Before video game demos were commonplace enough that you could play them in your own home, SEGA devised a way to get people into the holiday spirit with one of their flagship titles for the Saturn known as Christmas NiGHTS.

Bob Mackey of the 1UP Retro Blog has written about this little gem here, revealing it to be more common than I had imagined. This, despite the fact that I myself had a copy, but never a Saturn to play it on. Such was the result of my subscription to Game Players magazine at the time; I still have the disc around somewhere, but its jingle-belling levels and exclusive Sonic the Hedgehog scenario have never been experienced by me.

In addition to Mackey’s own look into Christmas dreams, Blaze Hedgehog has also recently posted a few YouTube videos of the game being played through:

It is much to my regret that at this most joyous time of year, i.e. the release of a new Mario title, that I am unable to really sit down and put pen to paper (or rather, fingers to keyboard) and talk about my history with the franchise and what it means to me. And it really disappoints me, but I’ve got late reviews owed, and… well, I’m going to be playing the new game as well, come tomorrow.

Nonetheless, there are some rather fond remembrances of the series popping up around the web, including this one on G4TV.com.

But don’t worry, Mario’s like an old friend, and I will definitely give him his due, though I have pondered whether or not to save such a potentially lengthy article (or series of articles) for his 30th anniversary. Ah, decisions, decisions.

–LBD “Nytetrayn”

Just a brief mix of a few things of interest going on here.

1. First up, I’ve just learned that this week marks the release of the final season of Married… with Children on DVD. Truth be told, I had thought they finished out a long time ago, but that just shows what I know. I should really try to catch up, but that’s a lot of seasons.

   Nonetheless, the Yahoo! TV blog has decided to commemorate the event with a look back at the stars of the show, both when they appeared on the show and now. Ed O’Neill has put on a little Lose Weight Exercise, I think, but Katey Sagal is looking well. In fact, I dare say that they’re all looking pretty good now, even despite certain things happening to some, which I won’t go into here.

   May they all reap many royalties from their years of hard and hilarious work.

2. Elsewhere across the web, The Mega Man Network is running a little contest. It is based on the infamous “what am I fighting for?!” line from Capcom’s Mega Man X4, with the winner receiving a picture of Zero autographed by his voice actor from Mega Man X: Command Mission, Mega Man X8, and Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X, the wonderful Lucas Gilbertson.

   Click over for a look at the prize and details, but the gist of it is that we’re looking for people to perform the scene through a video of some kind. You can try with an MP3 if you’re confident, but that could prove to be a steep battle, depending on the other entries. Best of luck!

3. After work today, I came upon some very… shocking news.

   Nickelodeon now owns the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Lock, stock, and barrel.

   Ultimately, I have no idea what this means, except that we seem to be getting a new series sooner than later, and that the whole Avatar: The Last Airbender thing seemed rather well-received, it could be in good hands.

   Still, so many questions. I wonder about good ol’ Dan Berger, who ran the official website, and other members of the Mirage staff. And what about the comics Mirage was publishing?

   I’m just beyond belief that Peter Laird would let his co-creation go, mainly as he’s been so protective of it over the years.

   Well, hopefully this might lead to some better budgets for video games, and some good quality stuff. And I hope DVDs will still be made available of the past cartoons. I wonder if Playmates will still carry the toy license? In any case, short of Turtles Forever, not much was planned except the new live action movie, which is still on, so I guess this is an improvement overall.

4. Finally, more from The Mega Man Network, as we present an interview with UDON Entertainment’s Managing Editor, Matt Moylan, who talks about the soon-to-be-released Mega Man: Official Complete Works and Mega Man X: Official Complete Works art books, as well as next year’s Mega Man Megamix and Mega Man ZX manga.

   Plus, it sounds like it’s up to us if we want Capcom to let UDON create a Mega Man Tribute art book akin to their Street Fighter and DarkStalkers efforts, featuring the works of fans and pro-fans alike.

And don’t forget, you can find plenty more news (of the video game variety, mainly) at Kombo.com, where we’ll soon be conducting an interview with the voice of Mario, Charles Martinet, with questions asked by our readers.

–LBD “Nytetrayn”

Not doing a big list today, but Kotaku has a couple of interesting features to look at.

1. The first asks a simple question: “Where are All the ‘Next Gen’ Games?” The game industry has often felt like it goes through two generation cycles, where one generation, such as the NES, sets the pace with innovation, while the next (Super NES, Genesis) refines what came before. Follow with the advent of 3D on PlayStation and Nintendo 64, and then see the refinements in Xbox, PlayStation 2, and GameCube.

   This generation seems as though it may be lacking in innovation, but perhaps people are simply looking in the wrong places?

2. Their second feature of the day is “Why We Love To Hate Activision — And Might Be Wrong,” which takes a look at the biggest “evil empire” in video gaming since Electronic Arts, Activision. And while CEO Robert “Bobby” Kotick seems to know all the right things to say to make himself look like the devil incarnate, perhaps the games press simply isn’t giving him a fair shake?

   That’s the perspective of Everyone’s Favorite Analyst, Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan, it seems, who has had the rare benefit of being able to meet the man personally, as well as some other people quoted anonymously for the article, which in itself makes it worth a look for anyone who’s had the urge to chuck a flask of holy water at the Activision head.

3. Switching gears: a good advertisement can make you aware of a product, but is easily ignorable. A bad advertisement might make you loathe the product, but will stick with you.

   And then there are these, 50 billboard advertisements which truly stand out and offer a different sense of appreciation altogether.

4. Finally, via Inside Pulse Wrestling comes this bizarre video of former WWF Superstar the Ultimate Warrior completely throttling some Storm Troopers from Star Wars. A cartoony bloodbath ensues, but my favorite part is where he shakes one’s intestine as he does the ropes of a wrestling ring.

–LBD “Nytetrayn”

Today marks the tenth anniversary of the North American release of SEGA’s final console, the Dreamcast. Naturally, there has been a bit of buzz to celebrate. Here are some of the bigger items.

1. First dibs should perhaps go to Peter Moore, who uses his EA Sports blog to clarify some things about what went down almost a decade ago as SEGA’s final console came to breathe its last.

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Sorry, folks, don’t think I’ll be updating tonight, except to bring you what’s just sucked away my night: The DC Animated Universe Wiki, consisting of all sorts of wonderful facts and figures from Batman: The Animated Series‘ “The Cat and the Claw, part 1” to “On Leather Wings” to Justice League Unlimited‘s “Destroyer,” and everything in between and to the sides.

Ever wonder what the “Bat-Embargo” is? Now’s your chance to find out.

On a related note, I found in the entry for “Epilogue” a link to an interesting Toonzone article about the episode which reveals quite a bit about how it had been developed. Interesting stuff.

–LBD “Nytetrayn”

1. In video games, some villains have pretty clear defined goals. Dr. Wily wants to rule the world, Ganondorf wants to… rule the world, and Count Dracula? He wants to make humanity suffer and then rule the world, so at least it’s not completely redundant.

   But even for their examples of clearly-defined goals, there are others who are much more… dubious in what they hope to accomplish by sending the protagonist to an early grave. And with that, Topless Robot has assembled for us the Top 8 Video Game Bosses with Extremely Dubious Motivations.

   I will say I’ve seen some interesting theories put forth about #4. The Yellow Dart has a reasonable approximation in the comments, though. And Manwards gives a good account of #3.

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Via Topless Robot. You know how it goes by now, I’m sure:

I’m surprised that he cares so strongly about what they do to Captain America, aka Mr. “I Punched Hitler Today, What Did You Do?”

And with all the rumors of Walt Disney being a Nazi sympathizer, or at least an anti-semite, you’d think he’d be thrilled.

But seriously, what scares me most is that, through these videos, Adolph Hitler is becoming the (or at least a) voice of our generation.

–LBD “Nytetrayn”

1. GamePro takes a look at what it calls “The 5 Best Console Wars.” Let me tell you something: there was only one console war. The rest have been spats, scuffles, maybe schoolyard brawls at best.

   I might accept Game Boy versus Game Gear, but we all know that was just an extension of the whole Nintendo vs. SEGA thing that the Super NES vs. Genesis war was the core of.

2. Speaking of the Genesis and the Game Boy, they aren’t the only ones turning 20 this year. There’s also the TurboGrafx-16.

   As much as I was anti-SEGA at the time (due in large part to their anti-Nintendo propaganda), I never really held much of a grudge against the TG16. Perhaps it just never seemed like much of a threat.

3. A recent “End of Day Thought” from GoNintendo asked could you play only Nintendo platforms for a full year?”

   And while my answer is “most definitely yes,” I have no inclination to partake in this, as there are still games I would like to play on the other consoles. But if it helps, I spent almost the entire last generation with only a GameCube, renting an Xbox and PlayStation 2 during a brief period when I worked at Blockbuster.

   But there is so much I have to play, so much I’ve yet to play, and that’s just on Wii and DS. If I wanted to go back through past platforms, I’m sure I could find more.

   Still, I wonder: does playing Genesis on Virtual Console count as Nintendo?

4. A little while back, The Consumerist posted an amusing comparison of the Pepsi logo’s evolution versus the Coca-Cola logo’s. It’s funny, but the Coke logo has changed a bit over time, though not nearly as drastically as Pepsi’s, I would wager to say.

   Personally, I miss the old Pepsi logo with the name in between the circle halves. Somehow, it always looked like that one was smiling to me.

–LBD “Nytetrayn”

…four Ninja Turtles just aren’t enough.
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