Before Madden, ESPN/All-Pro 2k, NFL Gameday, NFL Blitz, or any other football game, there was Tecmo Bowl. Tecmo’s 1989 NES port of its arcade game was way ahead of its time. It had rosters and playbooks for each of its twelve fictional teams. Although there were no real teams in the game, (as Tecmo couldn’t get the NFL’s permission to use actual team names) an NFL Player’s Association license allowed the game to feature real life players such as Bo Jackson and Joe Montana. The game was surprisingly deep even with the small amount of plays available. Even though the gameplay was a bit unbalanced at times, the game was still downright fun. A sequel, Tecmo Super Bowl was released a year later, this time featuring actual NFL team names. In fact, TSB was the first home football video game to use actual NFL teams. The series continued on Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis before a final entry on Playstation. It didn’t do so well in its final years, but it was still loved by its fans. In fact, many rom patches exist on the internet that update the rosters for Tecmo Super Bowl on the NES. Thankfully Tecmo will be bringing back the series later this year to unspecified gaming platforms. Until then, football fans owe it to themselves to play one of the classics of the genre. It may not have a franchise mode, superstar mode, color commentary, or fancy graphics, but it has a certain charm that can’t be found in today’s games.

By the way, the virtual console version of Tecmo Bowl has obviously been edited, due to the fact that EA has exclusive licensing rights to the NFL and the NFLPA.

As promised, I’m back with part 2 of our special wrestling edition of the $20 Game of the week. In this edition, we’ll take a look at WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2008, as well as three other wrestling games that you can find on the cheap. So say your prayers and take your vitamins, because it’s time to walk down the aisle and go one on one with the great one. Remember, to be the man, you gotta beat the man! WOOOOOOO!
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Hope everyone’s had a merry Christmas. Hopefully you digested all that Christmas dinner, because it’s time to hit the squared circle. That’s right, Powet is gonna take you ringside for a look at wrestling gaming. In the first part of our special, we’ll take a look back at some of the best (and worst) that wrestling gaming had to offer up to and including the Playstation and Nintendo 64 years. Part 2, coming this weekend, will feature a look at some of the more recent wrestling games, including WWE Raw vs Smackdown 2008 and Fire Pro Wrestling Returns. So grab a folded-up chair (or whatever other weapon that strikes your fancy), a 6-pack of your favorite alcoholic beverage, a luchador mask, and a homemade cardboard sign, and (in the voice of Michael Buffer) LETS GET READY TO RUMBLEEEEEEEEEEE!

Oh, and watch out for thumbtacks, florescent lights, and exploding barbwire.
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People who feel burnt out by Electronic Arts’s monopolizing of football may soon have another alternative to turn to this November. Nerjyzed, an African-American owned gaming company, is bringing the Historically Black College and University football (possibly the only football league besides the Canadian Football League that has yet to be bought out by EA Sports in an exclusive contract) experience home to PC this November with the aptly titled Black College Football Xperience. Seeking to introduce gamers to the atmosphere of this severely overlooked part of football, the developers are featuring over 40 official HBCU teams, mascots, marching bands, and their fight songs (in fact, a halftime mini game will allow players to take control of the drum major and participate in the halftime battle of the bands). The game will also include ragdoll physics, online play, and commentary by Donal Ware and Jonathan Coachman. The game will be the first sports title to make use of Unreal Engine 3. The developers hope to both revolutionize football gaming and create good games that can shed light on other cultures without reinforcing negative stereotypes. A huge goal to set, but if they can get the gameplay right, then it can become an easily obtainable goal. At the very least, with the proper marketing, it can become the alternative to Madden that All Pro football was supposed to be.

Before this game came out, I never considered myself much of a sports player, and save for various college sports games, I still don’t. Now sure, I got a few chuckles out of Mutant League Football and Ice Hockey, and I played Baseball Stars to death, but other than that, sports games were too complicated for me. That’s why me, and millions of others, enjoyed this game. While it wasn’t as complex as Madden or NBA Live, the fact that it was so easy to pick up and play made it a lot more fun to play.
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Professional Eater Takeru “Tsunami” Kobayashi has injured his jaw while training in his sport, an accident which seriously hinders his ability to compete. Yahoo News reports that Kobayashi has jaw arthritis and can only open his mouth the width of a fingertip, an insufficient size for eating hot dogs.

Kobayashi held the world record for hot dog eating, a sport at which no human being could defeat him until 2003 when he faced off against a bear and lost as the “Alaskan Crucher” devoured 50 hot dogs in 2 minutes and 36 seconds. After losing this match he claimed he would train hard and face off against the bear again and win, something which at this point may never happen.

The bear still appears to be in proper health to compete.

Check out this entry on Kobayashi’s blog for more on his injury… if you can read Japanese.

Watch Kobayashi vs. the Beast after the jump.

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“Never escalate a battle unless Rita forces you to.”

Granted Tommy had not joined the Power Rangers when Zordon layed out that and other rules to go by to the Power Rangers when they were first formed but he still knows what being a Power Ranger is about. You don’t use excessive force against an opponent unnecessarily and that’s why when some putties show up they don’t automatically morph and call their Megazords to obliterate them.

Jason David Frank played Tommy Oliver in Power Ranger and was affiliated with the show for the better part of a decade. While best known for being the Green Ranger he’s been all the colours of the rainbow. So with all that experience why is it Tommy pulled out of a planned cage fight he was meant to have this past Saturday?

The Daily Egyptian reports that while Jason David Frank was on hand to sign autographs he bailed on the fight when he learned only boxing was allowed and that it was not mixed martial arts, which is his specialty.

Though it’s not in fitting with the Power Ranger mentality to trounce on someone with less training than you, as the fight would have been, I’m not sure that mentality would also lend to cage fighting.

Regardless this is a dissapointing outcome to a highly anticipated match. I’m looking forward to seeing where this career goes and whether or not he can fit the Dragonzord in that cage.

Thanks to Tigerpaw for helping to track down this information.