandon Tartikoff decided he wanted an action-based show around a hero and his talking car…and the general reaction from most others was “What?!!”

Michael Long was an L.A. cop who ended up the victim of a vicious double-cross – he was led to the desert, shot in the face and left for dead. However, he was rescued by the FLAG (the tackily-named Foundation for Law and Government) organization and resurrected, being given David Hasselhoff’s face and the name “Michael Knight” as a part of that operation. In addition, he was recruited by Devon Miles (seen above played by British star Edward Mulhare) to be FLAG’s “undercover agent” if you will, handling in person what the group couldn’t do in court – basically, to kick the incompetent bad guys’ asses while not messing up his coiffed hairstyle. But he wasn’t alone on this mission, FLAG gave him his own ride too.

A 1982 Pontiac Trans Am with some serious modifications, KITT (the Knight Industries Two Thousand) would become Michael’s partner for his undercover missions, though at first “the Hoff” was a little freaked out by the car’s appearance (hilariously referring to it in the pilot episode as “Darth Vader’s bathroom.”) That was really the draw for the show, to see KITT’s futuristic and death-defying abilities in action as “the Hoff” toppled the latest criminal mastermind of the week with a generous amount of style and flash. In the first season, Pontiac actually contacted NBC to request that KITT not be referred to anymore as a Trans Am in the show, because they had been inundated with requests from fans about how to trick out their Trans Ams to look like KITT. That says it all.

Not only that, but the future “Mr. Feeny” himself, William Daniels, provided the voice for KITT. In addition to fighting crime and computing the necessary requirements for making a turbo boost leap at 150 MPH, he could dish out philosophy and biting sarcasm with the best of them. My one complaint is that at some point during the show, KITT didn’t give Michael detention for messing up his circuits with his crazy stunt driving – that would earn my money in a heartbeat. Bottom line, if I need to explain why “the Hoff” and “Mr. Feeny” are the ultimate crime-fighting team, you probably shouldn’t be reading this.

Storyline-wise, the show wasn’t exactly A-List material, but it didn’t have to be. Checking out the episodes will show un-Academy Award-winning acting, cheesy dialogue, recycling of stock footage, and the most incompetent bad guys this side of a Scooby Doo rerun. That could be best personified by the screenshot above, as a recurring storyline involved Michael Knight doing battle with his “evil” twin brother Garthe (also played by “the Hoff”). Besides a hilariously bad accent, the only thing askew about Garthe was his mustache – and where does it say that facial hair automatically makes someone evil? However, things like this were part of the show’s cult charm, and it was occasionally willing to poke fun at itself, which it has to be commended for.

Though successful in its four-year run from 1982-1986, attempts made to recapture lightning in a bottle have by and large failed. A 1991 TV movie “Knight Rider 2000″ flat-out sucked, as did the TV series “Team Knight Rider”, in addition to the recent TV movie “Knight Rider” from a month ago (in my own humble opinion of course). I mean, Val Kilmer as the voice of KITT…what were they thinking? Hey Val, 1996 called and they’re sick and tired of you. Anyway, the entire series of this cult classic is available on DVD, and I highly recommend checking it out – just don’t pull any turbo boosts on the way to the video store, the cops just might arrest you. And unless your car can help you talk your way out of it, you might be out of luck.

Cyberpunk Cinema: Robocop 2

Unlike the spectacular subject of Cyberpunk Cinema’s last entry, not every sequel to a popular film ends up meeting expectations…take for instance the film I’ll be discussing today, “Robocop 2″. The original was both a cyperpunk action/sci-fi movie and biting social commentary all in one, but still having enough of a “soul” where the movie wasn’t totally unlikable. In the sequel, that soul was ripped out just like Alex Murphy’s was — gone were the insights on humanity, memorable villains and cohesive plot. These were replaced by dueling Robocops, throwaway bad-guys and half-explored subplots. Yippee, let the dystopic mayhem run amok!

As if the first movie didn’t show enough how big drugs are of a problem in the Motor City, this time around the addictive narcotic is a red hallucinogen with the oh-so-subtle name of “Nuke”, which threatens the entire populace (as I said, “subtle”.) While investigating the ring of criminals distributing the drug, Robocop has an unwanted meeting with a jackhammer and ends up a cybernetic scrap heap as displayed above. When he’s repaired, he ends up being reprogrammed with commands to do things like help the environment and quote proverbs to a group of thieving schoolchildren, definitely the funniest scenes in the movie. (The scenes were in an in-your-face moment to the hordes of real-life parents’ groups complaining that popular movies were sending dangerous messages to kids about violence.) How Peter Weller managed to play that off with a straight face and making the expressions he does in those scenes is beyond my comprehension. It seems the bad guys have done quite the number on our pal Robo.

Ahh yes, the villains — certainly a part of what made the first film so much fun. Before they were on “E.R” and “That 70’s Show”, Paul McCrane and Kurtwood Smith were some of the slimiest bad guys ever seen on the big screen in “Robocop”. Taking their place this time are a druggie whore, Elvis impersonator, hippie cult leader and…that little guy (Gabriel Damon). Yup, “Robocop 2″ makes the interesting choice of casting a child villain; one who swears like Eddie Murphy circa 1984 and opens fire on cops with reckless abandon. Oh and by the way, thanks to the magic of IMDB, this gun-toting, foul-mouthed, hadn’t-hit-puberty-yet bad guy also has another famous credit to his name…Littlefoot. Yup, one of the main bad guys in “Robocop 2″ was that wimpy dinosaur in “The Land Before Time”…good God. As the old saying goes, you can’t make this s**t up.

Speaking of the hippie cult leader Cain (Tom Noonan), he ends up on the verge of death after a battle with Robocop, and is then himself murdered to provide the brain for Murphy’s replacement. OCP’s trial-and-error process for the new prototype is one of the more gratuitous and humorous sequences in this violent film, one which literally transforms Cain into Robocop 2. As a means of controlling him, they bait him with Nuke, the same narcotic he was hooked on in human form. He can have as much of the drug as he wants, the only catch being that he slaughters his former associates and Robocop. As an interesting aside, look for Frank Miller himself in a brief cameo as a drug chemist/designer (also named Frank) who gets blown up in his own lab.

Needless to say, things don’t exactly turn out how OCP wants, and their new “bastard creation”, as the first film’s Dick Jones would have said, goes on a drug-induced killing spree. The only one who can stop Cain/Robocop 2 is the original, and both of them proceed to fight it out in the OCP headquarters and streets of Detroit. Some of the dialogue before this, including the OCP CEO’s command to the cyborg pair of “Behave yourselves!”, and the wild outbursts of the city’s mayor are laughable and do nothing but add some serious cheese to this sequel. In spite of that, the overacting of the city mayor is actually quite funny (think Don King or Johnnie Cochran on crack).

Ultimately, Robocop’s brain triumphs over Cain’s brawn…or is it the other way around (examine Cain/Robocop 2’s death scene in the film to get the reference)? Robocop’s final line made a reference to his humanity, concluding in a similar fashion to the first film. And that, in my opinion ladies and gents, is where this sequel went wrong. The first 20 minutes partially explores Robocop’s intention to reclaim his humanity and family, something which could have been a key part of the film, then drops it with no explanation. It seems as if he almost accepts his fate as a machine, even when Littlefoot is trying to bust a cap in his steel-plated dome.

Oh and one final caveat, though the credits may say that Frank Miller was the screenwriter on this, he wasn’t totally responsible for this garbage. His original script went through so many rewrites that the finished film utilized almost none of his concepts. If you want to see what “Robocop 2″ could have been, his original script was made into a comic book called “Frank Miller’s Robocop”. Unfortunately, the trend of sequel crappification would only get worse. By the time of the third and last film, Robo was flying like the f*cking Rocketeer and helping to avert a housing crisis — but I’m not even going there. No wonder Miller didn’t return to Hollywood until “Sin City” came out, luckily that time he had creative control…and the difference shows.

Cyberpunk Cinema: The Terminator

It seems hard to believe now, but Arnold Schwarzenegger used to be an actor. Before he was trying to solve energy crises, smooth over a dozen sexual harassment suits, and write his business address as the California statehouse, Ahh-nold was portrayed for years as the baddest maatha-f*ckah in film. And it started with this movie, the result of a fever dream that a lowly art director/former truck driver had in Rome working on the 5-star classic, “Piranha II”… a director that had been fired twice while working on that film. Something tells me that James Cameron was screaming that he was the king of the world back then, too.

1984’s “The Terminator” was made on a shoestring budget of about $6 million, with Cameron and company literally improvising parts of the production as they went along filming the cyberpunk classic. In the 21st century, machines ruled the world, and by the looks of the endoskeleton pictured above, those in charge sure as hell weren’t PDA’s or iPhones. A badass computer defense system called Skynet caused humanity’s destruction through triggering a nuclear war, setting themselves up to rise from the ashes and take over. Is that a movie, or is that a movie? The premise seems to be more relevant and prescient as the years pass.

The human resistance had one chance, and it was their leader John Connor, who it was said would eventually help his ragtag world militia overrun the machines once and for all. In an act of sheer self-preservation, Skynet sent back a T-800 infiltration unit (code-named “The Terminator”) to kill Connor’s mother Sarah before he was even born, in the year 1984. The resistance planned ahead also, and sent back one of their own to protect Sarah, a battle-hardened young vet, Kyle Reese. But which one would reach her first? Though it seems beyond cliche now, this was some revolutionary stuff in 1984, and made for an entertaining thrill ride of a film. One thing which made it that way was that all the backstory was delivered in the middle of action scenes, making the usually boring process of exposition that much more exciting, a brilliant decision on Cameron’s part.

In the role that made his name, Ahh-nold appears as if he just walked off the set of “Pumping Iron” looked very jui…I mean, jacked, and destroying any obstacles in his path with a minimum of dialogue and a maximum of brutality. The part as written was perfect for the Austrian strongman, although if the original casting had gone down, Schwarzenegger would have been cast as Reese, the protector. In the part of killer would be Lance Henriksen, as Cameron had originally envisioned the Terminator as an anonymous chameleon who would just walk out of a crowd and kill someone. When Ahh-nold read the script, he immediately identified more with the Terminator, seeming to relish in the part of playing a strong cyborg with 17 lines of Eastern European-accented dialogue. As a final interesting (and eerie) tidbit, another original casting choice for the role of the Terminator was O.J. Simpson, however producers didn’t think he could be taken seriously as a vicious killer and didn’t cast him. Eeeee…

Anyway, getting the role of Kyle Reese would be Michael Biehn, a talented character actor who would later appear in other Cameron films, such as “Aliens” and “The Abyss”. While Biehn plays his part well, let’s face it, it’s Ahh-nold who steals the show for the duration of the movie’s 108-minute running time. Whether commandeering vehicles by force, removing his own injured eye or destroying an entire police station, the future Governator comes off as a badass who’s impossible to stop. The success of this movie on home video would catapult demand for a sequel, “Terminator 2: Judgment Day”, which was released in 1991. As far as I’m concerned, that’s where these movies end – don’t bother with the third entry where Ahh-nold’s character ventured into self-parody. I am hearing some good reviews for FOX’s “Sarah Connor Chronicles”, and the casting of Christian Bale for future installments at least ensures that some decent acting will be there. However, it seems that Ahh-nold’s current role as politician will prevent him from appearing, though that might be a blessing in disguise…they would probably re-loop his lines from “Kindergarten Cop” anyway. “It’s not a too-mah, it’s not a too-mah!”

Caf-Fiend: NOS Energy Drink

Is your body craving more horsepower? Do you get to around 3 grand and blow your load? Spray this 16oz shot of NOS down your gullet and rev the f*ck up! NOS is absolutely targeted at all of our beloved mechanics, the average, wanna-be, “0o0oh, I fit in” automobile enthusiast at the track, your crazy, Japanese 4-banger street racer, and how could we forget, the greeeeeezy car salesman who would hawk his grandma for a commission.

NOS High Performance Energy Drink

16 oz Can

$1.99

Taste: 7.5

Intensity: 7

Duration: 3 hours

Crash: I couldn’t tell, I was 8,000+ ft high in altitude– thinking made me winded.

Overall Rating: 7

Jittery?I was super amp’d to go snowboarding at Bear Mountain. It could have been my nerves, or the 100 shot of iced cold NOS.

 

Things to mix it with: obviously a smoking-hot female mechanic (wallpapers created by ooshie)

Things I mixed with it: B & M Original Canned Bread. Kwech created a scientific theory that my body was going to spontaneously combust inside his Civic on our extensive road trip to Bear Mountain.

Where it can be purchased: Anywhere, I have even see it at Auto Zone, Pep Boys, Advanced Auto Parts, etc…

What did I do while I consumed this tasty beverage: Hit the NOS (second can) while taking the high speed quad on the way up to the top of Bear Mountain, tossed my headphones in, cranked up the power metal up to 11, and did a session on a few kinked and rainbow rails.

When one should drink this: Only while playing the upcoming Grand Theft Auto IV (April 24th, 2008), Midnight Club: Los Angeles, Forza, Burnout Paradise, you get my gist.

When one should not drink this: Please, never bring a this to any real racing event. Don’t embarrass yourself. Thanks, pops.

 

 

Cyberpunk Cinema: Robocop

As people who have followed this site can attest to, I’m a huge fan of the movie “Blade Runner.” Just the other day, I found another reason to like it as much as I do, because it gave birth to the idea for the movie I’m going to be talking about today. Screenwriter Ed Neumeier happened upon the “Blade Runner” movie set during filming and asked a crew member what it’s plot was. When Neumeier was told that it was about a cop who hunted down robots, the thought occurred to him…what if the robot and cop were one and the same? Dashing off a script, he titled it “Robocop” and received a unanimous reaction from inside the biz – similar to that of people running away from a person infected with the Black Plague.

Indeed, every big name in showbiz wouldn’t touch the “Robocop” script with a 10-foot pole; even its eventual director, the controversial Paul Verhoeven. The Dutch filmmaker only had a change of heart on the script after his wife (who is probably smoking hot) opened his eyes to the possibilities of the character. With the script in the hands of Tim Burton’s European alter-ego, the film was shot, then released in the summer of 1987.

The story begins as Omni Consumer Products (OCP) has entered into a contract with the city of Detroit to fund and run local law enforcement. To that end, Senior Vice-President Dick Jones has helped to develop the ED-209, a badass robot with twin cannons who will wipe the crime-plagued streets clean. Only then can OCP build an entirely new mecca called Delta City, a move that will stimulate urban growth and commercial success.

Problem: during the ED-209’s test, he hilariously massacres a company employee, and the CEO gets cold feet on the robot’s efficiency. Then, an opportunistic executive named Bob Morton proposes the Robocop program as a backup plan, which the CEO approves. The plan involved meshing brand-new cybernetic technology with the brain of an actual police officer – which means that someone will have to die in order for the experiment to take place.

Good things come to those who wait, or this in case power-hungry yuppies, as Detroit cop and all-around good guy Alex Murphy gets blown to pieces on his first day of duty in Metro Detroit. With only his brain intact, the company outfits Murphy with a state-of-the-art suit of robotic armor, a machine-pistol that would inspire jealousy in most mercenaries and a set of simple directives – all of which combine to make him the most fearsome force on the streets of Detroit. Bad guys of the Motor City, say hello to Robocop.

The two-ton cyborg immediately begins his path to “urban pacification”, as OCP humorously refers to it, by stopping crime and generally f*cking up whoever is fool enough to get in his way. Whether they be rapists, robbers, or former city councilmen taking the mayor hostage, they all feel the wrath of law enforcement’s newest threat. But despite the best efforts of OCP’s lab stooges, Robocop hasn’t lost all of his humanity: he ends up remembering both his lost family, and the evil sons of bitches who murdered him. Which sets the stage for a huge thematic catharsis and one of the most satisfying revenges in all of film. You’ll never be so happy to see the bad guys get theirs, with one in particular being so gruesome and over-the-top it would be…er…criminal for me to tell you.

“Robocop” is many things, acting as a sci-fi action piece and sociopolitical satire all in one movie. For anyone who enjoys lampooning the Reagan years, this will be right up your alley. Similarly, for anyone who enjoys cyborgs stopping crime and blowing away criminals, you too will be at home with this film. And with many places selling the DVD and Blu-Ray for well under $20, it’s never been more affordable. “I’d buy that for a dollar!!”

My Phone Can Full Combo Through the Fire and the Flames – Yours Can’t

A couple weeks ago I wrote about the PSX4iPhone and how it has become the number one choice in mobile gaming, as it should be. But seriously, who could’ve foreseen this?! Not only can all of us uncoordinated gamers sit at home on the weekend and play Guitar Hero III and Rockband, but now we can practice our serious string ringing when we have to leave home! If only someone would modify the Wii Guitar Hero III controller to fit an iPhone, we could take our slashing to a new level on the subway. Maybe if we’re lucky, we’d get some tips from onlookers. We’d probably look as ridiculous as this guy …

… but seriously, who cares. We’ll know it’s better than the bullshit mobile version that Hands-On mobile released on the Verizon network last fall.

Alright, that version actually looks pretty f*cking cool. Anyone actually played? Comment and lemme know!

Cyberpunk Cinema: AKIRA

Welcome to Cyberpunk Cinema, a look at films that have been in some way influenced by ideals from cyberpunk literature. Motifs from cyberpunk often include powerful government or corporate interests enmeshing with technology, having a profound (and usually negative) effect on the larger population, among others. With that being said, kicking off this occasional column will be “Akira”, (pronounced OCK-eer-uh) an animated film based on a 2,100-page manga by Katushiro Otomo. This piece has been so well-received that it’s influenced a wide spectrum of artists, designers, and even musicians, with two of the most notable being Frank Miller and Kanye West (who referenced the film in his music video for “Stronger”). I think it’s safe to say that when you can inspire arguably the best comic artist of the last 20 years and the Louis Vuitton Don with just one work, it’s a job well done.

For those who are new to the film, I warn you: you will NOT understand everything that’s going on the first time you watch it, unless you were somehow blessed with the psychic abilities of some of the film’s characters. To summarize, Tokyo, Japan was destroyed in 1988, via an explosion that resembled a nuclear bomb. Fast-forward to 2019, and “Neo-Tokyo”, a burgeoning metropolis of steel and concrete, stands next to the ashes of the old city. Biker gangs fight for turf and honor, against a backdrop of an unstable government and a military looking to explore the limits of human psychic potential. In addition to the film’s cyberpunk setting, it explores themes of power, friendship, control, freedom, rebellion and spiritual rebirth…in short, some pretty heavy stuff.

Shotaro Kaneda and Tetsuo Shima have been best buds since their days in a foster home, and grew as adolescents to form the Capsules motorcycle gang. (While in the film it’s not mentioned why they’re called that, reading the manga will show that it’s named after their drug of choice.) Personality-wise, Kaneda is the cool and cocky leader riding his customized bike, while Tetsuo is the insecure and resentful sidekick with a serious inferiority complex. That is, until one night when Tetsuo crashes his ride in a major accident, and is taken to a military hospital. When he emerges, to say that he’s not quite the same would be a massive understatement. Further detail would deny newcomers the fun of watching the movie, so I’ll stop the synopsis short. But this film (especially the last act) has to be seen to be believed, and as a testament to its staying power, the animation holds up incredibly well after 20 years. In the current age of “CGI this, and high-definition that”, this 100% hand-drawn film looks as good as any of them, or better.

Since its release 20 years ago, “Akira” has been available for home purchase several times. The first was on subtitled and English-dubbed VHS many years ago. This edition was how most of North America was introduced to the film, however that English dub of the film has achieved a certain notoriety since that time for its liberal adaptation of the translated script. I think it’s mostly well-done, with the top performance coming from the man who voiced main character Kaneda back then, Cam Clarke. You might remember Cam as the voices of both Leonardo and Rocksteady from the old “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” cartoon series, and as the voice of Liquid Snake in the “Metal Gear Solid” franchise. While he does turn in a great job, it’s almost impossible after hearing his anguished cry of “Tetsuo!” to not imagine him shouting in the same breath, “You’ll pay for this, Shredder!”. This English dub has its fair share of supporters and detractors, mostly emanating from the fact that this was how they first experienced the film.

Years passed, and the distribution rights to “Akira” lapsed from Streamline Pictures to Orion Home Video, to finally Pioneer Entertainment (now known as Geneon, though apparently they’re also going belly-up as I type these words). Finally in 2001, fans were given a new release of the film on VHS and DVD, with a newly translated and recorded English dub, and a 2-disc special edition covering the production of the movie. According to producers of the 2001 set, they had to scratch including the original English dub from 1989 in order to keep the disc at surround-sound quality. Those damn audiophiles! With that said, the picture quality of the film was vastly improved and has never looked better. The shots of the film’s opening minutes and chaotic last half-hour in particular are nothing short of vibrant and stunning.

That was the last time the film was made available for home release, but with this year being the movie’s 20th anniversary, I’m keeping my eyes and ears open for news of a comprehensive HD release. Seeing the urban sprawl of 2019 Neo-Tokyo would be nothing short of glorious in high-definition, so keep your fingers crossed, cyberpunk fans. However, serious rumblings around Hollywood have centered on the possibility of a live-action remake, but I have my doubts on how well that would be done. In any case, “Akira” receives my highest recommendation, as this was arguably the first film to show the West that Disney was not the be-all, end-all for what animation could and SHOULD be. As a final caveat, if you know young kids, don’t put this movie on expecting fun for the whole family…Tetsuo might punish your lack of foresight by making your head explode.

The Wave of the Present: OLED

 

The future is now, kiddies. Its pretty obvious that the gameplay of the Nintendo DS, at least when implemented to its greatest advantages, represents the most intuitive way to experience modern gaming. In sports games, for example, you can pick your play, or get line changes ready without ever leaving your current screen. Even better than that, in real-time strategy games, we can view the map, unit diagrams, artillery and building information, all while having live videos of what your spy units are seeing. But the best, is probably the first person shooters and finally being able to have your entire screen real estate open with all the secondary info, ammo, health, key map, etc. hotkeyed as you see fit.

The ability to entirely reprogram the “keyboard” in a graphical way that suits your needs for each game you play while it is a little far off at this point, though. Artemy Lebedev, the designer of this keyboard already offers a simpler keyboard that still has the same physical and tactile keys of the qwerty keyboards we are used to but each one is, in itself, an OLED display. This is a step in the right direction, but it only allows for limited customization and isn’t really much of a step up from the programmable keypads (you know, the ones where you pop the keys off and write on the white slips underneath) that we’ve had in the past.

That said, you’ve now seen the future. And to me, its finally clear that multitouch monitors aren’t the holy grail, it’s the OLED keyboard that will allow us to truly attain uber-1337 status .

5, 4, 3, 1, Off-Blast : The A+ Twin Engine Case

“5, 4, 3, 1… OFF-BLAST!” Zlad! said it best. I can just picture someone turning on this twin-turbo computing-behemoth and having it lift off into outer space. AplusCase Case Systems (A+Case) has developed by far the most sophisticated and incredibly leet tower set-up on the market.

Some specs:

This Twin Engine model comes fresh off of the lot with 4 stock fans! Not only are you getting a computer that runs sub-zero [Flawless Victory], it can be used to store all of your frozen gaming delights (i.e. Hot Pockets). But, if you find yourself thinking… hey, you know what, I think I need more fans… then BAM! Now all of your many terabytes of porn can be cooled by an additional 2 fans (for a grand total of 6… we’re not kidding). Anyway, it rocks a special brand-new cooling system accompanied by two illuminated blue 250 mm fans. Gotta have them neons! Mechanics hook up their cars with neons… well so can nerds. You like your NOS cold, we like our hard drives even colder (Your as Cold as Ice!) Now the third and forth fans are both adjustable 25 cm fans, one located in the inside left door and the other located in the front to guide the air flow inside the case.

So, lets talk storage capacity. This beast can hold 13 disk drives (13!). That means you could feasibly direct-burn 12 DVD’s at the same time, or, store approximately 13 terabytes of your most beloved cinematic tales of barnyard-animal-on-human promiscuity. It has five 5.25″ bays and eight 3.5″ bays, where one is external and the other 7 are hidden. We’ll call the hidden bays ‘weed bays’. PCI slots? No problem. If you’re the type of dude (or, dare we say, chick?) that’s actually in the market for this thing, you’re obviously going to have slapped in seven NVIDIA 9000 series video cards before the Geek Squad at Best Buy has a chance to sniff your superbly-seasoned gaming musk.

And now, without further ado, straight outta Deutchland – the land that has blessed us with the A+Case, as well as the vast majority of skin-flicks that feature four-legged creatures and/or poopie/peepee, I give you… Zlad!

“Hey love crusader
I want to be your space invader
For you I will descend the deepest moon crater
I is more stronger than Darth Vapour
Obey me I is your new dictator
For you is Venus, I am Mars
With you I is more richer than all the Tzar’s
Make a wishes on a shooting stars
Then for you I will play on my cosmic guitars!”

- Zladko Vladcik aka Santo Cilauro

PSx4iPhone: Cell Phone Gaming the Way it Should Be

The guys over at ZodTTD.com have finally done it. PSx4iPhone has been released and is truly a viable emulator for the cell phone gamer. Seriously, the n-gage, MameCE3 and pocketNestor just never did the job.

ZodTTD’s first project, gsPhone, was solid while PSxiPhone builds even more upon that. It does have the few expected downsides, one being the graphics aren’t perfect (which is quite obvious, being that the the PSone has much better graphical capabilities then the iPhone), and another being that games requiring intense button combos aren’t really possible either. But, as you can see in the video above, less button-press-intensive games like Grand Theft Auto work pretty damned well.

What’s better is that with the release of the PSx4iPhone we can finally expect in the hopefully-near future a slew of high quality emulators to play everything from NES to DS to Game Gear to Game Cube.